poliphilo | Being There

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Being There

My fascination with Peter Sellers has a lot to do with him looking like my father.

It's something to do with the forehead. And- harder to pin down- with the way he carries himself.

There are shots in Being There where it's definitely my father up there on screen.

Being There is one of my favourite movies. I watched it again last night. Sellers made a lot of cruddy films- many of them cruddier than they need have been because of his appalling behaviour on and off the set (Blake Edwards reckons he was certifiably insane)- but Being There is immaculate.

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Being There is brilliant!

and I love the outtakes at the end.

It must be one of the first movies to use outtakes like that.

"Being There" is that great rarity, a subtle American comedy and, as such, I treasure it.

Sellars also delivered, ( to perfection), what may be my all time favourite piece of dialogue in ANY film, which is President Muffley's explanation to the alchoholic Russian Premier that a nuclear strike has beeen accidentally launched against the USSR. The film was, of course, "Dr. Strangelove".

President Merkin Muffley: Well, now, Yuri...one of our Generals went and did a very silly thing.......etc.

In his biography "The Mask Behind the Mask", Sellars claimed that he didn't exist as a person in his own right, just as a fleeting succession of roles. This put me in mind of the odd fact that this phenomenon was also felt by another British great, Alec Guinness. Apparently, off-stage, many people thought that he had no discernable personality whatsoever.

After appearing with Guinness in the Ladykillers, Sellers produced a tape in which he imitated all the other cast members to perfection (and gave them each a copy.)

Round about this time Guinness stopped being the man of many faces and settled into playing subtle variations on the one persona. It could be that he realised he'd met his match.

Was there ever a more perfect piece of casting than Katie Johnson in "The Ladykillers"? .. I doubt it. (I know, "more perfect" is lousy English but you know what I mean).

Hollywood recently attempted a "remake" with Tom Hanks, about which, the less said, the better.

I hate remakes.

Especially remakes of films of character.

Sellers was at his best in those charming, low budget British movies of the 1950s. He never set a foot wrong. Once he became a star and went to Hollywood he started screwing up.

True, but "Lolita", "Strangelove" and "Being There" meant that it wasn't a complete fiasco.

Anyone with any respect for Sellars' talent should have refused to receive Blake Edwards after the exercise in grave-robbing called "The Trail of the Pink Panther".

Steptoe & Son
Till Death Us Do Part
The Ladykillers
The Pink Panther

...All of these have been hideously remade in the US. They should stick to what they do very well and leave British humour strictly alone. With a bit of experience, the Yanks can GET Brit-com, but they can't DO Brit-com.

(I think "The Pink Panther" is officially an American film, but with Edwards and Sellars dominating proceedings and Niven along for the ride it's basically a British comedy. Also, I've got a feeling it was made at Pinewood).

Lolita and Strangelove were both filmed in England- oddly enough. Stanley Kubrick had moved to Hertfordshire and was refusing to leave the country because of his fear of flying.

The Pink Panther should have been laid to rest with Sellers. It infuriates me that they're still trying to revive the franchise.

Two days ago I was in my local library and had 'Being There' in my hand to check out, but decided against it (mostly because I just don't have time to watch a film right now). Having read this however, as soon as I have time to enjoy a film, this will be at the top of my list. Thank you.

This is me posting, not sure why I wasn't logged :)

Enjoy!

Being There is the one film Sellers really wanted to make and he fought very hard for it. I think he saw it as his testament.

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It's beautifully done. And it gives the character an added dimension. Up until that point we've thought of Chance as emotionless.

Being There was the first film in which I ever saw Peter Sellers: it was part of a semiotics class I took in high school. I loved.

I can watch Sellers in almost anything, because there's always an extra dimension to his performances- even the criminally lazy ones. But Being There certainly shows him at his peak.

P.S. Did you ever see Sellars in an early straight dramatic role, in a film called, "Never Let Go"? It was a strong and very unsettling performance which would have sent his career down a completely different trajectory if the fans of the "Goons" and his other comedies hadn't howled with outrage. They detested the film in which their endearing idol perfectly portrayed a heartless sleaze.

I haven't seen that.

Yet.

I'm a Sellers completist so I'm going to have to.

There are other straight performances. In Hoffman, for instance, where he plays a misogynistic creep. Afterwards he was so bothered by what he saw on screen that he tried to buy the negative with a view to burning it.

Haven't seen "Hoffman" ...and I bet it's impossible to see,

"Lolita" and "Strangelove", I think, must be counted as American films despite being filmed in the UK. "The Matrix" and "Star Wars", episodes 1 & 2 were filmed in Sydney, but I dont see them as Australian films.

I own Hoffman on DVD.

(DVD is wonderful, innit? Suddenly all these rarities are available!)

You're probably right about Strangelove and Lolita; they're both American subjects. Though it has to count for something that the two stars of Lolita were British.

Hmmm ... I wonder if "Hoffmann" and "Never Let Go" are the same film by different names? The plot of the latter revolved around a car theft racket.

No, they're different. Hoffman is about a guy who blackmails a girl into spending the week-end with him.

No dodgy motors anywhere to be seen.

Nope ... I just looked it up ... different film entirely ...so we both have some tracking down to do.

Incidentally, the Johnathan Miller "Alice" has never screened here, and I'd love to see it... if only to counter the hideous versions with Fiona Fulleton, (musical, with GHASTLY music) or the recent one with Whoopi Goldberg which to my mind amounted to molestation of a minor.

I've never seen the interesting sounding Hollywood version with the likes of W.C.Fields and Gary Cooper.

Have you seen the bizarre and rather frightening version by the Czech animator Svankmajer? It's extremely creepy.
Check out the truly bizarre and amazing cast in this version:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088693/

The Miller version is available on DVD from the BFI.

I haven't seen the Svankmajer. I'd like to.

As for the Fullerton version, I caught the opening once and hastily switched channels.

I have, perversely- seeing as how I hate and despise all things Disney- a certain regard for the Disney cartoon. It's not Lewis Carroll, but it looks gorgeous.

As for the American TV version- Telly Savalas as the Cheshire Cat? My brain hurts.

I saw the Disney with my grandmother when I was about nine, so i was just the right age, and I was entranced ...and the music was, like much of the music in early Disney features, rather good and the final sequences with the cards, hypnotic.

I had a love/ hate with Disney ... hated the Americanisation of English classics ... hated "Walt Disney's Peter Pan", "Walt Disney's Pinocchio" etc. (the NERVE!) ...but every now and then, something like the "Pink Elephants on Parade" number from "Dumbo", (which I didn't see until I was an adult), or "The Dance of the Hours" from "Fantasia" would, just for a while, make me nine years old again.

I knew the casting of the American TV. version would make your jaw drop.

You know who has a "flavor" of my father, in appearance and expressions and body carriage?

Don Rickles.

No kidding.

BTW-I've fallen way behind on the Purchas story due to an unreasonably busy life. I still love it--so don't misconstrue my lack of commenting as disinterest.

I just am swamped right now--end of quarter and all kinds of tomfoolery and fol-dee-rol.

being there is one of my all time favorite movies.

just saw mrs. henderson presents this weekend. have you seen it?

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Being There

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Merkin Muffley's Phone Call.

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