Tuesday, September 04, 2018

Forgotten Movies: THE GOODBYE GIRL

This movie from 1977 has always been a favorite of mine and it held up very well. I have to give Richard Dreyfus a lot of the credit for creating such a distinctive character in Elliott. Mason is good too but her role is more generic. And Quinn Cummings was a terrific child actor. It is hard to believe RD is only 29 years old here. He could easily be a decade older. Neil Simon had a knack for bringing both warmth and humor to a story without it being saccharine and that was true here. If Mason's character was a bit too weepy I can live with that.

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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, I liked this film a lot, Patti. I remember seeing it when it first came out. Thanks for the reminder of it.

7:46 AM
Jeff Meyerson said...

This is one of Jackie's favorites too. Still, I was surprised when Dreyfuss won the Oscar for Best Actor.

8:18 AM
George said...

Like you and Margot, I'm a fan of THE GOODBYE GIRL. I heard an NPR interview with Quinn Cummings where she said Neil Simon wrote a sequel to THE GOODBYE GIRL and she has a copy of the script. She'd like to see it made into a movie. I'd go see it!

8:19 AM
Jeff Meyerson said...

There were three failed attempts to turn it into a TV sitcom - two with Karen Valentine, one of which was shown - and a TV remake with Jeff Daniels and Patricia Heaton, using the original script. I think Jackie watched it. There was also an unsuccessful Broadway musical version, with Martin Short (in his Broadway debut) and Bernadette Peters. (We didn't see it.) Simon did the book, Marvin Hamlisch the music, and David Zippel the lyrics. It ran for five months.

All this courtesy of Wikipedia.

9:04 AM
Jeff Meyerson said...

Quinn Cummings last acted in 1991. She is 51 and a writer who has published several books.

9:07 AM
pattinase (abbott) said...

I read one of her books. She is very smart and funny. As you might expect.

9:45 AM
J. Kingston Pierce said...

I don't remember the Karen Valentine sitcom based on The Goodbye Girl, but I certainly recall the original movie. In fact, I rewatched it about a year ago and enjoyed it just as much that second time around.

11:02 AM
Rick Robinson said...

I never got around to seeing this, though I've read the play and heard much about the film.

11:39 AM
Steve Oerkfitz said...

I remember liking this when it came out. Haven't seen it since. Not a big fan of Simon. Never found most of his stuff very funny.

5:10 PM

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