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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:
(22 articles)
DVD Playhouse--July 2009 (From The Hollywood Interview. 8 July 2009, 1:32 AM, PDT)
Lookin' to Get Out (Extended Version) - DVD Review
(From Monsters and Critics. 2 July 2009, 7:39 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
Quietly Demonstrates What an Enormous Talent Peter Sellers Was. moreCast
(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:
It took Peter Sellers' nearly nine years to get this movie made by a studio, mostly because by the 1970s Sellers' career had hit rock bottom and no studio in Hollywood would dare work with him. After the revival (and success) of the Pink Panther movies, Lorimar pictures finally greenlit the project. 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:
Symphony N°6 in F Major (opus 68) moreFAQ
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The original "Forrest Gump" came out in 1979 when Hal Ashby's "Being There" was first released. A quietly brilliant, hilarious, heart-wrenching and heart-warming motion picture that showed how great Peter Sellers (Oscar-nominated) was and how limitless his range was. He stars as a gardener at an old mansion in Washington, D.C. who has never been outside of the owner's small piece of property. When the owner dies, he has to leave the only home he has ever known. Sellers has no knowledge of anything except what he sees on television and he has a strange sort of child-like innocence that endears him to all he comes into contact with. After a minor accident, Sellers is taken to the home of a ridiculously wealthy political lobbyist (Melvyn Douglas in his second Oscar-winning performance) who is literally being kept alive as he has a rare form of cancer. Douglas immediately takes a liking to Sellers and so does his much-younger wife (Shirley MacLaine). Sellers is now in the spotlight though as he gets to meet the president (Jack Warden) and slowly starts to gain popularity and political support from those around him. Of course Sellers does not realize any of this as his understanding of such things are beyond his somewhat limited mental capabilities. A simply brilliant film that is carried by Sellers' amazing personal best performance. Everyone else is adequate, but this is Sellers' show. Douglas won the Oscar mainly due to sympathy votes, but surprisingly Sellers would die before Douglas as he passed away less than six months after receiving his Oscar nod of a massive heart attack. As good as Dustin Hoffman was in "Kramer vs. Kramer", I still wish that Sellers would have won the Oscar for this role which is one of the finest performances ever throughout the entire history of the cinema. 5 stars out of 5.