Being There [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Hal Ashby

Overview

Hailed as a genius for his simplistic approach to life, an aging gardener with a childlike na?vet? rises, by accident, into the game of politics. The man is soon presented as a possible Presidential candidate although no one knows his true background.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/21/2017
UPC:	0715515195218
Original Release:	1979
Rating:	PG
Source:	THE CRITERION COLLECTION, INC
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	2:10:00
Sales rank:	3,740

Special Features

New, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised by cinematographer Caleb 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 Kosinski in a 1979 appearance on The Dick Cavett Show; Appearances from 1980 by actor Peter Sellers on NBC's Today and on The Don Lane Show; Promo reel featuring Sellers and Ashby; Trailer and TV spots; Deleted scenes, outtakes, and alternate ending

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Peter Sellers	Chance
Shirley MacLaine	Eve Rand
Melvyn Douglas	Benjamin Rand
Jack Warden	President Bobby
Richard Dysart	Dr. Allenby
Richard Basehart	Vladmir Skrapinov
Ruth Attaway	Louise
David Clennon	Thomas Franklin
Fran Brill	Sally Hayes
Denise DuBarry	Johanna Franklin
Oteil Burbridge	Lolo
Ravenell Keller III	Abbaz
Brian Corrigan	Policeman
Alfredine Brown	Old Woman
Donald Jacob	David,David
Ernest McClure	Jeffery
Kenneth Patterson	Butler
Richard Venture	Wilson
Arthur Grundy	Arthur
W.C. 'Mutt' Burton	Lewis,Actor
Henry B. Dawkins	Billings
Georgine Hall	Mrs. Aubrey
Nell Leaman	Constance
Villa Mae Barkley	Teresa
Alice Hirson	First Lady
James Noble	Kaufman
Sandy Ward	Sen. Slipshod
Danna Hansen	Mrs. Slipshod
Mitch Kreindel	Dennis Watson
Katherine De Hetre	Kinney
Sam Weisman	Colson
Elya Baskin	Karpatov
Than Wyenn	Ambassador Gaufridi
Bill Dance	Presidential Aide
Laurie Jefferson	Actor
Ned Wilson	Honeycutt
Stanley Grover	Baldwin
Paul Marin	Reporter
John Harkins	Courtney
William Larsen	Lyman Stuart
Jerome Hellman	Gary Burns
Arthur Rosenberg	Morton Hull
Fredric Lehne	TV Page
Gwen Humble	TV Guest
Melendy Britt	Sophie
Allen Williams	Reporter
Hanna Hertelendy	Natasha Skrapinov
John Miller	Ron Steigler
Terrence Currier	Pallbearer
Austin Hay	Pallbearer
Mark Hammer	Pallbearer
Maurice Copeland	Pallbearer
Johnny Mandel	Composer

Technical Credits

Jerzy Kosinski

Robert C. Jones

Robert Jones

Jerzy Kosinski	Screenwriter
Andrew Braunsberg	Producer
Jack Schwartzman	Executive Producer,Producer
Robert C. Jones	Screenwriter
Merv Adelson	Executive Producer
Don Hansard	Special Effects
Gary S. Gerlich	Sound Effects
Charles Mulvehill	Producer
Robert Jones	Screenwriter
Jeff Wexler	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

A generally faithful adaptation of Jerzy N. Kosinski's quirky comic novel that is blessed with a devastatingly hilarious deadpan performance by top-billed Peter Sellers, Being There examines contemporary America's cultural life and finds it wanting in many ways. Sellers plays Chauncey Gardner, a middle-aged, sheltered illiterate who spends most of his waking hours watching TV, from which he gleans what little he knows of life. A bizarre series of events catapults him into the inner circle of a politically active industrialist (veteran actor Melvyn Douglas in an Oscar-winning turn), who mistakes Chauncey's childlike rejoinders for profundity and proposes that he run for president. Kosinski's script, rife with absurdities but savagely witty and unsparing in its digs at the intelligentsia and the political elite, is visualized with elan by director Hal Ashby (Harold and Maude), who keeps a tight rein on the normally irrepressible Sellers. Among the supporting players, Shirley MacLaine is deliciously subtle as the smitten woman whose amorous advances go right over Chauncey's head, and Jack Warden appears to advantage in one of his customarily blustery characterizations. Being There occasionally drags, and its humor isn't the type to provoke sustained belly laughs. But it's a thoughtful, substantive comedy that rewards patient viewers and yields additional treasure with repeated viewings. The DVD includes cast/director highlights.