one of the few upsides of having a busted leg is that i get to call up friends and invite them over to watch whichever movie they've recommended to me on numerous occasions but i haven't gotten around to seeing.
my friend matt has gone through four copies of the last of sheila in recent years, having loaned them out to friends who never got around to returning it. while a more cynical person might see this as sad indicator as to the quality of his friends, i would like to think that they've all either fallen in love with it themselves or loanedit out to other deserving recipients.
the last of sheila turned out to be a great puzzle of a picture, loaded with catty hollywood in-jokes, rapid fire dialog kicked back and forth by a great ensemble cast, more twists than a contortionist convention touring a pretzel factory (yeah, i said it), and each and every one of james coburns teeth. the script, written by noted puzzle nerds anthony perkins and stephen sondheim, is intricately plotted and takes some interesting chances in the ways that it plays with the audiences perceptions and expectations of its characters. the cast has excellent chemistry and really seems to be having a lot of fun trotting around the mediterranean for this fun little mystery.
this strikes me as one of those weird "only in the 70s" sort of movies that can be easily overlooked, but ultimately rewards multiple viewings.
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