The 1967 film, HOTEL, that later spawned a 1980's television series, was at a contradictory crossroads for women: While Catherine Spaak plays the typical young and complacent, older rich man's trophy girlfriend, she can't stand him - and even tells him so. That being Kevin McCarthy, whose Curtis O'Keefe represents two things Hollywood despises...
He's supposedly a Christian, leading a bizarre prayer ritual that sounds as if God were his own personal accountant; and he's a corporate raider who's actually pretty sharp, knowledgeable and experienced: Yet we're not supposed to appreciate (or even notice) these things because no one in the movie does...
As a phony-polite, suit-and-tie villain, McCarthy plays the kind of boss even his closest, well-paid employees roll their eyes at. And yet, at least initially, he's the most interesting character - especially when opening-up to Spaak's Jeanne about how he was once young, broke, and denied a job as assistant desk clerk at the St. Gregory i.e. our titular HOTEL...
From that story we learn more about his character and motivation than the handsome, square-jawed Rod Taylor who, as the hotel manager, is more about the present time: always thinking and moving ahead...
His Ian McDermott is owner Melvin Douglas's right and left hand man. And in the role, Taylor is his usual capable, strong silent type who seems like he knows everything - and can eventually figure out what he doesn't. Taking interest in the gorgeous French girl from the onset, it's intentionally predictable they'd eventually hook up...
But there are more important stories tucked away in other rooms: Like an elegant yet paranoid and/or guilt-ridden Countess and Count played by sophisticated beauties Merle Oberon and Michael Rennie, covering up for a lethal drunk driving car accident with the help of slimy yet cool Richard Conte as the hotel's crooked security chief...
Meanwhile, the most fun's had with Karl Malden as a roving, room-to-room thief, who even overacts when just his eyes are shown. He'll do anything to snake other people's money, and at one point teams up with a neighboring strip joint's b-girl for a random cash-in-pocket heist (former 1950's backless dress model/starlet Vikki Dougan, who inspired the iconic cartoon sexpot "Jessica Rabbit" from the neck down)...
While it seems that actor turned director Richard Quine's pleasurable, addictive, New Orleans-jazz blaring HOTEL is the kind of all-star ensemble that'd saturate the following decade's Irwin Allen pictures or Agatha Christie adaptations, these actors and actresses were, at the time, more distinguished than relevant...
Except for Rod Taylor, the star of two already established (and semi-recent) classics, THE TIME MACHINE and THE BIRDS, who walks around with a sharp eye - figuring how to thwart McCarthy's plans to morph the turn-of-the-century style hotel into a proverbial shopping mall - all the while making side-deals, trying to keep his boss modern, and avoiding a local-media scandal...
So when not wasting time with the glorified French harlot, who IS downright gorgeous with a good-enough screen presence for her otherwise robotic delivery to not really matter, he's an interesting protagonist juggling various problems in a suave, even-keeled manner. And, thankfully, the political and/or racial elements aren't dated or preachy, connected tightly within a story-line that rarely strays from providing a cozy (if slightly overlong) two-hours of pleasurable, top rate, four-star entertainment.
He's supposedly a Christian, leading a bizarre prayer ritual that sounds as if God were his own personal accountant; and he's a corporate raider who's actually pretty sharp, knowledgeable and experienced: Yet we're not supposed to appreciate (or even notice) these things because no one in the movie does...
As a phony-polite, suit-and-tie villain, McCarthy plays the kind of boss even his closest, well-paid employees roll their eyes at. And yet, at least initially, he's the most interesting character - especially when opening-up to Spaak's Jeanne about how he was once young, broke, and denied a job as assistant desk clerk at the St. Gregory i.e. our titular HOTEL...
From that story we learn more about his character and motivation than the handsome, square-jawed Rod Taylor who, as the hotel manager, is more about the present time: always thinking and moving ahead...
His Ian McDermott is owner Melvin Douglas's right and left hand man. And in the role, Taylor is his usual capable, strong silent type who seems like he knows everything - and can eventually figure out what he doesn't. Taking interest in the gorgeous French girl from the onset, it's intentionally predictable they'd eventually hook up...
But there are more important stories tucked away in other rooms: Like an elegant yet paranoid and/or guilt-ridden Countess and Count played by sophisticated beauties Merle Oberon and Michael Rennie, covering up for a lethal drunk driving car accident with the help of slimy yet cool Richard Conte as the hotel's crooked security chief...
Meanwhile, the most fun's had with Karl Malden as a roving, room-to-room thief, who even overacts when just his eyes are shown. He'll do anything to snake other people's money, and at one point teams up with a neighboring strip joint's b-girl for a random cash-in-pocket heist (former 1950's backless dress model/starlet Vikki Dougan, who inspired the iconic cartoon sexpot "Jessica Rabbit" from the neck down)...
While it seems that actor turned director Richard Quine's pleasurable, addictive, New Orleans-jazz blaring HOTEL is the kind of all-star ensemble that'd saturate the following decade's Irwin Allen pictures or Agatha Christie adaptations, these actors and actresses were, at the time, more distinguished than relevant...
Except for Rod Taylor, the star of two already established (and semi-recent) classics, THE TIME MACHINE and THE BIRDS, who walks around with a sharp eye - figuring how to thwart McCarthy's plans to morph the turn-of-the-century style hotel into a proverbial shopping mall - all the while making side-deals, trying to keep his boss modern, and avoiding a local-media scandal...
So when not wasting time with the glorified French harlot, who IS downright gorgeous with a good-enough screen presence for her otherwise robotic delivery to not really matter, he's an interesting protagonist juggling various problems in a suave, even-keeled manner. And, thankfully, the political and/or racial elements aren't dated or preachy, connected tightly within a story-line that rarely strays from providing a cozy (if slightly overlong) two-hours of pleasurable, top rate, four-star entertainment.