Being there

Author

Hal Ashby

Call Number

• BLU-RAY COMEDY (CEN)

Edition

Blu-ray special edition.

Languages

English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Performers

Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Jack Warden, Melvyn Douglas, Richard Dysart, Richard Basehart, Ruth Attaway, Dave Clennon, Fran Brill.

Publication Information

[Irvington, NY] : Criterion Collection, [2017]

Physical Description

1 videodisc (130 minutes) : sound, color ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 folded sheet (color illustrations ; 17 cm.)

Audience

MPAA rating: PG.

Summary

"In one of his most finely tuned performances, Peter Sellers plays the pure-hearted, childlike Chance, a gardener who is forced into the wilds of Washington, D.C., when his wealthy guardian dies. Shocked to discover that the real world doesn't respond to the click of a remote, Chance stumbles into celebrity after being taken under the wing of a tycoon, who mistakes his protégé's horticultural mumblings for sagacious pronouncements on life and politics, and whose wife targets Chance as the object of her desire. Adapted from a novel by Jerzy Kosinski, this satire, both deeply melancholy and hilarious, is the culmination of Hal Ashy's remarkable string of films in the 1970s and a carefully modulated examination of the ideals, anxieties and media-fueled delusions that shaped American culture during that decade"--Container.

Notes

Based on the novel by Jerzy Kosinski.

Originally produced as a motion picture in 1979.

Special features: New, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised by cinematographer Celeb Deschanel, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack ; new documentary on the making of the film, featuring interviews with members of the production team ; excerpts from a 1980 American Film Institute seminar with director Hal Ashby ; author Jerzy Kosinksi in a 1979 appearance on The Dick Cavett show ; appearances from 1980 by actor Peter Sellers on NBC's Today and The Don Lane show ; promo reel featuring Sellers and Ashby ; trailer and TV spots ; deleted scene, outtakes, and an alternate ending.