Alcoholic lesbian June Buckridge (Reid) plays a popular, sugar-sweet character, Sister George, on a TV soap opera. But her off-hour drunken binges and on-set flare-ups have prompted execs to kill off her role. When June’s powerful nemesis at the BBC, Mercy Croft (Browne), sets her sights on June’s younger, live-in lover, Alice (York), the insanely jealous actress loses all self-control.

A pitch black comedy from Robert Aldrich, better known for macho films like “The Dirty Dozen” and “Kiss Me Deadly,” this acidic off-kilter farce revolves around Reid’s riveting performance as an unrepentantly boozy lesbian. Dour, witty, and crazed in equal measure, the film earned an unnecessary X rating in its time due to its frank depiction of homosexuality. Today, it shows a director at the peak of his powers, taking on material one could have imagined Blake Edwards handling. Buy “George!”