Scandalous (1984) User Reviews

Embarrassing

[sxct · 3/10 · 11 June 2006]

What could possibly have prompted John Gielgud to appear in this abomination. I have a hard time believing it was for the money. Talk about a blemish on ones career. And Robert Hays was the same character in this movie as he was in "Airplane" which was a really funny movie.

This film is idiotic, humorless, the acting is atrocious and I have a hard time believing it was a "release" rather than an "escape." The only reason I gave it a 3 rating is because there are some nice shots of London, which is one of my favorite cities.

I strongly recommend that you curl up with a bad book rather than view this piece of tripe masquerading as movie.

"You're the investigative reporter. You figure it out."

[lost-in-limbo · 7/10 · 18 August 2012]

The 80s had plenty of these forgotten little comedies, but what caught my eye about this one is that the story was co-penned by cult film-maker Larry Cohen. Then added additions of Pamela Stephenson beautiful presence and the comedic touches of John Gielgud and Jim Dale as a snoopy Scottish yard detective. "Scandalous" is a breezy, but innovatively constructed mystery-comedy that is completely daft and somewhat contrived, but thoroughly entertaining in its comic flashes and dangerous inclusions. The twists and turns within the plot aren't all that predictable and even resolution is somewhat tragically downbeat. Robert Hayes (who's great in the role) plays an investigative TV reporter Frank Sweldin returning home to London where he comes across an espionage story involving industrial spies (or that's what he's to believe), but instead he finds himself dealing with con-artists and then murder, which everyday the situation worsens as the evidence piles up against him. While Frank was always on the look out for a real story, he never expected he would become one. Very tongue in cheek with a script with much added quick wit and deliciously silly in its many bemusing occurrences like when Dale's erratic character pops up. It seems to play out like a storm in a tea cup. Director Rob Cohen does a crisp job. Also showing up in the cast is M. Emmet Walsh.

"Never trust journalists."

comedy-mystery-farce passes 90 minutes pleasantly

[aromatic-2 · 8/10 · 10 March 2000]

This is a quintessential B-movie. Silly, but lots of fun with Sir John cavorting in every disguise imaginable. Despite the clowning, the script takes its mystery roots seriously and those that stay with it will be rewarded by some totally unexpected twists and turns. The critics roasted this one because they missed what the picture was trying to do -- entertain.

So awful, it's good!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 17 March 2016]

Difficult to rate, this movie is so awful, it's really quite entertaining. Jim Dale and John Gielgud are given their heads and allowed to act with such exaggerated hamminess as to bewilder the ostensible lead, Robert Hays. The scene in which the slummy waiter sets fire to the tablecloth and Dale cracks plates while he stomps it out, is utterly unforgettable. The movie also has a terrific music score, plus photography by the great Jack Cardiff, would you believe, and it shines bright, despite a lot of TV style direction. The heroine is attractive too. The incredible mish-mash of a plot is utterly ridiculous, but it is put across with such verve by Dale and Gielgud and other players that the film succeeds as entertainment, both despite and because of its incredible lapses in taste, style and basic storytelling.

Bits of it are good....

[Eighty-Days · 10/10 · 24 March 2003]

This isn't a great movie..it's an okay movie. A 5, I'd say. Jim Dale, one of my favorite actors, has a small role and is good until the very end..."In Swaziland, red is the color of mourning," Is my favorite line, and excellently delivered. The music is nice....John Gieldgud is a hoot!

Bow Wow Wow

[joehanratty · 9/10 · 27 February 2021]

So cool being an extra in the crowd while it was filmed at the Rainbow Club in London. I was there for the FSU London Study program. It was a great time for shows. Saw Joan Jett and Tom Petty that semester.