An interesting push pull dynamic between fighting for what you believe and "getting straight". Spends most of its runtime on the brink of catharsis but it only shines in a few moments. And as always Elliott Gould remains as cool as ever.

An interesting push pull dynamic between fighting for what you believe and "getting straight". Spends most of its runtime on the brink of catharsis but it only shines in a few moments. And as always Elliott Gould remains as cool as ever.

Elliot Gould never retire challenge.

Elliot Gould never retire challenge.

Jesus. The 70s, amirite?

Ok, so, in a nutshell, Elliot Gould and his mustache play a misogynist who is back in college to get his teaching degree after returning from Viet Nam. He/they are prone to rage fits, poor at handling both money & stress, lecherous & jealous, and basically an asshole. On the plus side, he’s verbally dexterous, seems able to communicate with the ‘Kids,’ and is sort of amusing, at least when he’s not insulting Candice Bergen, who is very good in the film—except that there is no convincing reason for her to stay with this prick, even if the sex is good (which does get mentioned a couple of times).

There are hippies, drugs, some racial stuff that could have gone south in a real hurry but mostly manages to swerve away from doing so, an exceptionally well-filmed, full-bore campus riot, and lots of people (well, not really, more like signifiers of people or groups) are made fun of as our ostensible hero/stache tries to sort his shit out—all as the film comes down firmly on the side of ‘sticking it to the Man,’ albeit after some mild rebukes of the tendency towards inconsistent & inarticulate counterculture messaging on the part of the aforementioned Kids.

Oh, and Harrison Ford is in there too, in a pre-‘American Graffiti’ role, as Bergen’s downstairs neighbor.

It’s an odd watch in 2022 — the misogyny is pretty bad, though depressingly accurate for the era and the movement, and Gould is really very unlikable for much of the film, though he gives the performance his all. Richard Rush is an interesting director, and the film is structured and shot well (and thankfully, Rush hadn’t discovered the Vaseline filter yet), but man, it’s a tough one to recommend….

Jesus. The 70s, amirite?

Ok, so, in a nutshell, Elliot Gould and his mustache play a misogynist who is back in college to get his teaching degree after returning from Viet Nam. He/they are prone to rage fits, poor at handling both money & stress, lecherous & jealous, and basically an asshole. On the plus side, he’s verbally dexterous, seems able to communicate with the ‘Kids,’ and is sort of amusing, at least when he’s not insulting Candice Bergen, who is very good in the film—except that there is no convincing reason for her to stay with this prick, even if the sex is good (which does get mentioned a couple of times).

There are hippies, drugs, some racial stuff that could have gone south in a real hurry but mostly manages to swerve away from doing so, an exceptionally well-filmed, full-bore campus riot, and lots of people (well, not really, more like signifiers of people or groups) are made fun of as our ostensible hero/stache tries to sort his shit out—all as the film comes down firmly on the side of ‘sticking it to the Man,’ albeit after some mild rebukes of the tendency towards inconsistent & inarticulate counterculture messaging on the part of the aforementioned Kids.

Oh, and Harrison Ford is in there too, in a pre-‘American Graffiti’ role, as Bergen’s downstairs neighbor.

It’s an odd watch in 2022 — the misogyny is pretty bad, though depressingly accurate for the era and the movement, and Gould is really very unlikable for much of the film, though he gives the performance his all. Richard Rush is an interesting director, and the film is structured and shot well (and thankfully, Rush hadn’t discovered the Vaseline filter yet), but man, it’s a tough one to recommend….

Elliot Gould ist hier absolut Elliot Gould. Was den Film wesentlich besser wirken lässt, als er wohl ist. Zu sehr plätschert er dahin, gibt nicht wirklich einen Unterbau für das Geschehen, die studentischen Potestler wirken zuweilen eher wie eine Parodie auf eben jene und eine wirkliche Haltung lässt sich daher lange nicht rauslesen. Was dann aber auch wieder zum Protagonisten passt. Der von Gould gespielt wird. Was uns wieder zum Anfang dieses Textes führt.

Elliot Gould ist hier absolut Elliot Gould. Was den Film wesentlich besser wirken lässt, als er wohl ist. Zu sehr plätschert er dahin, gibt nicht wirklich einen Unterbau für das Geschehen, die studentischen Potestler wirken zuweilen eher wie eine Parodie auf eben jene und eine wirkliche Haltung lässt sich daher lange nicht rauslesen. Was dann aber auch wieder zum Protagonisten passt. Der von Gould gespielt wird. Was uns wieder zum Anfang dieses Textes führt.