Line #37 Film/TheLovedOne


1	%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
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3	[[quoteright:305:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_loved_one_1965_film.jpg]]
4	[[caption-width-right:305:"I can give you our eternal flame in either Perpetual Eternal or Standard Eternal."]]
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6	''The Loved One'' is a 1965 satirical BlackComedy film directed by Tony Richardson (as his follow-up to ''Film/TomJones''), based on the [[Literature/TheLovedOne short novel]] by Creator/EvelynWaugh.
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8	The film keeps the basic outline of the book: wannabe English poet Dennis Barlow (Creator/RobertMorse) visits Los Angeles and becomes wrapped up in the crazy, often grotesque business of funerals and burials in Southern California, eventually becoming a rival of star mortician Mr. Joyboy (Creator/RodSteiger) for the affections of quirky corpse cosmetician Aimée Thanatogenos (Creator/AnjanetteComer).
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10	But with Terry Southern on-board as co-writer, fresh off ''Film/DrStrangelove'', it adds plenty more characters, hijinks and irreverence. A notable change from the book is the character expansion of the owner of the Whispering Glades Memorial Park, Reverend Wilbur Glenworthy (Creator/JonathanWinters), a classic shameless huckster who wraps himself up in piety while chasing money. After his brother Henry ([[ActingForTwo also Jonathan Winters]]) loses his job at a film studio, Wilbur sets him up to work at The Happier Hunting Ground, a pet mortuary that the Reverend secretly runs on the side.
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12	By the end, besides the funeral business, the film gets in some potshots at [[HorribleHollywood Hollywood]], religion, patriotism, the English, the military, and NASA as well.
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14	Famously marketed as "The motion picture with something to offend everyone!", its bizarre humor was too far ahead of its time and it became a BoxOfficeBomb, but is now considered a CultClassic.
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17	!!"Tropes have become a middle class business. There's no future in them.":
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19	* AdaptationExpansion: The novel is only around 140 pages. The film takes the basic plot, makes a few changes, then adds more subplots, mostly following Wilbur Glenworthy's exploits.
20	* AdaptationNameChange:
21	** Wilbur Kenworthy becomes Wilbur Glenworthy for the film.
22	** Mr. Joyboy gets a first name here: Lafayette (Laf for short).
23	* BigEater: Mrs. Joyboy. At one point she tries to grab some food from the fridge and it falls on her. She's more concerned about the food being taken out of her hands than whether or not the fridge is lifted off of her.
24	%% * BlackComedy: Already present in the book, but the film takes it up to eleven.
25	%% * BlackComedyRape: Attempted by [[spoiler:Rev. Glenworthy on Aimée]].
26	* BrokenPedestal: Everyone important in Aimée's life betrays her: Dennis, Mr. Joyboy, The Guru Brahmin and Rev. Glenworthy (who's literally on a pedestal on the huge statue of himself at the entrance to Whispering Glades).
27	%% * TheCameo: Quite a few.
28	* CampStraight: Joyboy is very fussy, effeminate and body-conscious, but he harbors a huge crush on Aimée.
29	* ChildProdigy: Gunther Fry, a budding aerospace engineer who lives near The Happier Hunting Ground.
30	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Mrs. Joyboy gives orgasmic groans as she gorges herself on a roast pig and other food.
31	* DrivenToSuicide: Sir Francis Hinsley, when he's fired from the film studio, and later [[Spoiler: Aimee, after her favorite advice columnist "The Guru Brahmin" sarcastically tells her to go and kill herself and leave him alone]].
32	* FanDisservice: The sight of Rod Steiger in just his underwear when Mr. Joyboy gets a call from the mortuary while he's lifting weights on his bed.
33	%% * FatBastard: Joyboy's mother.
34	* TheIngenue: Aimée is closer to GeniusDitz in the book, but she's definitely this in the film, bordering on [[{{Manchild}} Womanchild]].
35	%% * LargeHam: Rev. Wilbur Glenworthy, with a side of SesquipedalianLoquaciousness.
36	* MamasBoy: Mr. Joyboy has a disturbingly unhealthy relationship with his mother, waiting on her hand and foot.
37	* TheManBehindTheCurtain: A humorous, non-villainous example with "Hump", a cynical and sarcastic, Bronx-accented man who writes a personal life advice column where he calls himself the "Guru Brahmin".
38	* NewscasterCameo: The reporter in the final scene is played by longtime [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation Los Angeles Lakers]] play-by-play announcer [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_Hearn Chick Hearn]].
39	* SameLanguageDub: Robert Morse had to redub all his dialogue in post-production since he didn't quite master an English accent during filming. Jonathan Winters also seems to have redubbed a lot of his Henry Glenworthy dialogue.

Context Film / TheLovedOne