Hoffman (1970)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Alvin Rakoff

Writers:

Ernest Gebler (novel)
Ernest Gebler (screenplay)

Release Date:

August 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

A businessman blackmails his attractive young secretary into spending a weekend with him. Though he's a creep throughout...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel | Independent Film | Character Name In Title

Cast

Peter Sellers	...	Benjamin Hoffman
Sinéad Cusack	...	Miss Janet Smith
Ruth Dunning	...	Mrs. Mitchell
Jeremy Bulloch	...	Tom Mitchell
David Lodge	...	Foreman
Kay Hall
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Elizabeth Bayley
Cindy Burrows
Karen Murtagh
Ron Taylor	...	Guitarist

Directed by
Alvin Rakoff

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ernest Gebler		novel
Ernest Gebler		screenplay

Produced by
Ben Arbeid	....	producer

Original Music by
Ron Grainer

Cinematography by
Gerry Turpin

Film Editing by
Barrie Vince

Art Direction by
John Blezard

Makeup Department
Harry Frampton	....	makeup artist
Patricia McDermott	....	hair stylist (as Pat McDermott)

Production Management
Bruce Sharman	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jake Wright	....	assistant director

Art Department
Ron Coleman	....	construction manager
Terry Ackland-Snow	....	draughtsman (uncredited)
Tony Reading	....	assistant art director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Len Abbott	....	dubbing mixer
Ian Fuller	....	sound editor
Claude Hitchcock	....	sound recordist
A.W. Lumkin	....	sound supervisor (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Michael Sarafian	....	camera operator
Sid Wainwright	....	chief electrician
Wick Finch	....	electrician (uncredited)
Joe Pearce	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Elizabeth Anderson-Hunter	....	wardrobe (as Elizabeth Anderson)

Other crew
Doreen Dearnaley	....	continuity

Production Companies

• Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC)
• Longstone Film Productions

Distributors

• Anglo-EMI Film Distributors (1970) (UK) (theatrical)
• American Continental Films Inc. (1971) (USA)
• Levitt-Pickman
• Lumiere Pictures (1994) (UK) (VHS)
• Momentum Pictures (2001) (UK) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (1992) (UK) (VHS)

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:GP | UK:AA (original rating) | UK:15 (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Associated British Elstree Studios, Shenley Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC)

Quotes:

Benjamin Hoffman: I'll be in bed should you be searching for me, Ms Smith.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Monty Python's Flying Circus: The Buzz Aldrin Show (#2.4)" (1970)

Soundtrack:

If There Ever Is a Next Time

A little masterpiece rarely seen

If you are a fan of Peter Sellers, and you have not seen this film, then make sure you do so immediately. It is an absolute gem of a movie, with an emotional core rare in film. Barely seen or heard of, it has only been broadcast the once, during a Channel 4 season of Sellers' films in the late nineties, and even then at about two in the morning, which is a scandal. Sellers gives the most interesting performance of his career without his trademark silly voice or make-up and is all the better for it, playing Hoffman as a lonely, shadowy figure, yearning somewhat pathetically for Sinead Cusack's Miss Smith. Part of the film's success is possibly due to the fact that the two main characters spend almost the entire film alone, thus enabling them to build the relationship nicely, changing from seeming lechery on Hoffman's part and terror on Miss Smith's to an emotional bond between them. It keeps you guessing about their relationship right to the end, and Seller's displays real emotional power in the later scenes. A wonderfully melancholic film about unrequited love and a man's fear of time passing as well as a kind of variation on Beauty and the Beast. Highly recommended, with a superb score too. Don't miss it.