BEING THERE (1979) *** In which the proposition is set forth that in order to become president one need only have good manners, an empty mind, an empty mind, be injured by the right vehicle, and be white. I believe that Jerzy Kosinski originally had dark satire in mind but I suspect that he, like myself, eventually became convinced by his farce. Kosinski was such an inconsistent writer that I once suspected that he himself couldn't tell the difference; instead here he demonstrates his rapport with his work and his versatility; the greatest passages of the novel are maintained but rendered in only peripherally related cinematic form. It's impossible to get your arms all the way around the simplistic brilliance of Peter Sellers' performance-it cannot be easy reflecting no thoughts whatsoever when you have so many of your own. So Kosinski and Sellers are essential but it is Hal Ashby who shines their finest moments and blurs the rough edges that we know both of them reveled in as much as their genius. The scene of Sellers being elevated up the steps of the mansion in a wheelchair in the rain with strategically placed umbrellas to the musical accompaniment of "Basketball Jones" (Cheech & Chong, George Harrison, Carol King) is about as brilliant of a scene as can ever be shot. Like Ashby, Shirley MacLaine...not so much reins in the writer and the star so much as demonstrates that everyone has some reservoir for that level of zaniness, however modest...and winks at the audience in ever so slightly overplaying a scene or two, embellishing her sexual frustration for example while smirking at the camera. Couldn't have been the success that it is without the performance of Melvyn Douglas, the good-hearted captain of industry who likes everyone he meets, but isn't understood by them any better than he understands them, which he goes to lengths not to do, along with meeting many of them. It looks like the Vanderbilts have a very nice house, but I wouldn't want it. You'd have to invite too many strangers in. Anyway, if you see Rafael, tell him Chauncey gave me a message for him...
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