Goodbye, Columbus
by Larry Peerce
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Ali MacGraw, Jack Klugman, Michael Meyers (II), Nan Martin, Richard BenjaminDirector: Larry Peerce
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 101 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-06-08
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Paramount
Movie Reviews of Goodbye, Columbus
Movie Review: Dated material, unrealistic and annoying SPOILER ALERT
Summary: 2 Stars
My mom had told me about this movie recently, I remembered seeing it as a kid. The title came across my list of Movies To See and I decided to give it a whirl. I found the material dated, unrealistic and rather annoying.
Richard Benjamin plays a middle class library employee in New York state who meets Ali MacGraw, one of the most beautiful women of all time, at a country club swimming pool one summer day. He falls for the siren (and who wouldn't with her gorgeousness) and they begin a happy, carefree summer romance. Of course her parents, upper class and Jewish who had risen up thanks to MacGraw's father's plumbing business, do not approve. When alone, they assure each other "She'll get tired of him", and "It won't last". MacGraw doesn't seem very serious about much of anything at this point in life, Benjamin doesn't seem to have much of a plan either, and it should be lite, airy and fun. Which it very much is.
If it was left at that, I would have been happy. Add her whiney little sister into the equation for a comic relief and it turns into a bad experience. The brother is in it only to provide some background for the title (he goes to Ohio State). The parents have some moments together as well as seperately (such as the scene where her father is telling MacGraw that he will always love and sheild her from how precarious life can be). The part I didn't like was when Benjamin suddenly finds out that MacGraw isn't taking her birth control pills because they make her feel fat. Now in real life, I can understand this. But, she is so shallow and foolish that she will REALLY not take her pills but she will indulge in unprotected sex?!? Then again, even though we're nearly done with the first decade of the 2000s, I never cease to be amazed that girls do not protect themselves. But where is the consequence? If this movie was made today, MacGraw would end up pregnant. Which she doesn't in this movie.
The ending? Well, I understood it. The reaction of the parents is a little dated. They found her diaphram in a dresser drawer and wrote some kind of angry letter to MacGraw telling her that they were disappointed. Benjamin leaves, knowing that this could never be. Times were different then. Nowdays parents would or should be happy that their children are protecting themselves. Maybe they would be disappointed that their kids were having sex, but they might feel powerless to stop it. This dates the film. And it shows.
Summary of Goodbye, Columbus
Philip Roth's novel of Jewish identity and assimilation in the suburbs of New York gets a spirited comic reading in this 1969 film, which marked the acting debut of model Ali McGraw (and who thought that was a good idea?). Actually, she's pretty good as the Jewish princess whose father has made a fortune in plumbing supplies. Richard Benjamin, who went on to become an odd sex symbol of the '70s, had just the right comic twist as the young man who can't overcome McGraw's middle-class morality with his sense of passion and romance. Jack Klugman is outstanding as her hard-driving and unyieldding father. A touchstone film. --Marshall FineComedy DVD Video
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