The Loved One (1965) on TCM Tonight!

Those of you who know me already know The Loved One (1965) is one of my all time favourite comedy films. It is very loosely based on one of my favourite books, The Loved One: An Anglo-American Tragedy by Evelyn Waugh. The film was advertised with the tagline, "The Motion Picture With Something to Offend Everyone!". This was quite probably true when it was released in 1965, and it would probably offend a great many now.  Indeed, when I first saw it I have to admit that some of the material actually shocked me (this was made in 1965?)!

Regardless, The Loved One is a biting satire in the vein of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), targetting everything from the American funeral industry (a primary target of the original book), Hollywood (another primary target of the original book),  religion, Oedipal complexes, overeating, the rich, the military, the space programme, and television, among many other things. The jokes are delivered rapid-fire and non-stop, the comedy is often very broad and more often than not very dark, and there are a tonne of celebrity cameos. If you have ever wanted to see Tab Hunter as the tour guide for a Forest Lawn-style, Hollywood cemetery or Liberace as a casket salesman, The Loved One is definitely for you.

On this blog I have written two articles dealing with The Loved One. The first dealt with the film over all. The second dealt with the possibility of an adaptation of The Loved One: An Anglo-American Tragedy starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton (fortunately it never got off the ground).

 The Loved One: The Motion Picture With Something to Offend Everyone

The Loved One Starring Burton and Taylor? 

If you live in the Untied States or Canada, I urge you to watch The Loved One on TCM. And if for some reason you can't, by all means DVR it to watch later!