The Flutterby Effect

Butterflies Want To Be Free (1972)

Starring: Golda Hawn, Eddie Albert, Bea Arthur Directed by: Milton Friedman Rating: PG Genre: Drama Other: Otherly-Abledness

Friday Night Special - Friday Night Special is a special feature of Oswald's Screen Scene. Here we present reviews of movies that we feel may be of particular interest to those special lovers looking for that magical mood-setter of a date flick that just might ignite the passions bubbling under the surface during the last work day of the week. Is this "The One"? Or just "One of Those Things?" Let us be your guide! Review Offensive creation of minds unsuited to the filmic art. Director/Accountant Friedman ("CitiCorp!", "Let Them Eat Cake: The Ayn Rand Story" ) pits not one, but two psychopathic killers against an incredibly toned Eddie Albert ("How Green Are My Acres", "Willie Wonka 2: The Shrivening"). Cave-mouthed female impersonator Bea Arthur ("I'm Gonna Singa Your Song Whether You Like It Or Not", "Antigone") plays Albert's mother, a harridan and shrew and something a bit more (hint: never approach her from behind when she's in her rocking chair). Golda Hawn ("Gandhi In Love" [TV Movie], "Sugar Hill Express") is Albert's whacky neighbor with a taste for scissors and kicky t-shirts. Rather than tip off the shocking reveal (Albert is blind), I'd like to take a moment to comment on the movie industry's habit of burying the lede. Why the trite and hackneyed plot of mother and girlfriend vying with each other to kill the son/boyfriend? Hey Hollywouldnt, why doesn't the blind guy KILL his mother/girlfriend? Because he's otherly-abled by his visual-differentness? For the business that made "Fear Strikes Out" (in which a mentally troubled baseball player is hounded out of baseball for making everyone kind of uncomfortable and, like a little tiny clipper ship, goes straight into a bottle), it wouldn't seem a stretch to turn a sightless feller into a razor-wielding son of vengeance. But, hey, you're the professionals. Just a thought. With all of that said, Hawn and Albert do have something going on, and when they repeat the barber sketch from Monty Python the frisson between the two is palpable. It certainly made my palms sweat! If one or both of you is slightly under the weather and would feel a bit more comfortable having easy access to your own restroom, then don't let my Tinseltown tongue-lashing make you hesitate. That's just insider stuff between me and the biz.  By all means, couch-itate yourselves and let nature take its course.