Being There (Widescreen)

 

 

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My wife and I tend to quote lines from this wonderful movie, much like I do on the golf course with Caddy Shack lines. As Caddy Shack is to golf, Being There is to life: a delightful comedy but with meaning.

I discovered this film only 7 years ago when I caught the Peter Sellers Bug after watching "The Party".

This film is easily one of the best films to ever hit the silver screen. It will move you in such a way that you will be left speachless and quiet for a couple of hours after it's done. The film is loaded with wonderful hidden themes and messages that really cause the viewer to question the world around them in a very good a positive way.

The writing and producing is top notch, and in my opinion simply "Brilliant."

Peter Sellers character is that of Chauncey(Chance)Gardiner. He is an innocently reclusive individual who has spent his entire life confined to the inside of one single house without any knowledge of the outside world or that it even exists. Being raised since birth by the "old man" and the household Maid, His duties are to simply take care of the garden in the back yard and do some light cleaning duties around the house. When the old man suddenly dies and the deed of the house is taken by a law firm, Chauncey finds himself alone with nothing more than several TV sets that are spread out in various parts of the house.

He is soon forced to leave the safe and familiar confines of this house and venture out into the world. Armed only with a TV remote control Chauncey steps out of the front door of the house for the very first time in his life to discover a very real and different world than the one he has only seen on television sets. This sequence is set brilliantly without any spoken word to a Disco/funk version of 2010 a space odyssey by Brazillian musician Deodato.

Chauncey eventually makes his way to a department store window that is selling TV sets where he uses his remote control to change the channels and watch TV (this is the only thing that makes him feel safe in this strange and new world he has ventured into). It is here that the story takes off when by accident he meets the wife of Ailing Billionaire Benjamin Rand who takes him back to her Mansion.

Once he arrives at the mansion is where the Acting Genius of Peter Sellers really takes hold of the viewer and you get drawn right into the wonderfuly brilliant world of Chauncey Gardiner. His character throughout the film simply represents innocence in its purest form, and as the film progresses you develop a deep respect and understanding of him. The film depicts how corrupt and greedy the heart of man is, and yet it shows how an innocent and sinless man (Chauncey Gardiner) can deliver mankind out of the darkness and back into the light.

The final scene in the movie will leave you speachless. As the screen goes black you litteraly sit there in awe of what you just witnessed. This film no doubt is one of the best films to EVER be be created. 5 STARS and 2 Big Thumbs Up! The final scene actually sent shivers up my spine the first time I saw it and gave me goose bumps....But in a very positive way.

Peter Sellers gives the best performance of his entire career in this masterpiece called "Being There"

Sellers plays a man who is a complete blank, seemingly mentally handicapped, having spent his whole life working as a
gardener, his only real enjoyment being watching TV. Through a wonderfully creative series of coincidences, he soon has
Washington's elite read into his simplistic pronouncements whatever they want to hear, and the next thing you know he's
an advisor to the President, and winning over TV audiences.

This could have been a one-joke film, but the terrific writing and directing, and the simply magical performance by Peter Sellers
make this deep, complex, and moving. There's great supporting work too by Shirley McLain and Melvyn Douglas. Jack Warden
overdoes the doofus bit a little as the US president, and there are a couple of moments where the jokes feel forced, but this
is as funny and socially incisive a US film as has been made in the last 30 years.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Two movies in one!
This is really two different movies. Most viewers will watch the DVD up until the credits start, hit the Stop and Eject buttons and will have seen one, admittedly excellent,... Read more

Published on Jun 23 2004 by William F Santiff

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and haunting.....
This film is like none I have ever seen before. In the past, when I thought of Peter Sellers (who plays lead character "Chance the Gardener"), my mind automatically... Read more

Published on Jun 1 2004 by D. Pawl

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy it, you'll like it!
This is one of my favorite movies. I first saw it in the movies years ago. It''s one of those movies you can pick up and watch over and over again. Read more

Published on May 26 2004 by Lionel Phillips

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm so pleased I was...and could be again
This is both a political satire and a contemporary fable such as Hans Christian Andersen might have written had he lived in the 1970s. Read more

Published on April 5 2004 by Robert Morris

3.0 out of 5 stars Silly
The title of this movie may be "Being There" but the plot isn't there at all. Shirley MacLaine and Peter Sellers team up to form the story of a man who has been a... Read more

Published on Feb 29 2004 by Betti Trapp

5.0 out of 5 stars Required Viewing!
This film should be required viewing for everyone in this year of presidential politics. There is an eerie similarity between Chauncey and our illustrious president. Read more

Published on Feb 17 2004 by C Brunner

3.0 out of 5 stars A NICE MOVIE
SHIRLEY MACLAINE IS ALWAYS WONDERFUL TO WATCH.PETER SELLERS IS ALWAYS FUNNY TO WATCH.THIS IS A FILM YOU MUST SEE EVEN ITS NOT A MOVIE TO OWN IN YOUR LIBRARY AND WATCH IT AGAIN AND... Read more

Published on Feb 9 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars "I like to watch"
I was BLOWN AWAY when I first saw this movie. This movie is the best movie I've ever seen that I've never heard of before watching. Read more

Published on Jan 1 2004 by A. M. Rosencrants

5.0 out of 5 stars great movie
With amazing foresight, Peter Sellers captures the essence of Bill Clintons's rise to ascendency through the Arkansas governership to the Presidency. Read more

Published on Dec 25 2003 by henry

5.0 out of 5 stars one added note
i'd like to be brief as possible. a pretty brilliant american film to say the least. and I'd like to echo the ending as one of the most fulfilling I've ever seen, and the... Read more

Published on Dec 1 2003

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