Bobby Deerfield (1977)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Sydney Pollack

Writers:

Alvin Sargent (screenplay) and
Erich Maria Remarque (novel)

Release Date:

4 November 1977 (Denmark)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

He had to meet her - to find himself!

Plot:

Bobby Deerfield, a famous American race car driver on the European circuit, falls in love with the enigmatic Lillian Morelli, who is terminally ill.

Plot Keywords:

Race Car | Sunglasses | Racecar Driver | Hot Air Balloon | Commercial

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe.

Cast

Al Pacino	...	Bobby
Marthe Keller	...	Lillian
Anny Duperey	...	Lydia
Walter McGinn	...	The Brother
Romolo Valli	...	Uncle Luigi
Stephan Meldegg	...	Karl Holtzmann
Jaime Sánchez	...	Delvecchio (as Jaime Sanchez)
Norm Nielsen	...	The Magician
Mickey Knox	...	Tourist
Dorothy James	...	Tourist
Guido Alberti	...	Priest In The Garden
Monique Lejeune	...	Catherine Modave
Steve Gadler	...	Bertrand Modave
Van Doude	...	The Flutist
Aurora Maris	...	Woman In The Gas Station

Also Known As:

Heaven Has No Favorites (Australia)

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Dolby Digital (DVD version)

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG (Approved No. 24936) | Canada:PG (Ontario) (Canadian Home Video rating) | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Paris Studios Cinéma, Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The race car used by Al Pacino in the movie is a Brabham Alfa Romeo BT-45, which belonged to the Brazilian Racer José Carlos Pace, who actually drove it during the race (South African GP, in 1976) scenes.

Quotes:

Lillian Morelli: You're such a turtle!
Bobby Deerfield: Turtle?
[she nods]
Bobby Deerfield: Nobody's ever called me that before. A turtle.
Lillian Morelli: Perhaps you are the world's fastest turtle, but just the same, you are a ...
Lillian Morelli, Bobby Deerfield: turtle!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The Directors: The Films of Sydney Pollack (#2.4)" (????)

Heaven Has No Favorites

When Bobby Deerfield was marketed in the USA it was sold to the public as a racing picture like Grand Prix or Le Mans. I well remember the advertisements for it. The European racing scene however is only a background for an Erich Maria Remarque novel on which the film is based. It is a very typical Remarque story about doomed people.

Remarque was one of the most pessimistic of 20th century writers. His best known work however usually has a war background. He spent his entire life trying to out do his first great success All Quiet On The Western Front. Such other work as Three Comrades and Arch of Triumph which were also filmed had a war background or post or pre-war if you will.

The novel Bobby Deerfield is based on Heaven Has No Favorites and came out in 1961 and its protagonist was not an American. My guess is that in order to film it and insure box office the protagonist was changed to an American and a rising American star was cast. Al Pacino plays the title role, an American driver on the European circuit who is self involved in his career. In fact he goes visiting another injured driver, not out of any tremendous concern for him, but to find out information about the crash because he's driving the exact same type of car.

While at the hospital he meets Marthe Keller who leaves the hospital with him. She's a terminal tuberculosis patient and she wants to experience a little of life before it's too late. His kind of risk taking profession appeals to her. It takes a while, but the two develop a relationship.

Which was paralleled in real life between Al Pacino and Marthe Keller and that certainly helped the film a lot. Keller joins Ingrid Bergman from Arch of Triumph and Margaret Sullavan in Three Comrades as yet another of Remarque's doomed heroines. And like in war Pacino's in a job where his number can come up any time.

The film was shot on location in France. Sydney Pollack showed some of the style he did while making that other Oscar winning romantic film Out of Africa. The French countryside is captured beautifully.

Still I think it was bad for American audiences to expect another Grand Prix in Bobby Deerfield. There was enough racing scenes in the film to satisfy racing fans, maybe. But make no mistake, this is a tender romantic story and a good one.