GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

kristabridges I saw this movie thinking it would be a wacky comedy because it had Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder in it (they were both in The Producers so I figured it would be that level of comedy with slapstick and obvious jokes). Instead this movie is not like that at all, it was a complete surprise with a bizarre story line. Gene Wilder plays a guy who starts hallucinating and seeing the people around him in his life and in his town actually turning into rhinoceroses (or is it rhinoceri I have no idea?) It is definitely strange to watch and it is definitely more of a satire and drama and a comment about society at the time in the 1970s than it was a straight up comedy but it's definitely worth watching and good, it will stick with you.

classicsoncall The absurdist nature of the film doesn't hide the basic premise of the story - conformity to a herd mentality is to be resisted at all times if one is determined to remain an individual. The rampage of the rhinoceros(es)/rhinocerii(??) may serve to distract the disengaged viewer, but if you're paying attention, you'll get it pretty clearly. Even Stanley (Gene Wilder), seemingly immune to rhinocerization, in a way falls victim to his own brand of conformity - getting drunk on weekends to escape the fact that he 'can't get used to life'.My question would be - where did Zero Mostel get the energy to pull off that rhinoceros transformation? That was a pretty challenging and inspired piece of work. Can you just picture him over at the Bronx Zoo rhino pit evaluating the huge animal's every movement and idiosyncrasy? They were all incorporated into that magnificent characterization that had to go on for a significant portion of the story. It seemed that even Wilder was entranced by the performance.As for Karen Black, I wonder whose idea it was for her to wear that front slit skirt to distract the audience? Herd mentality at work, right? It worked on me, along with those long, leggy shots in every imaginable contorted position. It's too bad she became a rhinoceros too, she had such promise.I had never heard of this movie before until spying the title on one of the cable channels today. The story description hooked me right off, leading me to schedule my day so I could catch it. I guess that could be a submission of sorts as well, but it was worth it to catch the principals in their prime in the sort of inspired lunacy that was considered their trademark.

Prof_Lostiswitz Rhinoceros is not the best of American Film Theatre's films, but it does grow on you. When I saw this in the cinema, I had already read Ionesco's play, so I was in a mood to be critical of every change…notably the change of setting.Over the years, I have come to see that Ionesco can be transmogrified, and that most of the changes work quite well. Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder turn in dynamite performances, and the rest of the cast does nicely as well. Karen Black actually has the hardest job, turning her sweet and sexy character into a rhinoceros, but she carries it off gracefully. This is real acting!!The most objectionable part comes with political references, like a picture of Richard Nixon, or a "Remember Pearl Harbor" lapel button. Not only is all this too heavy-handed, it dates the movie unnecessarily. The music is also quite low-quality 70's kitsch, especially the song "What did you do to yourself?". This song however accompanies a great dream-sequence. I must also say that the theme accompanying the final scenes is quite moving.Ultimately, Rhinoceros is one of the great dramatic works of the twentieth century, and this movie will be for most people their only chance to see it (now that it can be bought on video). For those who don't know anything about it, it's about a town where the citizens start getting a strange malady that turns them into rhinoceroses. It starts out as a slapstick comedy of manners, but this is Ionesco's way of softening us up so we're more vulnerable to the horrific elements later on. Those of you who enjoyed Dr. Strangelove and Brazil should get a charge out of this.

steve49er As with others that commented on this film, I first saw Rhinoceros because it starred Gene Wilder. At the time, in the mid 1970's, Wilder was near the peak of his popularity. The film was a complete surprise to me. Very bizarre, nothing that I expected. Years later, I remember that I was quite disappointed with the movie and wondered just what it was that Wilder was doing. Years later, however, I find that the memory of this film has never left me. The premise of the movie, that of all the towns-people turning into Rhino's, escaped me. Today, I relate this film, in some ways to the novel 1984. I see the resemblance of the Rhino to sheep and/or cattle. This Wilder film is not comical. It is, however, a strangely unsettling satire that is difficult to forget. I, for one, am looking to purchase a copy of this film on DVD. I'm sure that it's meaning will be more apparent to me today than it was when first viewed 40 years ago.