The Wedding Party is a 1969 American film farce created as a joint effort by Sarah Lawrence College theater professor Wilford Leach and two of his students, protégé Brian De Palma and Cynthia Munroe.
Contents
Plot
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 at the family's estate on Shelter Island, New York.
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
Jennifer Salt as Phoebe
Robert De Niro as Cecil
Production
The film was made in 1963. It was bankrolled by Stanley Borden, owner of American Films and Brian De Palma's mentor and employer, who allowed De Palma to produce the film on company time.
Release
The on-screen copyright year is 1966. However, owing to a legal dispute between De Palma and Borden over the rights to the film because Borden thought it was not ready for release, and De Palma insisted on final cut, 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.
Wilford Leach went on to a successful career as a Tony Award-winning theatre director, while De Palma continued as a well-known film director.
Home media
The Wedding Party was released on DVD from Troma Entertainment, and on Blu-ray by Arrow Films on December 11, 2018, as part of the De Niro and De Palma: The Early Films collection. The set also includes the films Greetings (1968) and Hi, Mom! (1970), which are both directed by De Palma and star De Niro.