The Goodbye Girl is a 1977 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross, written by Neil Simon and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Marsha Mason, Quinn Cummings and Paul Benedict. The film, produced by Ray Stark, centers on an odd trio of characters: a struggling actor who has sublet a Manhattan apartment from a friend, the current occupant (his friend's ex-girlfriend, who has just been abandoned), and her precocious young daughter.
Richard Dreyfuss won the 1977 Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Elliot Garfield. At the time, he became the youngest man (at age 30) to win an Oscar for Best Actor. Both Mason and Cummings were nominated for Oscars.
The film became the first romantic comedy to earn $100 million in box-office grosses.
Plot
Former chorus girl and divorcee Paula McFadden and her ten-year-old daughter, Lucy, live in a Manhattan apartment with Paula's married boyfriend, Tony DeForrest. Coming home from shopping, Paula finds a letter from Tony explaining that he has deserted her to travel to Italy for a film role, leaving her devastated. Paula soon learns that prior to his departure, Tony sublet the apartment to his friend Elliot Garfield, a quirky but sweet aspiring actor from Chicago, who arrives in the middle of the night, unaware of the situation and expecting to move in. Although Elliot has already paid three months' rent, Paula turns him away, but after he calls her from a payphone across the street in the pouring rain and begs her to let him stay, she reluctantly agrees to share the apartment with him.
Over the next few days, Paula and Elliot often clash over his eccentric habits, including meditative chants in the morning, late-night guitar playing, and sleeping in the nude. Now penniless, Paula attempts to resume her career as a dancer, but she struggles to get back into shape and is rejected in an audition in favor of younger women. Meanwhile, Elliot has landed the title role in an off-off-Broadway production of Richard III, but the director, Mark, wants him to play Richard III of England as an exaggerated homosexual stereotype. Reluctantly, Elliot agrees to the nontraditional portrayal, despite knowing that it may result in the end of his acting career.
When Paula and Elliot encounter each other in a grocery store, they amicably agree to split the bill. Afterwards, Paula is robbed, and after Elliot fails to recover her purse, which contains the last of her savings, she lashes out at him. However, the two soon begin to warm up to each other, and Paula attends the premiere of Richard III with Lucy. Later that night, Elliot returns home intoxicated after reading scathing reviews of his performance, and Paula consoles him. The next morning, Elliot is informed that the play is canceled, much to his relief.
Returning home one night from his job as a doorman at a strip club, where he is punched by a drunk patron, Elliot makes advances towards Paula, who is amused but insists she has no time for romance. The following evening, Elliot surprises Paula with a romantic rooftop dinner, and after taking shelter from the rain, they sleep together. The next morning, Lucy is displeased with the new relationship; Paula and Lucy both fear another heartbreak, but Elliot convinces Paula that he is not going anywhere. Later that day, Elliot picks up Lucy from school and takes her on a horse-drawn carriage ride, during which she admits she likes him, and he tells her how much he cares for her and her mother.
Elliot lands a job with an improvisational group and Paula begins to redecorate the apartment for a fresh beginning. Elliot is soon spotted by a well-known film director, who offers him a film role in Seattle. When Paula learns that Elliot will be away for four weeks, she worries that he will leave her like all the other men in her life, but he assures Paula that he will be back after the shoot. Later that night, he calls Paula from the payphone outside their apartment and invites her to go with him while he is filming. Paula declines but is encouraged by the invitation, saying that his asking her is enough and he will come home to a cozy finished home. Before hanging up, Elliot asks Paula to have his prized guitar restrung, which she takes as proof that he really loves her and will return. Paula climbs onto the fire escape in the pouring rain and proclaims her love for Elliot before he rides away in a taxi.
Cast
Production
The film began as a screenplay called Bogart Slept Here (essentially the story of what happened to Dustin Hoffman after he became a star) that was to star Robert De Niro and Mason for Warner Bros. It would have been the film De Niro made immediately after Taxi Driver. Mike Nichols was hired to direct. Soon after, Nichols left the project. With the 1996 acquisition of Turner Entertainment Company, which owned the pre-May 1986 MGM film library by Time Warner, Warner Bros. now owns the rights and distribution of the film.
Soundtrack
The title song, "Goodbye Girl", was written and performed by David Gates in 1977, and was a top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1977/78, peaking at #15.
Reception
Roger Ebert gave the film a mostly favorable review, awarding three stars out of four. He was unimpressed with Mason's performance and the character as written, calling it "hardly ever sympathetic." However, he praised Dreyfuss and cited his Richard III scenes as "the funniest in a movie since Mel Brooks staged Springtime for Hitler." Vincent Canby of The New York Times found the film to be "exhausting without being much fun" and "relentlessly wisecracked."
Arthur D. Murphy of Variety called the film "another feather in Herbert Ross' directorial cap," with Dreyfuss giving "his best screen performance to date." Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote that the film "evolves into the most satisfying comedy Simon has written directly for the movies. One tolerates the plot mechanics for the sake of the genuinely amusing aspects of his script, the bright remarks and the distinctive or appealing character traits that provide good performers with live ammunition." Pauline Kael of The New Yorker was negative, commenting, "It's not Neil Simon's one-liners that get you down in The Goodbye Girl, it's his two-liners. The snappiness of the exchanges is so forced it's almost macabre." David Ansen of Newsweek wrote, "It's pure formula, and Simon plays it straight, all cards on the table, with the conservative professionalism of a gambler used to winning. As directed by the ubiquitous Herbert Ross, The Goodbye Girl is a modest, bittersweet comedy that will delight Simon fans and leave his critics staunchly unconverted."
Awards and nominations
Richard Dreyfuss was 30 when he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, making him the youngest actor ever to win the category. This record stood for 25 years until 2002 when Adrien Brody—just one month shy of his 30th birthday—won for The Pianist.
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Nominee(s)
! Result
!
|-
| rowspan="5"| Academy Awards
| Best Picture
| Ray Stark
|
| align="center" rowspan="5"|
|-
| Best Actor
| Richard Dreyfuss
|
|-
| Best Actress
| Marsha Mason
|
|-
| Best Supporting Actress
| Quinn Cummings
|
|-
| Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen <br> Based on Factual Material or on Story Material <br> Not Previously Published or Produced
| Neil Simon
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| British Academy Film Awards
| Best Actor in a Leading Role
| Richard Dreyfuss
|
| align="center" rowspan="3"|
|-
| Best Actress in a Leading Role
| Marsha Mason
|
|-
| Best Screenplay
| Neil Simon
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| David di Donatello Awards
| Best Foreign Director
| Herbert Ross
|
| align="center" rowspan="2"|
|-
| Best Foreign Actor
| Richard Dreyfuss
|
|-
| rowspan="5"| Golden Globe Awards
| colspan="2"| Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
|
| align="center" rowspan="5"|
|-
| Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
| Richard Dreyfuss
|
|-
| Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
| Marsha Mason
|
|-
| Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
| Quinn Cummings
|
|-
| Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
| Neil Simon
|
|-
| Japan Academy Film Prize
| colspan="2"| Outstanding Foreign Language Film
|
| align="center"|
|-
| Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards
| Best Actor
| rowspan="2"| Richard Dreyfuss
|
| align="center"|
|-
| Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards
| Best Actor
|
| align="center"|
|-
| Writers Guild of America Awards
| Best Comedy – Written Directly for the Screen
| Neil Simon
|
| align="center"|
|}
American Film Institute
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – #81
Musical and remake
There were three failed attempts to turn The Goodbye Girl into a half-hour, television sitcom, according to Lee Goldberg's book Unsold Television Pilots. The first pilot, aired on NBC in May 1982 and titled Goodbye Doesn't Mean Forever, starred Karen Valentine and Michael Lembeck, and was directed by James Burrows from a script by Allan Katz. The second, unaired pilot was produced a year later starring JoBeth Williams and was directed by Charlotte Brown from a script by Brown and Pat Nardo. The third pilot, which never aired, again starred Valentine and was directed by Jay Sandrich.
The Goodbye Girl was developed into a 1993 Broadway musical of the same name starring Martin Short and Bernadette Peters.
A 2004 remake with Jeff Daniels and Patricia Heaton keeps the screenplay from the original version.
Home media
The VHS format has been released several times over the years. MGM/UA Home Video released the 1993 and 1996 versions, while Warner Home Video released the 2000 version in addition to releasing the DVD version. A manufacture-on-demand Blu-ray format was released through Warner Archive Collection on November 8, 2016. The film is available also via streaming through various services.
Notes
References
External links
- The Goodbye Girl at AllMovie