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Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 7:48 am
by matrixman
Being There
is excellent.
Understated and beguiling, like Chance himself. Sure, the film is a little slow, but again that fits in with Chance's personality. What a great character! I instantly liked him. It would take a heart of stone not to be affected by this simple-minded and decent guy. As a Peter Sellers movie, I prefer Being There to any of the Pink Panther opuses. I was thinking it was his last movie, but I checked and saw that he then starred in the awful Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980) before he died. I remember actually going to that movie as a kid, and boy did it bore me. Far better to have Being There serve as capstone to Sellers's career and as final testament to his comic brilliance.
Btw, I finally saw a TV ad for Steve Martin's Pink Panther. It's hideous. Just hideous. Who does he think he's kidding?
Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 8:31 am
by Loredoctor
Being There and The Party - two Seller classics.
Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 9:22 am
by The Laughing Man
In 1971, Jerzy Kosinski published the novel Being There. Soon afterwards he received a telegram from its lead character, Chance the Gardener: "Available in my garden or outside of it." A telephone number followed and when Kosinski dialed it
Peter Sellers answered.
For years afterwards, Sellers would try to get this film made. "That's me!" he would tell people of the Chance character. He hawked the idea of a film to whomever he could find. Finally, in 1979, with the clout he had gained from the Pink Panther series, he was able to fulfill his dream.
What followed was the culmination of Peter Sellers' career: a masterpiece of double-edged satire on politics and television. But Kosinki's screenplay goes deeper than that. What he and director Hal Ashby expose is a self-serving and self-deceived society. Through the innocence of the Chance character, all the schemes and manipulations of the world are laid bare for what they are: pure folly. For those who hunger for the truths in life, this is a film that will satisfy your appetite.
Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 6:39 pm
by lucimay
great story, Ez!! i've never seen Being There...now i think i'll just put it into my Netflix queue!!! thanks!
oh!!! edit: ger just googled up a trailer for Being There!!! Looks FAbulous!!!
can't believe i never saw this movie!!! (with my dad being a HUGE Peter Sellers fan and all!)
Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 7:04 pm
by The Laughing Man
Shirley MacLaine's masturbation scene was shot seventeen times.
Laurence Olivier was offered the role of Benjamin Rand, but passed when he read the completed script. He said he didn't want to be in a movie where Shirley MacLaine has to masturbate.
Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 7:07 pm
by lucimay
Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2006 7:47 pm
by dANdeLION
Being There was great; at least, the little bits of it I've seen is great. I don't like 'Casino Royale' nearly as much, but I've heard good things about 'The Mouse That Roared'. My favs are the Pink Panther movies and Dr. Strangelove.
Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 4:34 am
by sgt.null
Julie wanted me to mention that the Panther previews might put off people who have never seen the original. now that would suck.
Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 5:33 am
by Sunbaneglasses
Sgt Null,do you have a liscaunce for that minkey?
Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 5:45 am
by sgt.null
sorry, i was being attacked by my manservant...
Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 8:10 pm
by Lorelei
I fially saw the trailer the other night......truly truly awful....
I have enjoyed Steve Martin's work but I have to admit being very selective about what have chosen to watch.
Peter Sellers is Clousseau. I watched a bio pic of him on HBO last summer but can't remember what is was called. It had Geoffrey Rush and Charlize Theron in it - thought it was pretty good.
Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2006 2:30 am
by Fist and Faith
I didn't mind Martin's Clousseau. I think any weaknesses were the writing, rather than the acting. And even that wasn't terrible. Certainly not as good as the best of the material that was written for Sellers, but it was pretty good.
Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2006 2:32 am
by The Laughing Man
Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2006 3:00 am
by lucimay
Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2006 4:38 am
by The Laughing Man
looks like we scared em off, pahdna!
Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2006 4:40 am
by lucimay
Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2006 2:03 pm
by danlo
"I must conserve my precious bodily fluids"
The Somberlian wrote:I went to school with the grandson of the guy who played the police chief.
The one with the twitchy eye.
I forget his character's name...
do you mean Herbert Lom?
