kurt-2000 OK...like any red blooded American male, I could watch, Welch and Cannon all day long doing above average film and TV projects, but this film isn't interesting in the 21st century, even if it was moderately interesting in '73. If you like murder mysteries, then you might find it interesting. But don't most films today require solving a mystery? The comments made by the characters might have seemed intelligent and witty in '73, but I found this film boring. I was interested in seeing it, since Welch was recently bragging about this film being shown at a west coast theater that shows old films and discussion later. That still doesn't make it great, even if some film buffs liked it.Impressive cast, and two of the actors in this film would later co- star in one of my favorite mini-series for television: 'Jesus of Nazareth'.But I can't ethically recommend that someone invest their time watching it.

garyldibert TITLE: THE LAST OF SHEILA opened in theaters on June 14 1973 and the runtime was 120 minutesSTARRING: The Last of Sheila is a 1973 mystery film directed by Herbert Ross, written by Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim, It stars Richard Benjamin, Dyan Cannon, James Coburn, James Mason, Ian McShane, Joan Hackett, and Raquel Welch. The original music score was composed by Billy Goldenberg. The song "Friends," sung by Bette Midler, can be heard during the final scene of the film and the end credits.SUMMARY: On a one-week Mediterranean pleasure cruise aboard the yacht of movie producer Clinton Greene (Coburn), the guests include actress Alice Wood (Welch), her talent-manager husband Anthony (McShane), talent agent Christine (Cannon), screenwriter Tom Parkman (Benjamin), Tom's wife Lee (Hackett), and film director Philip Dexter (Mason). The trip is, in fact, a reunion. With the exception of Lee, all were together at Clinton's home one year before, on the night a hit-and-run accident resulted in the death of Clinton's wife, gossip columnist Sheila Greene. Once the cruise is under way, Clinton, a parlor game enthusiast, informs everyone that the week's entertainment will consist of "The Sheila Greene Memorial Gossip Game." The six guests are each assigned an index card containing a secret -- or, in Clinton's words, "a pretend piece of gossip" -- that must be kept hidden from the others. The object of the game is to discover everyone else's secret while protecting one's own. Each night the yacht anchors at a different Mediterranean port city, where one of the six secrets is disclosed to the entire group. The guests are given a clue, and then sent ashore to find the proof of who among them holds the card bearing that night's secret. The game for that night ends when the actual holder of the subject secret discovers the proof. Anyone who has not yet solved the clue receives no points on Clinton's scoreboard for that round. Following the revelation of the first card, "YOU are a SHOPLIFTER," suspicion begins that each guest's card does not contain "pretend" gossip but in fact an actual, embarrassing secret. QUESTIONS: Why doesn't Clinton return home? Why didn't they call authorities? What did the card say? Who was the card intended for? Why is there is an increasingly growing paranoia? Is the game being played is actually just a portion of a more elaborate puzzle.MY THOUGHTS: To me this was one of those movies that had stars that kept you interested in but the lack of action and drama made it hard to stay interested in. I thought Dyan Cannon did a good job in her role as Christine. Some of the other stars worth mentioning in their roles was James Coburn in his role as Clinton Greene. In addition, Joan Hackett in her role as Lee. I bought this movie because of Raquel Welch and I was disappointed in how her talent and beauty was used in this movie. She was in a bikini once and that was it. When you have a star, like that, you need to expose her more and they didn't. Base on the movies lack of action and drama along with the way they misuse Raquel Welch I give this movie 6 weasel stars.

treeline1 James Coburn stars as a movie bigwig who hosts six pals for a week on his yacht in the south of France. He loves intricate puzzles and has planned a clever game that will identify the killer of his late wife.A famous cast is the highlight of this film and while it oozes glamour and Hollywood in-jokes, my mind wandered and it took three tries to finish watching it. Coburn is robust and charismatic and also convincingly sadistic. Dyan Cannon is good as an airhead agent but her never-ending, raucous guffaws are tiresome. Ian McShane and Raquel Welch are good as minor characters. Joan Hackett, Richard Benjamin, and James Mason have the most screen time; they are all excellent in well-developed roles and a pleasure to watch.In my opinion, the game that the guests are playing is too convoluted and pointless to follow; there are constant red herrings and it doesn't amount to much in the end. One of the stars leaves halfway through and is greatly missed. Plot holes abound and it's hard to identify with any of the characters or the story.This film is recommended for those who like complex puzzles and clues. I thought it was just okay.

James Hitchcock The script for "The Last of Sheila" was written by two men who were both better known for other things, Stephen Sondheim who is best known as a composer, and the actor Anthony Perkins, best remembered as Norman Bates in "Psycho". The film opens with a young woman named Sheila Greene being killed in a hit-and-run accident. A year later her husband Clinton, a wealthy movie producer, invites six friends, all connected with the film industry, to join him on a pleasure cruise off the French Riviera aboard his luxury yacht, the "Sheila". Once the cruise is under way, Clinton informs his guests of the game that he has organised for their entertainment. Each of the six is given a card containing what Clinton calls "a pretend piece of gossip"- e.g. "you are an informer", "you are a homosexual", etc. Each guest must keep his or her "piece of gossip" a secret from the others; the idea behind the game is that, every evening, the guests are given a clue then have to take part in a treasure-hunt type game to find out who holds the card relating to that evening's "gossip". After the first evening, however, it begins to appear the gossip contained on each card may not be "pretend" at all but rather the revelation of an actual secret; that evening's card read "you are a shoplifter" and it is revealed that one of the guests, an actress named Alice Wood, was indeed once arrested for shoplifting. Some of the guests begin to suspect that Clinton may be playing a cruel game with them and that his real purpose may be to expose the person responsible for the death of his wife. (He refers to the game as "The Sheila Greene Memorial Gossip Game"). It therefore does not come as any great surprise when Clinton is found murdered on the second evening. "The Last of Sheila" is really a film of two halves. The first half seems like a stylish, elegant and unusual mystery, which keeps us wondering just why Clinton is playing such a sadistic game with his guests and what the outcome will be. The trouble is that by far the most interesting character is James Coburn's Clinton, a sinister puppeteer pulling the strings of the others. When Clinton is killed about halfway through, the puppets' strings are cut and they have to try and stand on their own feet. From this point on the film turns into an Agatha Christie-type whodunit, albeit one without a Miss Marple or Poirot-type detective; the guests have to solve the mystery for themselves. (One might ask why they do not simply call in the police; the answer is that if they did that there would not be much of a film).Apart from Coburn, in the sort of cool-but-sinister role I have come to associate with him, none of the cast make much of an impression. Of the female members, only Joan Hackett has much to do; Raquel Welch and Dyan Cannon just seem to be there to lend some glamour, in accordance with the seventies rule that you could not set a film on a yacht without having a couple of girls in bikinis to brighten up the scene. (Welch appears not to have enjoyed making this film very much; at the time there were press reports of frequent clashes between her and the director Herbert Ross and her co-star James Mason). The other male members of the cast, Richard Benjamin, Mason, and Ian McShane, all seem too relaxed about the situation they find themselves in, even though it is a situation which could end with at least one of them going to the guillotine. (France still had the death penalty in 1973).Perkins and Sondheim won the 1974 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Motion Picture Screenplay. I can only think that there was little competition for the award. (I must admit that I cannot think of any really good mystery films from 1973). What starts off as something potentially fresh and original ends up as something over- familiar and hackneyed. 5/10