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Being There (1979)

PG   |    |  Comedy, Drama

Being There (1979) Poster

A simpleminded, sheltered gardener becomes an unlikely trusted advisor to a powerful businessman and an insider in Washington politics.

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83 Metascore

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  • Peter Sellers in Being There (1979)
  • Peter Sellers and Jack Warden in Being There (1979)
  • Shirley MacLaine and Peter Sellers in Being There (1979)
  • Peter Sellers in Being There (1979)
  • Peter Sellers and Melvyn Douglas in Being There (1979)
  • Shirley MacLaine and Melvyn Douglas in Being There (1979)

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Cast & Crew

Top Billed Cast

Director:

Hal Ashby

Writers:

Jerzy Kosinski (novel), Jerzy Kosinski (screenplay)
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Awards

Won 1 Oscar.

Another 13 wins & 15 nominations.

Reviews & Commentary

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User Reviews
7 July 2002 | tfrizzell
Quietly Demonstrates What an Enormous Talent Peter Sellers Was.
The original "Forrest Gump" came out in 1979 when Hal Ashby's "Being There" was first released. A quietly brilliant, hilarious, heart-wrenching and heart-warming motion picture that showed how great Peter Sellers (Oscar-nominated) was and how limitless his range was. He stars as a gardener at an old mansion in Washington, D.C. who has never been outside of the owner's small piece of property. When the owner dies, he has to leave the only home he has ever known. Sellers has no knowledge of anything except what he sees on television and he has a strange sort of child-like innocence that endears him to all he comes into contact with. After a minor accident, Sellers is taken to the home of a ridiculously wealthy political lobbyist (Melvyn Douglas in his second Oscar-winning performance) who is literally being kept alive as he has a rare form of cancer. Douglas immediately takes a liking to Sellers and so does his much-younger wife (Shirley MacLaine). Sellers is now in the spotlight though as he gets to meet the president (Jack Warden) and slowly starts to gain popularity and political support from those around him. Of course Sellers does not realize any of this as his understanding of such things are beyond his somewhat limited mental capabilities. A simply brilliant film that is carried by Sellers' amazing personal best performance. Everyone else is adequate, but this is Sellers' show. Douglas won the Oscar mainly due to sympathy votes, but surprisingly Sellers would die before Douglas as he passed away less than six months after receiving his Oscar nod of a massive heart attack. As good as Dustin Hoffman was in "Kramer vs. Kramer", I still wish that Sellers would have won the Oscar for this role which is one of the finest performances ever throughout the entire history of the cinema. 5 stars out of 5.

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Along with a long line of well-established actors interested in the role of Chauncey Gardiner Neil Simon was one who saw in the part a vehicle for his particular talents.

Quotes

Chance the Gardener: Good morning, Louise.
Louise: He's dead, Chance. The old man's dead.
Chance the Gardener: I see.

Goofs

When Chance is watching himself on the large screen in the store window display, he uses his home remote control to try and change the channels on that set, but it controls another TV instead. However the remote is of the earlier "ultrasonic" technology, and these sound waves DO NOT pass through glass at the required strength needed to work. Those of us born before the movie can recall that jiggling your keys would make a remote controlled TV unwittingly change channels, or turn off and on. At about this same time the now common "infrared" RCs were coming out, albeit at outrageous prices. These signals CAN in effect pass through glass, despite some losses due to reflection. For the scene to be technically correct they should have used an IR remote, which would not make those "ringing bell" metallic sounds.

Crazy Credits

Under the end titles of the theatrical release are outtakes of Peter Sellers as Chance recounting the encounter with Abbaz. Sellers breaks character and laughs during each attempt. The lines do not appear in the movie. Certain versions of the film have credits with white text on a black background without the outtakes.

Alternate Versions

CBS edited 3 minutes from this film for its 1984 network television premiere.

Soundtracks

Symphony No. 8
(uncredited)
Written by Franz Schubert

Storyline

Plot Summary

Synopsis (WARNING: Spoilers)

Genres

Comedy | Drama

Details

Release Date:

8 February 1980

Language

English, Russian, Italian

Country of Origin

West Germany, USA

Filming Locations

937 M Street NW, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$30,177,511

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$30,177,511

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