The Loved One (DVD)

The funeral business gets a giant raspberry in this wickedly wacky, resplendently ridiculous farce based on Evelyn Waugh's macabre comic masterpiece and directed with inspired verve by Tony Richardson (Tom Jones). But the American way of death isn't the film's only target: sex, greed, religion and mother love are also in the crosshairs of it's satirical shots. Robert Morse plays a bemused would-be poet who gets entangled with an unctuous cemetery entrepreneur (Jonathan Winters), a mom-obsessed mortician (Rod Steiger) and other bizarre characters played by such adept farceurs as John Gielgud, Robert Morley, Tab Hunter, Milton Berle, James Coburn and Liberace. If the Loved One doesn't make you laugh, call the undertaker!

Starring: Robert Morse, Jonathan Winters, Anjanette Comer, Rod Steiger, Dana Andrews, James Coburn, Ayllene Gibbons, Milton Berle, John Gielgud, Tab Hunter, Margaret Leighton, Bernie Kopell, Asa Maynor, Alan Napier, Pamela Curran, Claire Kelly, John Bleifer, Bella Bruck, Paul H. Williams, Chick Hearn, Dort Clark, Robert Easton, Don Haggerty, Warren Kemmerling, Reta Shaw

Director: Haskell Wexler, John Calley, Neil Hartley

Rating: NR