X, Y & ZEE (1972)

I've done it. I've finally found a film with absolutely no redeeming qualities. I won an auction on eBay ($10) for a 16mm print of the Michael Caine/Elizabeth Taylor bitch fest X, Y & ZEE (aka Zee & Co.) from 1972. I'd never seen the film and it's not available on DVD here in the States so I decided to take a chance. Now I know why no one wanted this. I threaded the first reel through my Elmo projector and watched it in my office. The print was obviously an old TV edit and since I hadn't seen it before, I didn't know what was cut out but I had heard about a lesbian scene between Taylor and actress Susannah York -- not in this version. It took me two days but I made it through until the last, psychedelic, depressoid moment. I felt like I needed a shower afterwards.

Not one character begged any sympathy. The deficiency of clever dialog or interesting plot twist just sort of made it a period curio (sort of like polio) -- except for MAYBE...just maybe, Liz's over-the-top performance as a manipulative, clingy, over-dramatic wife, obsessed with destroying her philandering husband's latest "conquest." But I did say it possessed no redeeming qualities so screw that. I read online that the director quit the biz to become a plumber. Ha.

After finishing the film, I woke up feeling icky the next day. I blame it on Zee & Co.