Rhinoceros [1974] with Gene Wilder

Rhinoceros (1974)



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070605/




Rhinoceros is a 1974 comedy film based on the play by Eugene Ionesco. The film was produced and released as part of the American Film Theatre, which adapted theatrical works for a subscription-driven cinema series.



Zero Mostel ... John

Gene Wilder ... Stanley

Karen Black ... Daisy

Joe Silver ... Norman

Robert Weil ... Carl

Marilyn Chris ... Mrs. Bingham

Percy Rodrigues ... Mr. Nicholson

Robert Fields ... Young Man, Logician

Melody Santangello ... Young Woman (as Melody Santangelo)

Don Calfa ... Waiter

Lou Cutell ... Cashier

Howard Morton ... Doctor

Manuel Aviles ... Busboy

Anne Ramsey ... Woman with Cat

Lorna Thayer ... Restaurant Owner



The residents of a large town are inexplicably turning into rhinoceroses. Stanley (Gene Wilder), a mild-mannered office clerk, watches the bizarre transformations from a bemused distance. But soon the strange occurrences invade his personal space, as his neighbor and best friend John (Zero Mostel) and his girlfriend Daisy (Karen Black) become part of the human-into-rhinoceros metamorphosis that is taking place. Eventually, Stanley realizes that he may be the only human left amidst the new rhinoceros majority.



In adapting Ionesco’s play, several changes were made to the original text. The setting was switched from France to a then-contemporary U.S., complete with a photograph of President Richard Nixon that was comically venerated, and the lead characters Berringer and Jean were renamed with Anglicized names Stanley and John. A new music score by Galt MacDermot was created for the film and a dream sequence was added to the story.



Tom O'Horgan, a theater director best known for his staging of the original production of the musical Hair, directed Rhinoceros. Zero Mostel, who starred in the 1961 Broadway production of the play, recreated his role as the man who turns into a Rhinoceros. Mostel created a minor brouhaha during the production when he refused to smash any props during the rehearsal of his transformation scene – the actor claimed he had an aversion to destroying property.



Although O'Horgan considered using a live animal to dramatize the transformation, no rhinoceros is ever seen on camera during the film – shadows and POV camera angles are used to suggest the presence of the animals.