The Wedding Party (1969 film)
The Wedding Party is a 1969 American film farce created as a joint effort by Sarah Lawrence theatre professor Wilford Leach and two of his students, protégé Brian De Palma and Cynthia Monroe. It was bankrolled by Stanley Borden, owner of American Films, De Palma's mentor and employer and who allowed De Palma to produce the film on company time. Leach went on to a successful career as a Tony Award-winning theatre director, while De Palma continued as a well-known film director.
| The Wedding Party | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover for The Wedding Party | |
| Directed by | Brian De Palma Wilford Leach Cynthia Munroe |
| Produced by | Brian De Palma Wilford Leach Cynthia Munroe |
| Written by | Brian De Palma Wilford Leach Cynthia Munroe |
| Starring | Jennifer Salt Jill Clayburgh William Finley Robert De Niro credited as Robert Denero Jared Martin |
| Music by | John Herbert McDowell |
| Cinematography | Peter Powell |
| Edited by | Brian De Palma Wilford Leach Cynthia Munroe |
| Distributed by | Troma Entertainment |
Release date | April 9, 1969 |
Running time | 92 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $43,000 |
The film focuses on a soon-to-be groom and his interactions with various relatives of his fiancée and members of the wedding party prior to the ceremony on the family's estate on Shelter Island.
The film was made in 1963, with the on screen copyright year being 1966, but the De Palma and Borden had a legal fight as to the rights of the film, as Borden thought it was not ready for release, and De Palma insisted on final cut, and the film was not released until 1969, after one of its supporting players, Robert De Niro, had begun to draw notice for his work in off-Broadway theatre and De Palma's 1968 release Greetings. Also in the cast were Jennifer Salt and William Finley, both of whom were De Palma regulars, and fellow Sarah Lawrence student Jill Clayburgh as the bride-to-be.
The film is now available on DVD from Troma Films, and on Blu-ray as part of Arrow Films' 2018 boxset 'De Niro & De Palma: The Early Films'.
Cast
- Velda Setterfield as Mrs. Fish
- Raymond McNally as Mr. Fish
- John Braswell as Reverend Oldfield
- Charles Pfluger as Charlie
- Jill Clayburgh as Josephine
- William Finley as Alistair
- Robert De Niro as Cecil
- Jennifer Salt as Phoebe