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The Birthday Party is a British film of genre Drama directed by William Friedkin released in USA on 9 december 1968 with Robert Shaw
The Birthday Party (1968)
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Add to a movie listThe Birthday Party is a 1968 British drama film directed by William Friedkin, and starring Robert Shaw, based on the 1957 play The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter. The screenplay for the film was written by Pinter as well. The film, and the play, are considered examples of "comedy of menace", a genre associated with Pinter.
The film was a passion project for Friedkin, who had been a fan of the play, and he remained proud of the film after its release, though it was a box office disappointment.
Synopsis
The protagonist is a lodger in his late 30s named Stanley (Webber), played by Robert Shaw, who is staying at a seaside boarding house; he is visited by two unexpected additional guests, menacing and mysterious strangers, Goldberg (Sydney Tafler) and McCann (Patrick Magee). Their neighbour, Lulu (Helen Fraser) brings her a parcel, a boy's toy drum presented to Stanley as his "birthday present." Goldberg and McCann offer to host Stanley's birthday party after Stanley's landlady, Meg (Boles), played by Dandy Nichols, tells them that it is Stanley's birthday, although Stanley protests that it is really not his birthday. In the course of the party, Goldberg and McCann break Stanley down and ultimately take him away from the house purportedly to get medical attention (from "Monty") in their car. The film ends (as the play ends) after Meg's husband Petey (Moultrie Kelsall), a deckchair attendant, who did not attend the party because he was out playing chess, calls after Stanley, "Stan, don't let them tell you what to do"; at the end, Meg, still somewhat hung over, is unaware that Stanley has been taken away, since Petey has not told her that, and tells him that she was "the belle of the ball.Actors
Robert Shaw
(Stanley Webber)
Patrick Magee
(Shamus McCann)
Dandy Nichols
(Meg Bowles)
Sydney Tafler
(Nat Goldberg)
Moultrie Kelsall
Helen Fraser
(Lulu)
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