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Being There (1979)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
19 December 1979 (USA) moreTagline:
Getting there is half the fun; being there is all of it! morePlot:
Chance, a simple gardener, has never left the estate until his employer dies. His simple TV-informed utterances are mistaken for profundity. full summary | full synopsisAwards:
Won Oscar. Another 10 wins & 10 nominations moreNewsDesk:
(32 articles)
'Mrs. Doubtfire' Dresses In Drag For Today's Sick Day Stash (From MTV Movies Blog. 4 November 2009, 1:00 PM, PST)
This Week On DVD and Blu-ray: November 3, 2009
(From Rope Of Silicon. 3 November 2009, 4:53 AM, PST)
User Comments:
A great work from two great men more (220 total)Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Peter Sellers | ... | Chance | |
| Shirley MacLaine | ... | Eve Rand | |
| Melvyn Douglas | ... | Benjamin Turnbull 'Ben' Rand | |
| Jack Warden | ... | President 'Bobby' | |
| Richard Dysart | ... | Dr. Robert Allenby | |
| Richard Basehart | ... | Vladimir Skrapinov | |
| Ruth Attaway | ... | Louise | |
| David Clennon | ... | Thomas Franklin (as Dave Clennon) | |
| Fran Brill | ... | Sally Hayes | |
| Denise DuBarry | ... | Johanna Franklin | |
| Oteil Burbridge | ... | Lolo | |
| Ravenell Keller III | ... | Abbaz | |
| Brian Corrigan | ... | Policeman by White House | |
| Alfredine P. Brown | ... | Old Woman asked for lunch (as Alfredine Brown) | |
| Donald Jacob | ... | David |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parentsRuntime:
130 minCountry:
USAColor:
Color (Technicolor)Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 moreSound Mix:
MonoCertification:
Netherlands:AL | South Africa:PG | Finland:K-11 (2001: new rating) | Finland:K-12 (before new act of 2001) | France:U | UK:12 (video re-rating) (2003) | UK:15 (video rating) (1986) | UK:AA (original rating) | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | Norway:12 (1980) | Sweden:11 | USA:PG | West Germany:6 | Canada:14A | Singapore:PG | Iceland:LFun Stuff
Trivia:
The inscription "Life is a state of mind" is on Rand's tomb and also serves as the last line in the movie. These words were also inscribed on Peter Sellers' own tomb, when he died a year after the movie was released. moreGoofs:
Anachronisms: When Chance is watching himself on the large screen in the store window display, he uses his home remote control to try and change the channels on that set, but it controls another TV instead. However the remote is of the earlier "ultrasonic" technology, and these sound waves DO NOT pass through glass at the required strength needed to work. Those of us born before the movie can recall that jiggling your keys would make a remote controlled TV unwittingly change channels, or turn off and on. At about this same time the now common "infrared" RCs were coming out, albeit at outrageous prices. These signals CAN in effect pass through glass, despite some losses due to reflection. For the scene to be technically correct they should have used an IR remote, which would not make those "ringing bell" metallic sounds. moreQuotes:
[first lines]Chance the Gardener: Good morning, Louise.
Louise: He's dead, Chance. The old man's dead.
Chance the Gardener: I see.
[Chance goes back to watching TV]
more
Soundtrack:
Different Ways moreFAQ
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On the face of it, this was always going to be a cinematic treat. Hal Ashby, who in my opinion had the greatest sense of humour in Hollywood directing Peter Sellers, one of the finest comic actors of all time.
What i didn't expect was an excellent supporting cast with superb performances from Shirley MacLaine and Melvyn Douglas and a watertight script from Kosinski. What gave me the biggest pleasure was Ashby's subtle portrayal of his own politics. Sellers' character's rise and rise is set against, in the beginning at least, images of the socially deprived. In most of Ashby's films there is a strong sense of the anti-establishment but what is brilliant in this movie is that Ashby gets inside the establishment to ridicule it and yet at the same time bring across a strong sense of humanity in the richer character's isolation and loneliness.
Politics or not Ashby's perfect pacing bring the best out of Sellers whose film career, Strangelove aside, was hit and miss. This movie is definitely a hit from the most underrated film director Hollywood has ever had the arrogance to forget to miss.