Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976)

Director:

Paul Mazursky

Writer:

Paul Mazursky (written by)

Release Date:

4 February 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

1953 Was a Good Year for Leaving Home

Plot:

An aspiring Jewish actor moves out of his parents' Brooklyn apartment to seek his fortune in the bohemian life of Greenwich Village in 1953...

Plot Keywords:

Actor | Jewish | Unwed Pregnancy | Writer | Suicide

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 3 nominations

Cast

Lenny Baker	...	Larry Lapinsky
Shelley Winters	...	Faye Lapinsky
Ellen Greene	...	Sarah Roth
Lois Smith	...	Anita Cunningham
Christopher Walken	...	Robert Fulmer (as Chris Walken)
Dori Brenner	...	Connie
Antonio Fargas	...	Bernstein Chandler aka Floyd Lewis
Lou Jacobi	...	Herb
Mike Kellin	...	Ben Lapinsky
Michael Egan	...	Herbert Berghof - Acting Coach
Rashel Novikoff	...	Mrs. Tupperman (as Rachel Novikoff)
John C. Becher	...	Sid Weinberg - Casting Director
Jeff Goldblum	...	Clyde Baxter aka Charlie Biletnikoff
Joe Spinell	...	Cop at El Station (as Joe Spinnell)
Denise Galik	...	Ellen

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Sweden:15 | Finland:K-16 | Iceland:L | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Set in 1953, but the unmistakable twin towers of the World Trade Center (completed in 1973) are visible in an exterior scene.

Quotes:

Faye Lapinsky: Who are you?
Bernstein: I'm Bernstein.
Faye Lapinsky: [surprised by his name due to his being black] You're Jewish?
Bernstein: No, darling; I'm gay.
Faye Lapinsky: I don't care how you feel; you're a great dancer.

Movie Connections:

References A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Soundtrack:

Three To Get Ready

A film that catches a time and place

When I think of this film, I think of my older brother's generation, graduating from high school about 1956, and from college about 1960. Mazursky catches the look of a certain kind of young people of that era, their fashions, their expressions, their masks and identities. There's a sense of confusion and discovery, or rejection of the restrictions of middle class culture and their embracing of a murkily-defined bohemian alternative, and the disruption that brings to their lives, culturally, socially, sexually.

The film also reminds me of my years spent living near and wandering around Greenwich Village, 1966-70. Some of the kinds of people Mazursky shows were still there, ten years older, either mystified or amused or annoyed by the hippie hoards invading them. Honky-tonk, high rents, and mass culture bohemianism had arrived.

Mazursky gets this right. I don't know how this picture would play to those not interested or affected by the sociology time capsule, but I think it still would play.

And hats off to Shelly Winters, once again playing an impossible mother.