The Goodbye Girl (1977)

Director:

Herbert Ross

Writer:

Neil Simon (written by)

Release Date:

1 February 1978 (Australia)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Thank you Neil Simon for making us laugh at falling in love...again.

Plot:

After being dumped by her live-in boyfriend, an unemployed dancer and her 10-year-old daughter are reluctantly forced to live with a struggling off-Broadway actor.

Plot Keywords:

Apartment | Actor | Daughter | Dancer | Love

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 9 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Richard Dreyfuss	...	Elliot Garfield
Marsha Mason	...	Paula McFadden
Quinn Cummings	...	Lucy McFadden
Paul Benedict	...	Mark
Barbara Rhoades	...	Donna
Theresa Merritt	...	Mrs. Crosby
Michael Shawn	...	Ronnie
Patricia Pearcy	...	Rhonda
Gene Castle	...	Assistant Choreographer
Daniel Levans	...	Dance Instructor
Marilyn Sokol	...	Linda
Anita Dangler	...	Mrs. Morganweiss
Victoria Boothby	...	Mrs. Bodine
Robert Costanzo	...	Liquor Store Salesman
Pancho González	...	Mugger (as Poncho Gonzalez)

Also Known As:

Neil Simon's The Goodbye Girl

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Canada:14A | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | Netherlands:12 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:11 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Neil Simon adapted his own screenplay for the book of a successful Broadway musical.

Goofs:

Continuity: When chasing the thieves, Paula drops three items that disappear in the next cut.

Quotes:

Paula McFadden: [angrily] Good night.
Lucy McFadden: What, no kiss?
Paula McFadden: [punching her pillow] I'm angry. I don't want to lose it.

Movie Connections:

Featured in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions (2002) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Goodbye Girl

A Winning Romantic Comedy from Neil Simon

1977 was apparently the year for neurotic romantic comedies featuring people who look like real people, if "The Goodbye Girl" and "Annie Hall" are anything to go by. Woody Allen's film is obviously the superior of the two, but I have a soft spot for Neil Simon's comedy, and I like it quite a lot.

Richard Dreyfuss was on the cusp of stardom after his performance in "Jaws," and his double score this year with "The Goodbye Girl" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" launched him into the big time. Marsha Mason was perfect at playing roles like this -- vulnerable softies looking for love while at the same time tough cookies who could make it on their own if forced to. In this film, the two meet cute when Dreyfuss shows up at Mason's apartment, having subletted it from Mason's boyfriend, who dumped her and took off without telling her that she and her ten-year-old daughter would be left with no place to live. Dreyfuss, a struggling actor, agrees to let the mom and daughter stay in the apartment with him, and of course after much bickering, the two fall in love. The movie is at its best when Dreyfuss and Mason are fighting. My favorite line is delivered by Mason after one of their many run-ins over Dreyfuss's bohemian living habits: "I don't know you well enough to truly dislike you, but you are just too weird to live with."

Quinn Cummings gives an adorable performance as Mason's daughter. She manages to be both precocious and cute (think Tatum O'Neal in "Paper Moon"), a tough feat for a child actor. In one of the first scenes, while Mason is reading the dear john letter left by her louse of a boyfriend, who's left to star in a Bertolucci film, Cummings, instead of asking questions about what happened between her mom and boyfriend, or what they're going to do, or any other number of things it would make sense for a child to ask about, wants to know instead who Bertolucci is and what movies he's directed. A kid after my own heart.

Grade: A