borromeot I never quite figure out Blake Edwards as a filmmaker. He had a side that was as sophisticated and poignant as it was funny. Think "The Party" or the first Pink Panther, the other side was pure commercialism without any regard for its audience. SOB is a blatant example of that. Here he even uses his characters to badmouth "Last Tango In Paris" - The premise is terrific for a biting Hollywood satire but a premise is just a premise. He has to resort to farting during a sequence that should have been a comedy showstopper. Hey he got his wife to go topless and his wife was Julie Andrews - he must have heard cash registers in his mind like Richard Mulligan's character when he decides to put his wife in a porno=erotic something or other to make zillions of dollars. Richard Mulligan plays his suicidal director like he was in a Mack Sennett routine. Outrageous and I'm tempted to say, unforgivable. I must also confess that made me uncomfortable to see William Holden in the middle of it all. Shelley Winter, Robert Preston, Stuart Margolin, Larry Hagman, Robert Vaughn even a glimpse of the very young Rossana Archette keeps the film going. Loretta Swit - of MASH fame - plays a gossip columnist in such a way that may very well explain why she didn't have much of a film career. So, even if I'm aware I've spent a couple of hours with a bunch of characters I hope I never meet in real life, SOB deserves to be seen if only because it is a piece of film history solidly set on its day.

Michael O'Keefe Full of nonsense comedy from writer/director Blake Edwards. Felix Farmer(Richard Mulligan)is a well known producer with a string of hits, but falls upon hard times when his latest movie, a full blown musical, is not received well by test audiences. The powers that be go into panic mode and decide something must be done and for the better of the film it must be re-edited. Farmer comes out of his funk with a major idea of having the star of the movie, his wife Sally(Julie Andrews), bare her breasts. Since she has such a clean pollyanna image, this bit of titillation will highlight the new soft-porn version of his film.Some strong performances from familiar stars like Robert Preston, Larry Hagman, Stuart Margolin, Loretta Swit, Robert Vaughn, Larry Storch and William Holden in his last motion picture. Of course the draw is the squeaky clean Andrews actually showing her breasts. Situational humor; just nothing that really made me laugh. The soundtrack is courtesy of the legendary Henry Mancini.

ChickWhisperer WOW! I have never read so many misguided negative reviews of such a great film!! Why are so many reviewers saying "Yes, I did not get it" then go on to blab about what they admittedly did not understand?It's more than just great comedy by great actors. For those of us who have lived in L.A. or worked in the industry, I can honestly say that in 1981 as much as 2010, SOB is so right-on-the-money that it is close to being a documentary. OK sure, it's Edwards in his funniest Pink Panther style of everything over the top, but the dynamics of the themes of Same Old Business nail it - greed, excess, sex, drugs, innocence lost, dreams traded for success, derived cynicism - as true today as probably back in the 1930's.And that's the funniest part of all - the Rockies may crumble, Gibraltar may tumble, but Hollywood never changes.

moonspinner55 Writer-director Blake Edwards vents his frustrations on Hollywood (via Hollywood!) in telling slim story of a filmmaker on the edge after critics have trashed his latest family musical. His solution is to reshoot much of the picture as a blue movie...and have the G-rated star expose her breasts. Great cast struggles through what might have been a sharp satire of Tinsel Town; instead, the film is pseudo-cynical, putting down the movie business (and audiences) while catering to the lowest common denominator (are the changes made to the movie actually meant to appeal to the mass market? Ironically, the most effervescent part of the film is the opening musical number, which is then lambasted for us!). The characters are mostly ciphers, talking all at once, and Harry Stradling, Jr.'s soupy cinematography makes the whole thing look like bad cable. * from ****