The Driver's Seat

No one has ever been more willing than Elizabeth Taylor to lend their superstardom to crazy projects. A kind of precursor to TASTE OF CHERRY (1997), Rex Reed (1974) tells the story of how Patroni Griffi’s film was rejected by Cannes because, if you can believe this, it “was too commercial and not pretentious enough to fit comfortably with the other bad movies that were boring everyone to death in Cannes” (it’s true that that year’s festival, as always, included some movies that have since faded into obscurity, but films in competition included Ashby’s THE LAST DETAIL and Altman’s THIEVES LIKE US, with the top prize going to Coppola’s THE CONVERSATION, while out-of-competition movies included Fellini’s AMARCORD and Bresson’s LANCELOT DU LAC). Reed goes on to explain that “the Italians” weren’t going to take that lying down, and organised a screening to coincide with the night of the Cannes ball. According to Reed, “most people were shocked and stunned” by the film, “but they clapped some more, and then the party continued”, although “Warhol was disappointed that his voice was dubbed” (which is indeed strange). Maltin (2014), p. 389, gives the film his lowest, “BOMB” rating, and suggests that viewing it may induce suicidal impulses: enter at own risk.