The Birthday Party backdrop

The Birthday Party

1968·Drama·2h 3m
7.1
Based on Harold Pinter's enigmatic play about a boarder in a British seaside dwelling who is visited by two strangers. They torment him verbally, ask him idiotic unanswerable questions, force him to sit down and stand up, and give him a "party". Then, eventually, they take him away, a tongue-tied idiot. The trivial becomes the terrible, and with it a certain wonder, a certain pity.
Directed by William Friedkin
absurdist

Cast

Robert Shaw
Robert Shaw
Stanley Webber
Patrick Magee
Patrick Magee
Shamus McCann
Dandy Nichols
Dandy Nichols
Meg Bowles
Sydney Tafler
Sydney Tafler
Nat Goldberg
Moultrie Kelsall
Moultrie Kelsall
Pete Bowles
Helen Fraser
Helen Fraser
Lulu

Crew

William Friedkin
William Friedkin
Director
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Screenplay
Milton Subotsky
Milton Subotsky
Producer
Alan Pattillo
Alan Pattillo
Sound Editor
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Theatre Play
Andrew Grieve
Andrew Grieve
Assistant Director

Popular Reviews

3 reviews
Rich
Rich
The Birthday Party
hhoc day one - one location

am I pushing it a little by including this in a horror challenge, sure, it's not listed as a horror on letterboxd nor does it have any spooky ghosts, creatures or killers in it. but it's fucking weird, uncomfortable and psychologically funky and that's enough to give it a slide in my opinion.

yeah, the main- well, the only reason I wanted to watch this in the first place was disheveled robert shaw in glasses zoo wee mama but the snappy and sometimes incomprehensible dialogue kept me fully engaged. of course because nothing is making a lick of sense and you feel you have to have your ears on max for any chance of an answer. you never get one, like, but it has you looking.

the unpredictiality of the moods of the characters had me anticipating them beating the everloving fuck out of each other at any second. not a farcry from a couple birthday parties I've been too, so kudos for realism I guess.

I can't decide wether I liked this or not, as a whole. I'll have to digest.
hhoc day one - one location

am I pushing it a little by including this in a horror challenge, sure, it's not listed as a horror on letterboxd nor does it have any spooky ghosts, creatures or killers in it. but it's fucking weird, uncomfortable and psychologically funky and that's enough to give it a slide in my opinion.

yeah, the main- well, the only reason I wanted to watch this in the first place was disheveled robert shaw in glasses zoo wee mama but the snappy and sometimes incomprehensible dialogue kept me fully engaged. of course because nothing is making a lick of sense and you feel you have to have your ears on max for any chance of an answer. you never get one, like, but it has you looking.

the unpredictiality of the moods of the characters had me anticipating them beating the everloving fuck out of each other at any second. not a farcry from a couple birthday parties I've been too, so kudos for realism I guess.

I can't decide wether I liked this or not, as a whole. I'll have to digest.
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Eclectic Sorcerer
Eclectic Sorcerer
The Birthday Party
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Eclectic Sorcerer
Eclectic Sorcerer
The Birthday Party
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