Oh! Calcutta! (1972)

 

Quite honestly, one of the most insufferable things I’ve ever sat through in my entire life. But I felt it had to be seen.  Back in the 70s this was towed as such a controversial and edgy off Broadway production because it contained nudity. But what you end up getting is precious little nudity, and a shit ton of awful jokes and unbelievably problematic material. Let’s have a look.

Act 1

"Taking Off the Robe"

A bit surprised that there was a lot of folks in the audience that looked like they could be getting senior discounts at earlybird buffets.

  

During this opening sequence, all of the actors remove their robes. For some of the actresses, this is the only time you even get to see them naked. We start with Patricia Hawkins.

Raina Barrett

Samantha Harper

"Jack & Jill"

Jack (George Welbes)  and Jill (Patricia Hawkins) explore their sexuality.

Jill is naïve and innocent. Jack just wants to have sex and she is nowhere near mature enough to go there.

So, after Jack tries various tactics to have sex with Jill, including pretending to play games, etc., he gives up and just straight up rapes Jill. What in the ever loving fuck is going on?

What kind of opening scene is this? As if this wasn’t disturbing enough, Jill fucking dies from the rape. 

"A Suite of Five Letters"

God, I hate to be so negative throughout this review, but my Lord this was unbearable. This scene has the actors reciting supposedly actual letters to newspapers which had sexual content. That’s boring enough, but they have to make it awkward and embarrassing by singing the damn letters!

"Dick and Jane"

 

Jane (Nancy Tribush) is shy and scared of intimacy.  But rather than be helpful and get her more open, Dick (Mitchell McGuire) is an absolute asshole and treats her like garbage

No nudity in the scene from Jane whatsoever.

"Will Answer All Serious Replies"

 

Sue Ellen (Nancy Tribush) is having second thoughts about being a swinger. But her husband Dale (Gary Rethmeier) says it’s all going to be fine.

They are disturbed to find that the couple answering their swingers ad, Cherie (Margo Sappington) and Monte (Bill Macy) are much older and not exactly their type.

Cherie reveals that she’s wearing a sheer top.

Sue Ellen is really not down with this.

So much so that when she has to dance with Monte she faints.

Sue, Ellen does eventually have sex with Monte and it turns out she loves it. Cherie joins in.

“Delicious Indignities”

 

Helen (Samantha Harper) is an uppity woman invited to the home of Alfred (Mark Dempsey).

Samantha Harper was in TV shows such as Mork & Mindy and The Bob Newhart Show throughout the seventies.  Notably she was married to Bill Macy.

Helen wouldn’t dream of fooling around with Alfred. So he has a booby trap set where she pulls the curtains and it restrains her. 

The longest punchline in history and we saw it coming 1,000,000 miles away. Helen actually isn’t the saint she portrays herself to be and has tawdry stories to tell.

 

"Was It Good for You, Too?"

Nurse (Samantha Harper) checks in a volunteer (Gary Rethmeier) for a sex experiment.

The volunteer is introduced to the test, subject (Raina Barrett) and things start to fly out like a silly Marx brother movie.

Were at not for nudity from Raina Barrett this would be one of the most unwatchable cringe ever put to film.

Dr. Bronson (Nancy Tribush), a mute physican (Bill Macy) and Dr. Jaspers (Mark Dempsey) run around like spastic idiots.

We do get to see Samantha Harper's boob.  So it's got that going for it.

Act 2

"Life Is Over Much Too Soon"

A pre-recorded section, where the actors are nude outside doing interpretive dance. Unforgiveably awful.

"One on One"

Another nude interpretive dance, even less interesting than the last.

There's a skit called "Rock Garden" which I can't bring myself to say anything more about because it's so boring and awful. 

"Four in Hand"

Another terrible skit - this one about a masturbation game. My understanding is this sketch's first draft was written by John Lennon.

 

Finale

This has them all doing another dance naked. Yes, we get to see the ladies nude, but we also have to endure these guys and their decks flopping around.

RATING: ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ 2/10

REVIEW: I suppose it deserves some credit for further normalizing nudity. It did become rather notorious, even if it didn’t amount to much more than a punch line on the Johnny Carson show.  So while I’ll give it props for its place in history, it was unbearable to sit through. You had to live in the 70s to really know this vibe - boomers feeling like they’re changing cultural norms  (which they actually were) and just exulting in the self-righteous glow of the Sexual Revolution. But sad to say that 50 odd years later, like John Lennon’s nude album cover, it just comes across as trying too hard and a little bit yuck.