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21 reviews in total

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15 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
Very Dated, but Fun, Satire, 6 February 2005

Author: RobertF87 from Scotland

This film doesn't really have any storyline to speak of. Basically it is an episodic comedy-drama, set in New York in the late 60s, revolving around three friends as they try to avoid being drafted into the Army and sent to Vietnam, while experiencing various elements of the late 1960s counterculture.

The film uses a a style very reminiscent of the French "Nouvelle Vague" films, such as hand-held cameras, on-screen captions commenting on the action and speeded-up film.

The film is probably most well-known today for marking an early appearance by Robert De Niro (here aged 24) as voyeuristic amateur film-maker Jon Rubin, and for being an early film from director Brian De Palma.

The film is, luckily, worth watching for much more than this though. It is an interesting snapshot of it's times and, although very dated, it is often quite funny. The main problem is that the film hasn't aged very well and there's no structure to it, many episodes by far outstay their welcome.

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11 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
comedy for a defined sense of humour, 24 October 2000

Author: deanganter from Australia

Damn amusing comedy largely centered around conversational humour. Champion script writing with some of the most amusing scenes you'll ever see. It is unfortunate that this film is so under-rated (and more often not rated at all) as it is a unique look at a group of characters, so perfectly defined by the great cast in their early years, who come up with some delightfully idiotic ideas and live out these ideas with such confidence it is really quite disturbing. John Rubin is of course the best character, and seeing Robert De Niro perform his "Cancerous elements" scene is easily one of the greatest scenes ever captured on celluloid. Most worthy of a sequel, which by chance is almost as good as its predecessor. Highly recommended.

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9 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Uneven but fascinating 60s satire. Worth a look., 20 May 2002
Author: Infofreak from Perth, Australia

Brian De Palma these days isn't generally associated with comedy, but this is from his counter culture period, when subversive put ons were his metier (see also 'get To Know Your Rabbit'). Three hipsters (Robert De Niro, cult figure Gerrit Graham and unknown Jonathan Warden, all good) try and dodge the draft, and romp through a near plotless series of odd scenes involving their private obsessions, mainly JFK's assassination and voyeurism. The mood is somewhere between Richard Lester and Jean Luc Godard. While it's great to see De Niro in an early comedic role, the stand out performance for me is by Graham, who shows the chops he would use in his subsequent long and varied career ('Demon Seed', 'Used Cars', Bud the Chud). The supporting cast also includes the hugely underrated Allen Garfield ('The Conversation', 'The Stunt Man') in a memorable sequence opposite De Niro.

'Greetings' is uneven, and dated in some ways, but has enough invention and genuine laughs to make it worth the rental. Now, if only I can find the sequel...

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6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
De Palma in the 60's, 20 September 2006

Author: jed-estes from United States Kentucky Hancock

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Of all of the Brian De Palma's films I had seen their had never been a comedy. His films are usually dramatic, scary or have a statement to say. About the closest he ever came to a comedy was Bonfire of the Vanities and we all know how that turned out. But going over his extensive body of work I found an old jewel by this man, and that jewel is Greetins. I admit this being pretty much his first film I should have came across it much sooner, but it was hard to find and took me about three years to uncover. When I got it and watched I never expected to laugh, I just thought it would be another statement about the time it was made in like most of De Palma's films and that would have been OK, as I like almost all of his movies, but this was a treat. From the very first frame until the last I was in a fit of laughter and that is a huge accomplishment for a film that is forty-years old. I have never laughed at a movie from the 60's the way I did this one. When the first actor walks into the African American bar and picks a fight so he can get beat up and put out of the army was magnificent. They only comedies of that time that still hold up for me are The Andy Griffith Show, I love Lucy and other situation comedies but never a film. The rest of the movie is cool because it follows three guy who are trying to get out of the draft and are heavily involved with different parts of the 60's counter culture. Robert De Niro, is a voyeur and obsessed with art I feel he is probably the character that most resembles Brian De Palma, the character almost is De Palma. One of the other guys is obsessed with the Kennedy assassination and is trying to find out the cover up, he is also involved in the hippie movement. The third guy is just a typical normal guy thrown in with these loons and is trying to stay out of the war. He goes as far to as to act gay and be like a militant. De Niro though rises as the star of the film and outshines every one else, I like him better in this then anything else he has ever done. I love when he is forced to go to Vietnam and instead of shooting a V.C girl he has her pose for a news camera and tries to make a voyeur porn. It was hilarious. Brian De Palma himself makes a brief cameo in this as a man on the steps of the draft building who De Niro does a funny rant too. Watch this movie and see how De Palma grew to become the master he is. I will say that this movie is not for everyone as it is a little racist and sexiest but if you take it in the context that it was made then you can see they real roots of it's comedy.

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7 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Memorable Scene, 8 May 2003
Author: gappa01 (gappa01@yahoo.com) from Vermont, USA

This film is worth seeing just for JFK assassination recreation scene. One of the funniest individual scenes I have ever been witness to. Offbeat piece of film making from a future legend. DePalma is very satiric and DeNiro shows comedic ability that he won't display for another 25-30 years.

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6 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Interesting comedy, but does drag on, 30 September 1999
Author: Adam Wise from New Jersey USA

Definitely an interesting commentary on the state of youth and society in the mid sixties. At times down right hilarious, this comedy does can be boring. Not for everyone. Interesting installment from Brian Depalma, the director of Carrie, his unique style indeed makes for an interesting film. Deniro's portrayal of a developing voyeur is one of the few comedic roles that I have seen him do so well. A movie worth watching for anyone interested in film making, as many techniques are quite interested.

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5 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Wonderful, intelligent movie., 17 July 2007

Author: Sergiu Bursuc from France

This movie is one of the best American movies in the sixties. It's form, sharpness, concision, subtlety and great comedy make it a peak of new-wave American cinema and show the real talent of Brian de Palma.

If the movie is political, it is not a propagandistic one. It is a real artistic work, where everything is relative, fun is everywhere, politics is ridiculed just as the lack of politics. Nothing stands to the great destructive power of the irony and of the cinema. MASH by Altman can be compared to this movie.

All this comes with a great directing skill and novelty. Hitchcock and French nouvelle vague can be an influence (they are actually cited in the movie), but de Palma is original and his merits are beyond any doubt.

A masterpiece!

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4 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
uneven, but never too unbearable; oozes with French new-wave influence, 26 September 2005

Author: MisterWhiplash from United States

The problem with judging a work like Greetings is that it is by a filmmaker who is just starting to work out what's inside of him, his themes, his ideas, his sense of humor and attitudes towards society and women. Brian De Palma would follow-up Greetings with the (for my money) better satire Hi, Mom, which also features a 20-something Robert De Niro (indeed, also in a similar role here, though not by much). The reason his follow-up was better, to me, is because he had sorted out more of what he wanted with his style; here, he is skilled at infusing Nouvelle Vague into the film, and his voyeuristic attitude is prevalent in a few key scenes (one of them perhaps the funniest, involving De Niro's Jon Rubin 'directing' a woman on a bed).

What is fascinating throughout is how little De Palma shows his Hitchcock influence here; if anything, Godard is the main pulse throughout (long takes that inevitably comment upon themselves, characters reading books on camera, near political use of jump cuts and zooms). So that is one reason why it can't have everything together; as De Palma is still finding himself, and more than likely making this movie for himself (i.e. HE is the audience), it's hard for it to find what is often called 'accessibility' for a viewer like myself. I probably would've found this to be a 8/10 if I had been born thirty or forty years earlier.

The three characters here are separated very vastly, but each with their own incredible, off-beat, and often strange behavior. The friend on with the computer dates is hit or miss; the highlight here being when he has the "Dirty Movie" date, as De Palma shoots it in a mix of pre Clockwork Orange styling and as a silent film. The friend obsessed with the Kennedy assassination, to the point of drawing diagrams on a naked woman to prove his point (tongue-in-cheek of course). And then there's De Niro's character, not really in the film that much until the last twenty or so minutes. These (not to put down the talents of the other two actors; the Assassination friend had a weird quality that made him watchable) scenes are the better ones, as even here De Niro has a grasp on what De Palma thinks he's getting. But the main problem here, which was solved in most of De Palma's later movies starting with Hi, Mom onward, is consistency. There are some scenes that just don't work, that are either funny for the wrong reasons, or not funny at all.

The technical aspect of the film, in terms of being quintessentially 60's, is intriguing, but even here isn't always used to its best use. Overall, it almost makes me think of this as like one long Monty Python movie with sketches that sometimes work, but unfortunately don't. If you would want to see it out of curiosity, especially from a historical or sociological interest, I wouldn't dare tell you not to see it (the last scenes in "Vietnam" are just wacky enough). But if your a De Niro fan or De Palma fan just getting into their work, know what you're getting into here. Some may love it, some may dis-like it even more than I. For me, it served its purpose well.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Greetings Greetings Greetings, would you like to go away?, 9 December 2008

Author: Gloede_The_Saint from Norway

"Spend a couple of days with Uncle Sam"

Greetings is far from most other films on the marked. It has something you are most likely not going to see again. The film is apolitical, unpatriotic and probably very offensive to Americans (I'm Norwegian) The story goes like this. We have three friends Paul Shaw, Jon Rubin and Lloyd Clay. Shaw and Rubin are trying everything they can not to get drafted to Vietnam while Clay are obsessed with the Kennedy assassination. Anyways we jump around between these three characters as they jump through different events.

My personal opinion as a well established film fan is that this is black comedy gold. The many sketches do actually put together a pretty straight forward story, though a rather surreal one. It's hard for me to understand how so many people including Ebert got confused. But I have a tendency to understand most films I mean I though Southland Tales was straight forward and easy to get and I had only smaller problems with Inland Empire.

Still it should not be to hard to follow if you can put together scenes because everything fits rather nicely into the story and character arc though it is rather Pulp Fiction (so it could probably be described as a no plot film by some).

As for the "sketches" I do agree with Ebert. They do bring you back to good old classic comedy sketches with a even a direct spoof of silent films. Very original indeed, it did things many well respected films did years after. The main characters aren't all that likable in a traditional sense though you will like watching them. They are kinda the guys you love to hate to love to watch if that made any sense whatsoever .

Genius film. 9.5/10. I recommend it to people who doesn't always agree with the mainstream audience.

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2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
DeNiro is a natural comedian, 19 May 2005

Author: davegrenfell from london, england

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

The most interesting thing about this early, cheap DePalma movie is DeNiro's performance, containing shades of his later work in Taxi Driver, The King of Comedy and Meet the Parents. In view of Greetings, and since it would appear the DeNiro didn't do the intense method preparation he became so famous for, we might wonder whether he actually isn't a very talented comedian who stumbled into method acting almost by accident (with a lot of hard work). Certainly his performance in Taxi Driver takes on a new dimension compared with his hilarious take on a Vietnam draftee pretending to be outrageously racist here. The careful, almost stilted speech he delivers straight to camera when he reads the sex book is reminiscent of the verbal fumbling of Rupert Pupkin. Indeed, his whole career is put into an entirely fresh perspective by this early, fresh performance, which is a must for anyone interested in his work.

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