Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Ulu Grosbard

Writer:

Herb Gardner (screenplay)

Release Date:

1 November 1971 (Denmark)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy

Tagline:

Dustin Hoffman wants to know...

Plot:

Georgie Soloway, a pop hit love song writer who cannot love, himself, or others. He spends his days with various women flying his plane...

Plot Keywords:

Punctuation In Title | Bizarre | Long Title | Question In Title | Independent Film

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Dustin Hoffman	...	Georgie Soloway
Barbara Harris	...	Allison Densmore
Jack Warden	...	Dr. Solomon F. Moses
David Burns	...	Leon Soloway
Gabriel Dell	...	Sidney Gill
Betty Walker	...	Margot Soloway
Rose Gregorio	...	Gloria Soloway
Dom DeLuise	...	Irwin Marcy
Regina Baff	...	Ruthie Tresh
David Galef	...	Leonard Soloway
Ed Zimmermann	...	Peter Halloran
Amy Levitt	...	Susan
Joseph R. Sicari	...	Marty
Rudy Bond	...	Newsdealer
Walter Hyman	...	Flower Vendor

MPAA:

Rated R for brief nudity.

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-8 | Sweden:11 | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

GM Building - 59th Street & 5th Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Cinema Center Films

Trivia:

Has the longest title ever of any Academy Award nominated film in terms of words (14) although second longest in terms of letters (62). First place goes to "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" with 12 words and 72 letters.

Quotes:

Allison: Time, mister, it's not a thief. It's an embezzler staying up nights, and juggling the books so you don't notice anything missing when you wake up.

Movie Connections:

References The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Soundtrack:

Bunky And Lucille

A clear-eyed, surprisingly meditative personal odyssey...

Despite the nudging, rambling title and Dustin Hoffman's mildly hippie appearance, "Who Is Harry Kellerman..." is rather old-fashioned in its quest to find substantial meaning in life, which screenwriter Herb Gardner sees as always being undermined by the inevitability of death. There are no pretenses here towards embracing a pseudo-hip scenario, and the lack of mod-ish overtones keeps the film relevant and fresh. Hoffman plays an East Coast songwriter, currently being hailed by Time magazine as a prophet, who sees nothing meaningful in his existence, hearkening back on his ordinary boyhood in order to make peace with the present. Accentuated by bursts of rock music, and defined by little bits of mordant truth, the film blessedly isn't a silly phantasmagoria, although some may see all this as a con--written by somebody who is out of step with the times (Gardner wrote the coy "A Thousand Clowns", after all). Yet, somehow, the movie strikes a melancholic, sobering, almost disenfranchised chord, and smart director Ulu Grosbard is actually interested in revealing something tangible through his characters. Hoffman's Georgie Soloway can't enjoy living without relating it to dying, and so has suicidal flights-of-fancy, paranoiac personal dramas, and surreal sessions with a Viennese analyst. It's a good role for Dustin, while Barbara Harris is wonderful in the small role of a struggling actress who's still in love with 1957. It takes a while to get into the movie's groove, but there are some worthwhile thoughts here, helped immeasurably by Victor Kemper's non-fussy cinematography and Grosbard's deep connection with the material. It's a near-triumph. **1/2 from ****