When I first saw The Party in the theater in 1968, I broke down crying from laughing so much. Watching it again recently, it has - like all great comedies - stood the test of time quite well. A beautifully understated performance by Peter Sellers, playing an aspiring actor from India. Also an incredibly funny performance by Steve Franken (aka Chatsworth Osborne Junior from the Dobie Gillis Show) as a waiter who keeps getting drunker and drunker throughout the "party". Also a very nice performance by Claudine Longet. Two of the funniest scenes are in the beginning, when, as a bit actor in Hollywood, Peter Sellers refuses to die on cue in a Gunga Din-type scene, and then accidentally steps on a detonator that prematurely blows up a fortress before the cameras are rolling. But there are funny scenes from beginning to end. One of my favorite quotes is: "In India, we don't think who we are. We know who we are." The growing friendship between Claudine Longet and Peters Sellers is also done quite well
