X, Y AND ZEE

X, Y AND ZEE (aka Zee and Co./1972). Director: Brian G. Hutton. 

"I got expelled at school because I fell in love with one of the nuns." -- Stella. 

Zee (Elizabeth Taylor) and Robert (Michael Caine of Dressed to Kill) have a toxic marriage that seems to run on ennui and liquor. At a party Robert meets the widow Stella (Susannah York), and while he hopes for just another cheap affair winds up supposedly falling in love with her. Zee seems to have a casual and world-weary reaction to this, but then comes to see Stella and her two small boys -- she and Robert can't have children -- as a threat. Robert makes up his mind to move out and have a life with Stella. What's a wife to do?  Wondering exactly how old Stella might have been when she kissed a nun and got expelled at school, Zee pays a call on her when Robert is out ... 

Frankly X,Y and Zee is over just when it starts to get interesting. For most of its length, it is a fairly dreary marital drama -- wife vs. mistress with a cad caught in the middle -- that has good performances and some good dialogue along with two-dimensional characters. Unlike the "bisexual" comedy Score, which came out the following year, X, Y and Zee turns coy and basically cops out at the end. Made only three years after Stonewall X, Y and Zee has a fairly negative attitude towards homosexuality, with stereotypical gay characters being referred to as "fags" (even right in front of them), so it's hard to think of it as ahead of its time (now if the trio had turned into a "thrupple!"). One also has to remember that Susannah York had already starred in The Killing of Sister George, which was much more explicit on lesbian matters and was released four years earlier.

Liz on the rampage!

Another problem with the movie is that none of the characters are likable. While we can imagine how she became that way, Zee is overbearing and superficial. Stella is, in a word, stupid to even begin a relationship with a man like Robert, who is -- in another word -- a pig. The movie doesn't so much as explore sexual options as exploit them, although many might find the ending amusing. Margaret Leighton (of The Winslow Boy) provides a little bit of fun as an intoxicated party host. Taylor and director Hutton also worked together on Night Watch. 

Verdict: Who's Afraid of Virginia Mayo? Heads in an interesting direction, and then completely muffs it. **. 

NIGHT WATCH

NIGHT WATCH (1973). Director: Brian G. Hutton.

Wealthy Ellen Wheeler  (Elizabeth Taylor) is strangely obsessed with thoughts of the death of her philandering first husband, causing concern in her second husband, John (Laurence Harvey) and her best friend, Sarah (Billie Whitelaw), who's there for a visit. Worse, Ellen is convinced that during a storm she saw a corpse in the window in the abandoned house across the way. But nobody seems to believe her, and the police think she's dotty. Night Watch is based on a novel by Lucille Fletcher, who also wrote the original play upon which Sorry, Wrong Number was based. While Night Watch may not be in  that league [and Liz Taylor is no Barbara Stanwyck] and the plot may or may not hold up under close scrutiny, it's still an entertaining picture with a darkly amusing final twist. Taylor (Rhapsody) is okay, but Harvey (Room at the Top) and especially Whitelaw (The Omen) are a lot better. NOTE: This is now available in a remastered edition from Warner Archives.

Verdict: Like an extended episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. ***