Myra Breckinridge (1970)

29% of critics liked it
(21 reviews)
37% of users liked it
(991 ratings)

Gore Vidal's best-selling satiric novel gets an inarguably unique screen treatment in this off-center psycho-sexual farce. Fussy film buff Myron Breckinridge (Rex Reed) goes to Europe and gets a sex-change operation from a slovenly chain-smoking doctor (John Carradine) and returns to the United… More Gore Vidal's best-selling satiric novel gets an inarguably unique screen treatment in this off-center psycho-sexual farce. Fussy film buff Myron Breckinridge (Rex Reed) goes to Europe and gets a sex-change operation from a slovenly chain-smoking doctor (John Carradine) and returns to the United States as the glamorous and willful Myra Breckinridge (Raquel Welch). Myra appears at the door of former cowboy star-turned-acting school entrepreneur Buck Loner (John Huston), who also happened to be Myron's uncle; Myra insists she's Myron's widow and demands her fair share of Loner's inheritance to her late husband. Loner, suspicious of the appearance of Myron's bride, tries to find a way out of giving her any of his money, while giving Myra a job in his acting school to keep her busy. Myra's new career allows her to make the acquaintance of Leticia Van Allen (Mae West), an aging sexpot and talent agent who represents "leading men only." Through Leticia, Myra meets alpha-male aspiring star Rusty Godowsky (Roger Herren) and his naïve girlfriend Mary Ann Pringle (Farrah Fawcett); as part of her own bid to ferment sexual anarchy, Myra attempts to introduce Mary Ann to the pleasures of lesbianism, while forcibly expanding Rusty's sexual boundaries. In the midst of the action, director Michael Sarne uses clips from dozens of vintage Hollywood films of the 1930s and '40s as a comic counterpoint to the story. Both Gore Vidal and Rex Reed expressed their dissatisfaction with Myra Breckinridge after the film hit theaters, though Vidal has also claimed not have seen the finished product; the film has gone on to develop a devoted cult following, despite the fact the film's only authorized video release has been out of print since the late '70s. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Directed By: Michael Sarne, Michael Sarne (II)
Written By: David Giler, Michael Sarne
Genres: Drama, Classics, Comedy

In Theaters: Jun 24, 1970 Limited
On DVD: Mar 9, 2004
Studio: CBS/Fox

Critic Reviews

Aaron Hillis, Village Voice
One might appreciate Anthology's all-new print -- with its epic sets and costumes, slumming icons, and unfocused meta-ambitions -- as the queer precursor to Southland Tales.
Variety Staff, Variety
The film version of Gore Vidal's Hollywood-themed transsexual satire starts off promisingly, but after a couple of reels plunges straight downhill under the weight of artless direction.
Don Druker, Chicago Reader
Raquel Welch's big chance is snatched away by Sarne's careless and unprofessional direction, and Rex Reed's self-parody is much too pat and easy.
Michael Szymanski, International Press Academy
If you truly analyze this, it's a very bisexual scene, and it's a classic, and I was told by a film buff friend that it was considered an A-list movie at the time.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Extravagantly tasteless, surprisingly inept filming of Gore Vidal's briefly notorious novel.
, Time Out
As an adaptation of Gore Vidal's novel, this is a major travesty.
, Empire Magazine
With so much raw comedic potential and a cast any director would be happy to get a hold of, Sarne somehow manages to direct it all into one aimless, inept and leering aberration.
Steve Crum, Kansas City Kansan
Outrageous casting & laughs do not a good satire make.
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central
There's a good movie in all this garbage.
John Beifuss, Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
Loaded with pop references and clips from old movies, it's like a bizarre comic precursor to 'The Dreamers'...
Dan Callahan, ToxicUniverse.com
Yes, it's bad, but you quickly get beyond its badness. It's hypnotically awful. It's audaciously dreadful.
John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis
Myra Breckinridge has developed a fan base the size of Ohio, so it can't be all bad, can it? Can it?
John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis
...it's hard to imagine how a film could be any worse, yet Myra has a silly, chaotic, almost endearing quality about it that proclaims its own innocence.

Read all 13 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

jay n

Just awful, disconnected scenes that add up to nothing. The clips from old films is the best part of this one.
Eric B

How can a sex farce starring Raquel Welch at her peak voluptuousness be so dull? This is like a porn flick with the porn edited out. An endless stream of set pieces that go nowhere. Myron Breckinridge (film critic Rex Reed) has an implausible sex change and re-emerges as gorgeous… More
How can a sex farce starring Raquel Welch at her peak voluptuousness be so dull? This is like a porn flick with the porn edited out. An endless stream of set pieces that go nowhere. Myron Breckinridge (film critic Rex Reed) has an implausible sex change and re-emerges as gorgeous Myra (Welch). She blackmails her goofy uncle (director John Huston, embarrassing himself with an awful Slim Pickens impression) into giving her a faculty post at his bogus acting school/commune and, there, sets upon her vengeful quest to destroy the mythos of the American male. Or something. That's about where the plot's momentum grinds to a stop. Mae West creaks in with her dinosaur act, portraying an agent who's fixated on having sex with men a third of her age (including a young, moustache-less Tom Selleck). It's as if she's in her own separate movie. She probably agreed to appear on condition that she have top billing and be allowed to lead a song-and-dance number. And we're forced to sit through it. She and Welch have just one scene together, and their faces never appear in the same frame. Meanwhile, ingenue Farrah Fawcett also enters the story, pokes out her nipples everywhere yet still can't make the film interesting. Even a bedroom scene with Welch doesn't pay off. How is that possible? Repeated mentions of "balling" date the script, and further star cameos from Jim Backus, John Carradine and Andy Devine add nothing. The insertion of vintage movie clips (lots of Laurel and Hardy) mostly just pad out the running time and, in the end, the greatest pleasures are simply Welch's stylish costumes and game willingness to debase herself with references to orgasms, urine specimens and "motherfuckers." And, oh yes, there's her notorious anal-rape sequence. (Hint: She's not the one being raped.) What was the point of Toni Basil repeatedly turning up, just to chew gum like some stereotyped teen delinquent?
Mark A

A very campy sex comedy/revenge flick, starring the always luscious Raquel Welch, that doesn't hold up well. The characters are overblown and stereotypical, the sex (what there is) is pretty tame, and the controversial nature of the story seems a lot less scandalous today than it… More
A very campy sex comedy/revenge flick, starring the always luscious Raquel Welch, that doesn't hold up well. The characters are overblown and stereotypical, the sex (what there is) is pretty tame, and the controversial nature of the story seems a lot less scandalous today than it would have been forty(!) years ago. Still there were a few chuckles to be found, so not all was wasted. This viewer saw a bit of Fellini and some similarities to Dr Strangelove, but overall, not a highly rewarding film.