The Shooting Party

The Shooting Party (1985)

Genres - Drama, Romance  |   Sub-Genres - Period Film, Ensemble Film  |   Release Date - Sep 1, 1985 (USA - Unknown)  |   Run Time - 98 min.  |   Countries - United Kingdom  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson

This British Merchant-Ivory look-alike was adapted from a novel by Isabel Colgate. In the summer before World War I, British nobleman James Mason invites an assorted group of acquaintances for a weekend shooting party on his huge estate. Among the participants are longtime rivals Edward Fox and Rupert Frazer, Fox's occasionally unfaithful wife Cheryl Campbell, and staunch anti-hunting advocate John Gielgud. The film unfolds in a carefully calculated but seemingly spontaneous fashion, in the manner of its 1938 ancestor Rules of the Game. Also like the earlier film, The Shooting Party casts a jaundiced eye towards class consciousness--and ends with a sudden, senseless but not altogether unexpected tragedy.

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Keywords

British, weekend, shooting [sports], class-consciousness, rival, vacation, extramarital-affair