Word: truman
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...Dick and Dora Charleston (David Niven and Maggie Smith) and Sidney Wang (Peter Sellers). These, "the world's greatest detectives" have been brought together under one roof at the invitation of Mr. Lionel Twain, a fiendishly eccentric, rich, and rather repulsive murder mystery buff played by none other than Truman Capote. The occasion for this unlikely gathering of slueths is "dinner and a murder," and the opportunity for the egocentric host to demonstrate to his never-before-stumped guests that he too can play their game, and what is more, beat them...
...disappointment, since his impersonations are often so uproariously funny, and the Oriental bit has, in the past, been one of his finest. Seller's acting may not be up to par, but more likely the material, not Seller's abilities, is to blame for this less than expected performance. Truman Capote, on the other hand, demonstrates absolutely no talent for acting--but then again not much acting is required for him to give a witless and repugnant parody of himself...
...surprised to find himself in the company of such renowned novelists as John Ehrlichman and Elizabeth Ray [June 28] and to have the first installment of Answered Prayers dismissed as making his readers "throw up" while his characters eat lunch. When the book is published, those who regard Truman Capote as the gifted writer he is may well throw up while Melvin Maddocks eats his words...
...egos or so furiously stamping on each other's toes. But things are kept pretty much in control here--each star is given his own piece of the sky within which to shine. Particularly engaging are David Niven, Maggie Smith, and Peter Falk, while the only real gap is Truman Capote, who may have better luck in his current effort to become Marcel Proust. At the Cheri, in Boston...
...modeled on real people. The roman à clef, a reader is tempted to answer, is ticktacktoe with a one-move handicap. Naturally there is more to it than that, and the question deserves a sober−but not too sober−answer. For, thanks to Ehrlichman and The Company, Truman Capote and Answered Prayers, and Elizabeth Ray and The Washington Fringe Benefit, the roman à clef may become not only the form the bestselling novel takes in 1976 but the symbol of a rather shoddy year that could just possibly go down in history as the Age of Psst...