Reviews

A big elegant movie, beautiful in every sense of the word, a fascinating story of the man who created Las Vegas and Warren Beatty is perfect in this movie. If you're not a huge fan of his, as I am not, you'll still appreciate the great talents of this star who is not necessarily known for his acting prowess. He is a joy to watch with the gorgeous Annette Bening Beatty. They have a great chemistry and all the actors involved were fantastic, there were many oscar nominations for all aspects of this film, acting, costumes, best film, best director, but when I saw that that Elliott Gould was not nominated for his wonderfully moving performance as Harry Greenberg, I was very surprised. Maybe it was just too small of a role. But it's a movie to be savoured and worth seeing on DVD, if anything just to appreciate the stunning photography.

It's true that M*A*S*H is one of the great classics of our time and a very, very funny movie, but one thing's for sure, you won't see a movie like this made again in our politically correct times. The movie smacks of homophobia, sexism, racism and just plain mean-spiritedness. What's interesting is to see the examples of the idealized masculinity; Hawkeye and Trapper, and the failed masculinity; Frank Burns, Henry, and Radar. It's so clear-cut and could be one of the subliminal reasons why the movie has held up so well in people's minds, not only for Altman's brilliant direction and the pleasure of seeing Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland together. And it's certainly not the best work these two fine actors have ever done, it's their biggest grossing movie, let's not confuse the two. It spawned a great sit-com, and it's still fun to go back and see all those great favorite scenes, especially with Sally Kellerman who steals the movie from just about everyone.

Only if you're a David Arquette or Lukas Haas fan will you really enjoy this movie. In fact, Lukas is very well cast as the black sheep of the family turned male prostitute. It drags in places but I think director Scott Silver set out to capture the sordidness and lonliness of your average L.A. hustler, so in that case it's very believable. But the film does call for a long attention span. One of the best scenes, and oddly touching was with Elliot Gould, terrific as always, as the client drawn away from his tête à tête with John to handle his family man duties. But other than that, the film seems rather pointless and to call it "Midnight Cowboy for the 90's" is really hyping it.

This is the true story of the Woodman murders, the affluent parents of Stewart and Neil Woodman who have been sentenced to life imprisonment for hiring hit-men to commit their murders so as to collect the insurance money. The first half of this made-for-TV movie is quite riveting whereas the second half is more the story of the wife's valiant struggle to come to terms with the demise of her comfortable bourgeois existence. Not to mention the difficulty in raising three children whose own worlds have shattered after the arrest of their father. We can sympathize with Melody Woodman's plight, but I would have liked to see Mimi Rogers less afraid to look awful, it would have made her role more believable. Thanks to the fine young actors we root for the kids despite their spoiled rottenness. As Stewart Woodman, Elliott Gould plays him so well, we feel truly pained to see him as the broken man that his incarceration has left him. All the actors are good, and this is one of the better TV movies made from the waist-deep true life murder cases.

Just saw it for the umpteenth time and it still is great fun to watch, I remember when it was released back in 1977 I went to see it about 8 times. It still takes my breath away with the car chases, crop-duster dives and the scorpion and rattlesnake scene, ewwww!!! James Brolin should have earned a million bucks for that role, all that he had to go through!! Elliott Gould is always a sight for sore eyes and in this movie he shines as the intrepid reporter. Mustn't forget the lovely Brenda Vacarro and Hal Holbrook as the evil head of the space program.

Just rent the video and you'll be happy you did!!

You're in for a lot of suspense with this one, I've never understood why this movie was not more widely seen, even though it is deservedly highly-regarded. The whole cast is terrific, above all the great Elliott Gould. Curtis Hanson's screenplay offers just the right twists at just the right moments and it all adds up to a very believable story. Don't miss it!!

Unless you're an absolute die-hard fan of Donald and Elliott, then you might be able to tolerate this movie, but I bet everyone involved in it really regretted doing it. Just as much as you'll regret watching it. They certainly have a great chemistry, and there are a few laughs in spite of everything. My favorite scene is the last one, not only because the movie is over but because Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland's charm together really comes through. A last-ditch attempt to leave the audience with a smile, perhaps.

This is the story of American jazz pianist Joe Warren on an odyssey touring through England where old ghosts come back to haunt him as he haunts dives, pubs and cheap B&Bs. Elliott Gould is first-rate as the sardonic, philosophical jazzman and Geraldine James deftly plays his long-suffering keeper and reluctant ex-singer. This very entertaining little movie is also a must-see for Ewan MacGregor fans who shines in a pre-Trainspotting role. Though the film may lag a bit in places, it never falls into sentimentality, and of course, the music is great.

This movie was blasted by the critics but who cares? It's not exactly a comedy, not a drama, but it does have a lot of action and adventure plus an all-star cast that all play wonderfully off one another, notably Elliott Gould and Stephanie Powers, who always have great comic timing anyway, but here they're a delight together, especially in the "stripping" scene on stage. It's got some good chases and gorgeous scenery of the island of Rhodes. Give it a whirl!

If you like dancing, you'll like this film in general but you might find it a little boring in places. Patrick Stewart is charming and he has a really good chemistry with Leslie Caron. It's really nice to see Jennifer Beals again, she's a fine actress and one of the great beauties of Hollywood, though she doesn't flaunt it like so many others. I saw on the credits that Elliott Gould (a great dancer) was in this film, but for the life of me, I could not find him in this movie.

In fact, it wasn't Bette Midler who first brought new blood into the heavy-handed 7O's and 80's Disney productions. It was people like Elliott Gould who originally provided the shot in the arm that Disney needed. In this movie he lends his wise-cracking, go-to-hell character to the role of Noah Dugan and it's a joy to watch! The whole cast is great, and the whole movie is a delight from start to finish.

Thanks to shows like Cheers and Seinfeld which raised the standard of sit-coms, as a result we're lucky to be able to watch fine writing and acting on prime-time TV. And Friends is one of the nicest to come along. One thing I like about this show, and they're not the first ones to do it, I know, is to have a lot of famous people making appearances on the show, everybody from Arnold Schwartzenegger to Sarah, the Duchess of York. It just makes for a nice surprise to see those familiar faces and plus having occasional appearances by all-time favorites like Elliott Gould, Christina Pickles and Teri Garr are always enjoyable.

It amazes me that there are actually people out there who can negatively review this movie, I mean, get a life!! Hel - looo...it's NOT meant to be taken seriously, you can watch Schindler's List or American History X if you want to get serious. But if you want to have an hour and a half of fun and laughs, try The Big Hit next time you rent a video. Lots of great effects....car chases, explosions, cool actors and particularly hilarious scenes with Elliott Gould as Christina Applegate's dad. We had tears streaming down our cheeks from laughter. I give it a good solid A-. (the minus because there should have been even more scenes with Elliott)

A black comedy in every sense of the word. It's too bad that Alan Arkin doesn't direct more movies because he really scored with this one. It's a movie that still seems so fresh today because of its storyline, even after close to 30 years. It was pertinent back then and even more so today. It's great to see appearances here by Arkin and Donald Sutherland, and it's one of Elliott Gould's best roles.

Keep on the lookout for this in your late night t.v. schedule. It's really worth seeing again (and especially if you haven't seen it yet).

This underrated Ingmar Bergman film is a disappointment to some and a puzzle to others. But if the viewer looks past the mundane story line, a middle class marriage threatened by a moody, violent stranger, one can see just how much richness Bergman has invested into this otherwise predictable type of story. I found Karin, the modern heroine in this story, to be a perfect symbol of the flip-side of Bergman's fascinating female protagonists.

The harsh criticism that Elliott Gould received for having accepted this role was unjustified and grossly exaggerated. Taking on a role like this is a thankless task at best and his interpretation of the despicable David was misunderstood. I think it was an authentic and courageous performance, an example of an actor who decides to portray the character straight without looking to advertise his own star persona.

Confronted by a type like David, we can understand how Karin could succumb to his advances and not even see where she's heading in this self-destructive relationship. We see stranger stuff than this in real life, why not accept it being put to an audience by the greatest film director who ever lived?

The first time I saw this movie was back in the seventies and this was the film that won me over to Robert Altman's great works in the American cinema.

Granted, at the time of the movie's release Raymond Chandler purists naturally didn't appreciate the transformation his knight errant private eye underwent. But nowadays, the viewer must see the film for its great direction, terrific performances, Leigh Brackett's excellent screenplay and the fine cinematography. Not to mention simply the challenge of understanding a truly baffling plot. As in all of Altman's works, this one is peppered with offbeat characters and subtle (and some not-so subtle) situations that positively take you by surprise. As a maverick figure in Hollywood, Altman made sure "iconoclast" was stamped all over this film, it's a true nose-thumbing at every institution that Hollywood reveres; idealistic movie heroes, neat happy-ever-after endings, big budget spectacles, dependable money-making conventions and all around ass-kissing.

But the real treat here is, of course, Elliott Gould, and I don't believe that it's the best thing he's ever done on screen, as many think. He's certainly turned out even better performances than this one throughout the past 3 decades. But yet, in The Long Goodbye, Gould is just so much fun to watch, especially when he's being interrogated by the police or just muttering lines like, "He's got a girl, I got a cat" or "a melon convention" when he gives up trying to get his topless next-door neighbors' attention.

An interesting thing to note at the end of the film - we see the back shot of Marlowe walking away and that to me, was the private eye's closing shot, but then we have a front shot of Elliott Gould who begins playing his harmonica and then continues on up the road doing his little number, dancing a jig, etc. And to me that shows where Marlowe left off and where Gould takes over. So they weren't one and the same after all. Once again, a statement to those who would be too quick to take the Marlowe myth seriously.

The Long Goodbye is vintage Altman, a masterwork to be savoured forever.