‘Candy’: Why did Ringo Starr feature in this offensive, cringe-inducing sex farce?
Ringo Starr was never the best actor in The Beatles. He has his other strengths, that’s for sure, but acting is something he should’ve stayed far away from.
You only have to look at the clip of Starr giving a stilted laugh after delivering a line in A Hard Day’s Night for the perfect example. That’s not the work of anyone who should be cast in films.
Yet, with his star power (no pun intended) allowing him to do literally anything he wants, Starr has actually acted in a fair few movies over the years, including Ken Russell’s Lisztomania and Freddie Francis’ Son of Dracula. Some ardent Starr supporters might disagree, considering him to be a versatile star who can do comedy well, but you’re just kidding yourselves. I don’t make the rules.
One of the most bizarre films Starr lent himself to, however, was a sex farce with a surprisingly stacked cast. This is a little fact I love to ask Beatles fans about: “Did you know Ringo Starr was in a creepy sex comedy as a Mexican gardener which also featured Richard Burton, Sugar Ray Robinson, John Huston and Marlon Brando in brownface?” Most of the time, the answer is no.
That’s because Candy wasn’t exactly a cinematic sensation, even if it did feature some admittedly nice ultra-60s visuals. That’s not enough to save a film that follows a high-school student as she is pursued by much older men, though. Ewa Aulin had only just turned 18 when the film was released, but these older actors (and Starr) appeared as her various love interests (or sex pests).
Why was Starr meant to be Mexican? In one scene, he interacts with Candy before turning round and frowning, “She want me?” It’s awful.
Like a fever dream occurring after watching one too many classic Hollywood movies and listening to ‘Yellow Submarine’ on repeat, Candy is a strange clash of impressive stars and terrible material. Even more disappointing is the fact that Candy was based on a book co-written by Terry Southern, who helped bring Easy Rider to life, and a screenplay written by Buck Henry, who co-wrote some excellent movies like The Graduate and What’s Up, Doc?
God knows what went wrong, although the concept of a sex farce involving a teenage girl got it off to a bad enough start. How Starr was asked to be part of the film is another mystery, but he reportedly got paid $50,000 a week, which is ridiculous considering his rather small (and terribly-acted) role in the movie.
Later in Starr’s scene, he spits out some more terribly-accented lines like “Ohhh, this no good. This is house of the devil,” his Liverpudlian twang coming out in his pronunciation of the last word. The fact that Starr can say he has been in a Brando film is truly depressing and an insult to actors who would do anything to land a job.
Well, you can’t blame Starr for accepting the lucrative offer, even if, paired with his song ‘You’re Sixteen’, it leaves a rather sour taste in one’s mouth.
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