The above ironic comment was made by Howard Thompson of The New York Times when this Brian De Palma film was first released. Turns out Mr. Warden never made another movie while De Niro...anyway, besides being one of the earliest works for De Niro and De Palma, this was also the first movie to get the X rating after the Motion Picture Association of America created its rating system. Warden, De Niro, and Gerrit Graham play three New York buddies with the latter two showing Warden various ways to avoid the draft. Warden is also trying to get dates using the computer pick method. Graham is obsessed with the Kennedy assassination conspiracy, in fact, when he mentions one potential suspect, the name is always bleeped out. And De Niro is an aspiring filmmaker who tricks ladies to take off their clothes on film in the name of "art". The entire movie has an improvisational feel and meanders from scene to scene with an unevenness that shows how experimental De Palma was during his early years. Gerrit has some highlights when talking to the camera but De Niro shows how into characterization he really is when either pretending to be a right winger to someone on the steps of an army recruitment building or being nonchalant when someone offers him a stag movie. Not everything works but Greetings is very much worth a look for completists fans of De Palma and De Niro.
