Mister Buddwing (1966)

Director:

Delbert Mann

Writers:

Evan Hunter (novel)
Dale Wasserman (writer)

Release Date:

15 July 1966 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The Strangest Girl-Hunt A Man Ever Went On!

Plot:

An amnesiac wanders the streets of Manhattan, trying to solve the mystery of who he is.

Plot Keywords:

Amnesia | Beautiful Woman | Based On Novel

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

James Garner	...	Mister Buddwing
Jean Simmons	...	The Blonde
Suzanne Pleshette	...	Fiddle
Katharine Ross	...	Janet
Angela Lansbury	...	Gloria
George Voskovec	...	Shabby Old Man
Jack Gilford	...	Mr. Schwartz
Joe Mantell	...	1st Cab Driver
Raymond St. Jacques	...	Hank
Ken Lynch	...	Dan
Beeson Carroll	...	Policeman
Billy Halop	...	Fredrick Calabrese 2nd Cab Driver
Michael Hadge	...	Counterman
Charles Seel	...	Printer
John Tracy	...	Tony

Also Known As:

Buddwing (USA) (working title)
Woman Without a Face

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (certficate #20963)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Cherokee Productions

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Searchers for a Special City (1965)

Interesting Book, Half-baked film transfer Disastrous failure

The Evan Hunter novel Buddwing is a hauntingly original, if unrealistic story. The author's idea was to take the mid-life identity crisis to the extreme...literal amnesia. Its 1964 release prompted MGM to pick it up for a 1965 film, possibly thinking they'd have another Blackboard Jungle on their hands. Well not quite. Not to say the great talent of the '60s isn't there: Director Delbert Mann (who did Marty and Fitzwilly), Katharine Ross (The Graduate, Butch Cassidy), Angela Landsbury (Manchurian Candidate), Jean Simmons, and James Garner all do their best in one of the less believable of the 7,000,000 tales of NYC. One obvious fault lies in the dialogue (mostly taken directly from the book) as numerous run-ins between Garner (Buddwing) and the other characters result in conversations that simply don't ring true. Another fault is the director seems to intentionally give this the avant-garde treatment, though he's obviously ill-equipped for it. The disjointed confusing scenes would be impossible to follow had one not read the book.

Especially the scenes with Katharine Ross--he thinks she's someone named Grace, they talk (not making any sense) and then it cuts to a flashback where she IS Grace...GOD I feel sorry for someone trying to figure this out who hasn't read the book. And of course the book's sex scenes are not to be found here. Then Ross is gone--poof--maybe she told MGM to shove the script up their as--side their other failures.

The only interesting aspect to the film is that it's set in Manhattan in the '60s, and it was the last "major" film shot in black and white. Finally the film fails because the director and screenwriter Wasserman simply didn't put any real effort into making this a film of substance...it ends up as a bunch of poorly editted "scenes". As another reviewer said this could be a great remake...if they rewrite the whole thing, have good direction, etc. Anyway, read the book and then watch the film for laughs.