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Being there
Uniform Title
Being there (Motion picture : 1979)
Title
Being there / Lorimar presents ; a Northstar International picture ; an Andrew Braunsberg production ; screenplay by Jerzy Kosinski ; produced by Andrew Braunsberg ; directed by Hal Ashby.
ISBN
9781681432816
1681432811
Edition
Blu-ray special edition.
Publication
[New York, New York] : The Criterion Collection, [2017]
Physical Description
1 videodisc (130 min.) : sound, color ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 folded leaflet.
Medium
4 3/4 in.
Notes
Originally produced as a motion picture in 1979.
Based on the novel by Jerzy Kosinski.
Wide screen (1.85:1).
Restored 4K digital transfer.
Special features: 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; plus: an essay by critic Mark Harris.
Production designer, Michael Haller ; costumes designed by May Routh ; music, Johnny Mandel ; editor, Don Zimmerman ; director of photography, Caleb Deschanel.
In English with optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.
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 (Melvyn Douglas, in an Oscar-winning performance), who mistakes his protégé's horticultural mumblings for sagacious pronouncements on life and politics, and whose wife (Shirley MacLaine) 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.
Format
Images / Video & Film
Language
English
Added to Catalog
February 22, 2018
Series
The Criterion collection ; 864
Credits
Production designer, Michael Haller ; costumes designed by May Routh ; music, Johnny Mandel ; editor, Don Zimmerman ; director of photography, Caleb Deschanel.
Cast
Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Jack Warden, Melvyn Douglas, Richard Dysart, Richard Basehart.
System details note
Blu-ray; requires Blu-ray player, 1.85:1 aspect ratio, monoaural.
Audience
MPAA rating: PG.
Videorecording number
CC2744BD The Criterion Collection
Subjects
Genre/Form
Comedy films.
Drama.
Feature films.
Fiction films.
Film adaptations.
Satirical films.
Video recordings for the hearing impaired.
Comedy films.
Satirical films.
Feature films.
Fiction films.
Film adaptations.
Video recordings for the hearing impaired.
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