Eating Raoul

Confronting Your Inner Sex Fiend

If I remember correctly the phrase goes “There are a million stories in the Naked City,” but after watching this movie I think the phrase should be changed to; there are a million naked stories in the city.  I finally got to see this movie and it is very funny.  The movie details the fund raising initiative of a couple looking to buy their first restaurant.  They are, in some ways, throwbacks to another time, and the movie dances around the stereotypes that come to mind.  Consider the 1950s Grade B movie music as Raoul cases the Bland’s apartment, the Bland's car, and the “fabulous 50s furniture.”  But this is an updated version when you add the sexual snobbery, Paul’s wine bottle pillow, Mary’s stuffed animals, Mary’s undercurrent of domination to Paul’s apparent submissiveness, Raoul lusting after Mary, the last name (Bland!), and those twin beds!  Good grief even Ward and June shared a mattress occasionally, unless they adopted Wally and the Beaver!

In a scene that provides a glimpse into the couple's oddball sexual world, Mary goes to the bank in an outfit that shows off her undergarments, and then has to fend off the lecherous bank officer.  In some ways they are not unlike the people they bop on the head, they just don’t recognize it.  After all their relationship, as Mary tells Raoul, is built on something more than physical needs.  Or is it?  A sleeping Mary writhes gently under the light from Raoul’s flashlight, and is easily seduced by him, with only a little help from the Thai stick.  Even as she pushes Raoul away she still is willing to be seduced, as long as she can tell her husband it was Raoul’s fault.  Which she does.

Despite their chaste living arrangement, it is pretty clear that Mary is the dominant one, suggesting to Paul that they might have a source of ready cash in the oversexed visitors to their apartment.  Mary doesn’t see obstacles, if the bank won’t lend $20,000, perhaps they will loan $10,000 instead.  The perverts have money and she wants it.  She simply doesn’t want to get involved with sex.  Even after being seduced by Raoul, Mary remains on top (in a manner of speaking) and Raoul winds up as the entrée du jure.  Which is also Mary’s idea.

Paul is less aggressive than Mary, except where she is concerned.  He is not about to share his wife with anyone.  After Raoul attempts to run him down in a car, Paul engages Doris the Dominatrix in an unsuccessful attempt to intimidate Raoul.  Paul may look and act like a mild mannered marshmallow, but he is made of sterner stuff when Mary is his focus, as witnessed by his travels on the roof of Raoul’s van.

This couple seems made for each other.  Paul is wedded to his wine and content to let Mary run the rest of their life.  Mary, unwilling to openly acknowledge her sexual desires, flaunts it when she wants to, secure in the knowledge that Paul will run to her rescue if the need arises.  The fly in the ointment is Raoul, a cocky, handsome Latino burglar whose lust for Mary is barely disguised.  He is willing to haul out the trash, as it were, because it pays well and he has more opportunities to see, and possibly seduce, Mary.  He finally gets his wish, but his certainty that Mary is a slave to his charms brings his downfall.

Watching the interplay between these three characters, I couldn’t help but wonder what a modern day remake might look like.  Could there even be a modern day remake?  Part of what makes this movie so funny comes from watching the action and realizing how much the Blands are like their sexually adventurous neighbors, if in a covert, less obvious way.  Raoul, seeing the cover of the Hollywood Press thinks he has struck up with a truly wild couple.  That they are, but not the way he thinks.

The movie does not drag, and some of the dialogue apparently has double meanings.  How else to assess a comment about Mary’s cooking specialty, the “Bland enchilada?”  The events at the swingers’ party, which is the climax of the movie, reveal a Paul who suddenly comes into his own when he tosses an electrical device into the hot tub.  A fun movie overall, and not a bad way to start a film career.  Dog owners beware: you will never look at dog food the same way again.

A Word About Robert Beltran:

The opening credits to the movie include “introducing Robert Beltran.”  This was RB’s first significant role.  He actually began in Zoot Suit, but that appearance was limited.  Raoul was also his first movie work with Paul Bartel, who co-wrote and directed it.  This movie and Scenes From the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills are two of the handful of comedies RB played in.  Both of these movies provided more meat for RB to work with than the others.  In Scenes Mary Woronov (Mary Bland) again played opposite RB, as the rich Hollywood socialite he was setting out to seduce.  I recall a rumor that Bartel had another movie in mind that would include RB, but unfortunately he died before anything was confirmed.  The mind reels at the possibilities!

In this movie Raoul is just what he appears to be, cocky yet streetwise enough to know how to dispose of dead bodies.  He is a stereotypical Latino in his approach to Mary.  He is on the prowl; sure of his sexual prowess, and convinced that is all it takes to win Mary to his side.  We know nothing of his background, but the accent suggests an immigrant out to make as much money as he can, and in this case by any means necessary.  It would be pretty easy to make this character a cardboard cutout, but RB doesn’t do that.  If Raoul has redeeming qualities, it comes through in a native intelligence that enables him to outflank the couple and win their (or Mary’s) initial trust.  His eyes travel up and down Mary’s body “like searchlights” and he tells her how she should be treated with absolute sincerity.  This movie is the first time we see RB using his eyes, his voice, even his body (as he intrudes on Mary’s space), and displaying the sensuality that I mentioned in Luminarias.  He is Raoul, and he isn’t if you recall the many later characters he has played.

RB is one of a triplet of characters, while Scenes had a larger cast, whose many characters easily played off each other.  RB seems to need the energy of multiple players, all headed in the same direction and working together.  It may just be a coincidence that two of his better movies were comedies, directed by the same man, and involving the interaction of multiple characters.  Still, it would be interesting to see RB in another comedy, as part of an ensemble, just to see what happens.