IslandGuru Who payed the critics

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Janet Clark I've been reading the other reviews with interest. I saw this film on TV about 45 years ago when I was about 8 years old. Around this time I used to watch two back-to-back films on a Saturday or Sunday and I remember this film because it was absolutely hilarious. All the other good films have been repeated on TV - but I have only ever seen this once. I remember laughing and laughing when watching the film. I didn't know anything about sex at that age. I just saw it as a father trying to get his daughter to 'lighten up', to 'live', and to have an interest in finding a male companion in life, instead of an existence of continual work. I didn't see anything odd about Rock Hudson's character pretending to be a patient with his 'problem'. This subterfuge was a key part of romantic comedy films of the time. I certainly didn't see the 'set-up' scene as anything to do with sex - I just remember it as a slightly naughty prank. In some ways the film does remind me of 'pillow talk' and this isn't surprising as one of the writers is the same. I am very pleased to hear that it is now on DVD and I will be very interested to see it again.

blanche-2 Charles Boyer asks Rock Hudson for "A Very Special Favor," a 1965 film starring Leslie Caron, Walter Slezak, Dick Shawn, Nita Talbot and Larry Storch. Boyer is Michel Boullard, a man estranged from his cold, rigid daughter, a psychiatrist, Lauren Boullard (Caron) engaged to a wimp (Shawn). Impressed by his colleague Paul Chadwick's (Hudson) success with women, he asks Paul to seduce his daughter. However, Michel then reconnects with his daughter and, becoming angry with Paul, turns against him and works with Lauren to extract revenge on his mistreatment of her. This involves inventing a lover for Lauren, a bullfighter named El Magnifico and convincing Paul he's lost it in the sack.Paul finally catches on and enlists a female friend who isn't getting any at the moment (Nita Talbot) and has her impersonate a man so that Lauren will think he's now gay.I notice people on the board have all kinds of theories why this film isn't on DVD except that now, of course, it is. It also isn't the only time this inside joke was used in a Rock Hudson film, if anyone recalls his description to Doris Day about her boyfriend in "Pillow Talk." "Well, there are some men...who live with their mothers..." etc. I'm sure that in those days (unlike today) Hudson's private life was safe enough that no one thought twice about using something like this in a script. Everyone probably thought it was pretty funny.These sex comedies were all the rage in the '60s, and this one has its moments, with Hudson and Caron very good in their roles and surrounded by excellent people. In one of the first scenes, Boyer and Slezak, two suicides in real life, embrace - it really didn't get the comedy off to a good start for me. But they're both delightful, Boyer moving from romantic leads to the father roles still possessing that wonderful, easy charm he had. Slezak was a very versatile actor who could go from playing an invincible Nazi in "Lifeboat" to a role like this. Nita Talbot is one of my favorite actresses of all time - seeing her made me nostalgic for the old days.If you like this type of comedy, at which Hudson really excelled, you'll enjoy this one. This is on a DVD set of some of the more obscure Hudson films such as "Has Anybody Seen My Gal," and the collection shows the trajectory of his career from young supporting player to lead. The fact that Hudson has since been "outed" shouldn't make his work any less enjoyable. He was, after all, doing what he was hired to do - act.

bkoganbing Let me tell you this is one special favor that Charles Boyer is asking of Rock Hudson. My guess is that Hudson's estate is keeping a lid on this one.Boyer has a daughter in Leslie Caron who is a psychiatrist by profession. He also has a colleague at work in Rock Hudson and he's concerned about his daughter. Concerned his daughter is not getting any sex.This is a new twist on the normal Rock Hudson comedies. In two of the ones he made with Doris Day, Rock's your normal every day American wolf trying very hard to make the all-American virgin Doris Day. Here Caron is a French virgin, well into her thirties.As Boyer tries ever so tactfully to put it, what a father might be proud of in a daughter at age 18 doesn't hold true when she's 38. As he puts it Rock, he expects him to to the deed with Caron and expose her to what she's been missing. What a favor to be asking.A Very Special Favor then follows the usual capers that these films for Rock Hudson normally do. But the end is really an unusual one. Deciding that maybe he ought to appeal to her professionally as well, Hudson let it be known he's gay and he has switchboard operator Nita Talbot dress up in drag and pretend to be a most effeminate male. Psychiatrist Caron races to the hotel room where Hudson and Talbot are to do the deed and at that point Caron sacrifices all including bachelorhood to save Rock from the love that dares not speak its name.I think it's rather obvious why this film isn't shown at all. What puzzles me is why Hudson who was oh so careful about keeping his homosexuality a secret would do a role like this. Maybe it's the reason why a lot of closeted gay men troll the docks for dates, hoping to have the question of exiting the closet forced on them. I leave that to the psychiatrists.A friend told me that he was at a party at someone's house and a video of one of Rock Hudson's films was being shown. This was a pretty straight crowd he was in and Rock in the macho role he was in was getting not a few hoots from the audience. This wasn't the film they were viewing, but imagine if it was with what we know now.My guess is A Very Special Favor will not be shown any time soon or be out on DVD or VHS. But if it does come out or is shown on TCM or AMC catch it by all means. You try and figure out what was going on in the mind of Rock Hudson.

beebertie This is a flick that will definitely not leave a bad taste in your mouth. There are lots and lots of slapstick laughter. The casting is perfect: Rock Hudson, Leslie Caron, Charles Boyer, Walter Slezak & Dick Shawn among others that are all long gone. What makes me so upset is it is the only Rock Hudson Romantic Comedy that hasn't been put on video. Posters & movie stills are floating around for people to purchase, but the video is positively not available. If all of this memorabilia is available, then why not the video? Pillow Talk, Lover Come Back, Send Me No Flowers & Man's Favorite Sport have all been made available. These are often shown on television too. This hysterical romantic comedy has only been at the theaters and shown only on television just ONE time. It is a feel good story that will most certainly warm everyone's hearts. We need more happiness today to be able to feel good. It will most assuredly make you split your sides laughing to the point of tears. I have been looking for the video forever. Fortunely I was able to find the book; which is the next best thing to being able to see the movie. So the book will have to do until they decide to come out with the video.