Elliott Gould at BAM on August 8 & 9 for Q&As
Brooklyn, July 2, 2008-From August 1-21
BROOKLYN, NY (RUSHPRNEWS) AUGUST 1, 2008–BAMcinématek, the repertory film program at BAM Rose Cinemas, presents Elliott Gould: Star for an Uptight Age. In September of 1970, a banner year for the Brooklyn-born actor Elliott Gould, Time magazine put him on the cover and
christened him “Star for an Uptight Age”-suggesting that within Gould the tightly-wound audiences of the early seventies recognized their own insecurities and neuroses transformed into something both funny and shockingly real.
Gould was one of the greatest leading men of the1970s, with his idiosyncratic, original take on each of his roles. BAMcinématek presents a retrospective of Gould’s work, featuring many of his films from that decade, including his three classic collaborations with Robert Altman-M*A*S*H, The Long Goodbye, and California Split-and a rare screening of Ingmar Bergman’s The Touch.
The series starts on August 1 with a week-long run of a recently-struck print of M*A*S*H (1970), a dark comedy directed by Robert Altman. Gould plays Trapper John, one of his most memorable roles, a surgeon stationed in a military hospital during the Korean War in his first of three films directed by Altman. “Elliott Gould, Donald Sutherland and Tom Skerritt head an Elliott Gould: Star for an Uptight Age, 2 more, extremely effective, low-keyed cast of players,” writes Variety. “In Gould as the totally unmilitary but arrogantly competent, supercool young battlefield surgeon, a reluctant draftee whose credo is ‘let’s get the job done and knock off all this Army muck’, the film finds its focus and its statement.” M*A*S*H screens through August 7.
Following on August 8 is Alan Arkin’s Little Murders (1971), in which Gould plays Alfred Chamberlain, a role
he originated on Broadway in 1967. Gould will be present for a Q&A following one of the screenings. In the
film-scripted by Jules Feiffer, who also wrote the play-Gould’s character meets his girlfriend’s family. Time
Out London comments, “the performances are perfection, and at the end you are left with a haunting image of the Feiffer world, where little daily murders done to man’s soul have made feeling not merely dangerous but impossible.”
In 1970 Feiffer told Time magazine, “There’s been a shift in focus of movie heroes and movie
stories. Out of this shift came the possibility of careers for the likes of Gould, Alan Arkin and Dustin Hoffman.
What really happened is that Hollywood is trying to update its mythology, and these are the stars of the new mythology.”
The Village Voice describes the role of Philip Marlowe in The Long Goodbye (Altman, 1973) as “Gould’s
quintessential performance.” In The Long Goodbye, screening on August 9, Altman updates Raymond
Chandler’s detective novel and Gould recreates the iconic private eye. “One of cinema’s wittiest and savviest
deconstructions, The Long Goodbye (1973), transposes Chandler to the ‘Nam era and ends up an anti-noir
anthem, with Elliott Gould as a beleaguered, slovenly Marlowe slumming around glitzy ’70s L.A.,” writes The
Village Voice. Gould will be at BAM for a Q&A on August 9 after one of the screenings.
Peter Hyam’s Busting (1974), in which Gould plays Detective Michael Keneely, is next on August 10. He and
Robert Blake play a pair of vice cops who disregard their superiors in order to bring down a criminal kingpin.
Time Out London calls the picture a “[s]lick and often witty cop thriller, with Gould and Blake in fine form as the vice-squad detectives going it alone in the face of apathy and corruption among their superiors in their attempts to clean up LA.” On August 16 Gould stars in Paul Mazursky’s first film, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1968), in a role which garnered him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Gould plays Ted Henderson opposite Dyan Cannon as his wife, Alice. When the couple’s friends return from an enlightening couples therapy retreat, their newfound openness affects the relationship between Ted and Alice.
The third Gould-Altman collaboration in the series, 1974’s California Split, screens on August 17. The actor
stars as a compulsive gambler named Charlie Waters who hits casinos and racetracks with his buddy, played by George Segal. Gould is “the aggressive and impudent half of the two friends who are the film’s focus,” remarks Senses of Cinema, while “George Segal is the more buttoned-down, but despondent Bill…Gould came closer than any other actor, perhaps, to, in his loose, uncontainable acting style, embodying in physical form the qualities which help constitute the Altman vision.” In I Love My Wife (1970), directed by Mel Stuart, which screens with a new print on August 18, Gould is Dr. Richard Burrows, a married surgeon managing numerous extramarital affairs.
On August 19 is 1970’s Getting Straight by Richard Rush, a satirical time capsule which features the actor as Vietnam veteran Harry Bailey, who goes back to college and becomes embroiled in radical politics on campus.
“The film’s biggest asset is star Elliott Gould. Playing a character who can’t find a segment of society in which he totally fits, Gould stands apart from others even when he’s assimilating,” notes All Movie Guide. On August 20 Gould teams up with James Caan as a pair of vaudeville performers-turned-con-men in the period comedy Harry and Walter Go to New York (1976) by Mark Rydell.
Elliott Gould: Star for an Uptight Age ends on August 21 with a rare screening of The Touch (Beröringen)
(1971) by Ingmar Bergman. Gould is David Kovac, an archeologist now living in Sweden who earlier fled a
concentration camp to settle in America. He begins an affair with a married woman, played by Bibi Andersson.
“Both [Gould and Anderson] give intense and candid performances…and Nykvist’s cinematography, as ever, is breathtaking,” comments Channel 4 Film.
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BAM Rose Cinemas “offers one of the most civilized movie-going experiences in the city,” according to
The New York Times. General admission tickets to BAM Rose Cinemas are $11. Tickets are $7.50 for seniors over 65 and children under twelve. Tickets are $7.50 for students 25 and under with valid I.D.
Monday- Thursday, except holidays, and $7 for BAM Cinema Club members. Discounts are only available at BAM Rose Cinemas box office. Tickets are also available by phone at 718.777.FILM, or online at BAM.org. For more information, call the BAMcinématek hotline at 718.636.4100 or visit BAM.org.
Elliott Gould: Star for an Uptight Age schedule
Friday, August 1-Thursday, August 7
M*A*S*H (1970), 116min
Friday, August 1-Sunday, August 3 at 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:15m
Monday, August 4, Tuesday, August 5, and Thursday, August 7 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm
Directed by Robert Altman With Elliott Gould, Donald Sutherland, Robert Duvall, Tom Skerritt
M*A*S*H not only firmly put Robert Altman on the cinematic landscape, it marked the first of his storied
collaborations with Elliott Gould. As sprawling as any of the Altman ensemble pieces, M*A*S*H could also be viewed as a buddy comedy. Sutherland’s Hawkeye and Gould’s Trapper John became icons for a culture tired of war and for a generation fed up with authority. “[A] stomach-churning, gory, often tasteless, but frequently funny black comedy,” notes Variety.
Friday, August 8 at 3:30, 6:30*, 9:30pm
Little Murders (1971), 110min
Directed by Alan Arkin
With Elliott Gould, Donald Sutherland, Alan Arkin Gould, who played the lead, Alfred Chamberlain, in Jules Feiffer’s original 1967 Broadway production of Little Murders reprised the role for Arkin’s screen adaptation a few years later. Feiffer’s dark comedy about a girl bringing her boyfriend (Gould) home to meet her dysfunctional family is cast against the backdrop of New York in the 70s ripe with shootings, garbage strikes, and power outages. Time Out London describes Little Murders as
“[a] wryly funny parable.” “The most talked about movie of 1970,” says Time magazine.
*Q&A with Elliott Gould after 6:30pm screening. And an after-party presented by The Onion will follow
the Q&A.
Saturday, August 9 at 3:30, 6:30*, 9:30pm
The Long Goodbye (1973), 112min
Directed by Robert Altman
With Elliott Gould, Sterling Hayden
Ford and Wayne. Kurosawa and Mifune. Truffaut and Léaud. Another of the great cinematic pairings of director
and actor, Altman and Gould, defined American filmmaking in the 70s. Nowhere is their rapport more evident
than in The Long Goodbye. Gould re-envisions Philip Marlowe as the quintessential Altman subject, cool and
self-aware. “If, as ex-wife Streisand once suggested, Gould was the American Belmondo,” notes The Village
Voice, “The Long Goodbye is the closest Hollywood ever came to making its Breathless. Seldom has artifice
seemed more spontaneous.”
*Q&A with Elliott Gould after 6:30pm screening
Sunday, August 10 at 3, 6, 9pm
Busting (1974), 92min
Directed by Peter Hyams
With Elliott Gould, Robert Blake
Gould is a swaggering, rebellious cop. Blake is a brash, young officer teamed up with him. The two run around
Los Angeles busting in on massage parlors and call girls-all in the line of duty. They focus in on crime-boss
Carl Rizzo, and make it their mission to rid L.A. of his vile kind, even if it means going against the rest of the
police force.
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Saturday, August 16 at 3, 6, 9pm
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969), 105min
Directed by Paul Mazursky
With Elliott Gould, Natalie Wood, Dyan Cannon
No Elliott Gould retrospective would be complete without this generation-defining work by Paul Mazursky.
Gould played Ted against type as the squarer male character. This, his first major film role, garnered him an
Academy Award nomination. While Bob & Carol serves as an introduction to Gould, it also acts as a cultural
segue between the sixties and the seventies.
Sunday, August 17 at 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm
California Split (1974), 106min
Directed by Robert Altman
With Elliott Gould, George Segal
The third offering by Altman and Gould pits our man from Brooklyn with George Segal as a pair of odd-couple
gamblers. Down-on-his-luck Segal is balanced by Gould’s free spirit as they win, lose, draw… and drink-a lot.
Their up-and-down narrative is a character study as only Altman could do, eschewing conventional climaxes and
gimmicks. Again, Gould is a perfect fit, favoring a multi-layered characterization over a simplistic depiction of a
gambler. “Altman’s astonishing mise en scène-contemplative of every level of interaction within a room, a bar,
a place-has rarely been put to more revelatory or personal ends. It’s a masterpiece,” comments Senses of
Cinema.
Monday, August 18 at 6:50, 9:15pm
I Love My Wife (1970), 98min, New Print!
Directed by Mel Stuart
With Elliott Gould, Dabney Coleman
In 1970 alone, Gould proved himself adept at not only taking on varied characters in multiple genres, but in
representing different aspects of his generation. In the sex-romp, I Love My Wife, he presages Woody Allen’s
archetypal male’s crises, which became cinematically en vogue by the end of the decade. Gould’s successful
surgeon goes through a series of affairs as he stumbles in maintaining his relationship with his wife.
Tuesday, August 19 at 7, 9:30pm
Getting Straight (1970), 124min
Directed by Richard Rush
With Elliott Gould, Candice Bergen, Max Julien
A wonderful timepiece, Getting Straight sees the worldly Elliott Gould’s Vietnam-vet-turned-college-student get
swept up in the flower-power generation’s idealism. Just as Jimmy Stewart’s George Bailey has to reconcile his
place in the world in It’s a Wonderful Life, Gould’s Harry Bailey goes through a crisis of conscience to figure out
what role he can play in his tumultuous times. Candice Bergen and Gould became the leading lady and man for
their age. Channel Four Film praises Gould’s charming and committed performance” in this film, while All
Movie Guide notes how the performance is “a fine combination of vulnerability and weary cynicism.”
Wednesday, August 20 at 9:15pm
Harry and Walter Go to New York (1976), 115min
Directed by Mark Rydell
With Elliott Gould, James Caan, Diane Keaton, Michael Caine
This star-studded film chronicles a pair of two-bit vaudevillians turned con men, Harry (James Caan) and Walter
(Gould), as they attempt to pull off the largest bank heist of the 19th century in New York, under the tutelage of
crackerjack thief, Michael Caine, and with the accompaniment of Diane Keaton as a bird-brained suffragette. It
is rare to see Gould in a period piece, which makes art director Harry Horner’s meticulously re-created 1890s
New York a real treat.
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Thursday, August 21 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm
The Touch (Beröringen) (1971), 115min, Rare Screening!
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
With Elliott Gould, Bibi Andersson, Max von Sydow
For Swedish auteur Ingmar Bergman’s first film in English he cleverly chose Elliott Gould to play a
psychologically crippled American anthropologist, bringing together Bergman’s concerns with human weakness
in relationships and Gould’s ability to inhabit any role. In this rare cinematic gem, when Bibi Andersson and
Gould have an affair, Swedish suffering meets New York neurosis. “An intimate psychological drama about a
love affair and an ensuing domestic crisis,” remarks Time magazine.
About Elliott Gould
Celebrated actor Elliott Gould (born in 1938 in Brooklyn, NY) is one of the key stars of 1970s American film,
appearing in work by Robert Altman, Paul Mazursky, William Friedkin, Alan Arkin, and Ingmar Bergman.
Gould played groundbreaking roles during a period that gave birth to a new kind of Hollywood lead and
continues to play singular characters in contemporary work.
He was born Elliott Goldstein and was raised in the Bensonhurst area of Brooklyn by his mother and father, who
worked in the garment business. He attended Charlie Lowe’s Broadway Show business school for kids and the
Manhattan Professional Children’s School taking classes in dancing, singing, diction, and acting. Gould first
appeared in a professional show in the chorus line of a Broadway show at the age of 18 after he called the
producer, pretended to be an agent, and promoted an actor called “Elliott Gould.” At this time he had a string of
bit parts in theater, and also worked odd jobs including running a hotel elevator, selling vacuum cleaners, and
teaching drama. His breakthrough came from a chorus part in Irma La Douce, which was followed by the lead in
the musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale. He met Barbra Streisand, who was also in the cast, and the couple
married in 1963. Together they had one son, the actor Jason Gould. Gould and Streisand divorced in 1971.
Gould’s breakout film performance was as Billy Minsky in The Night They Raided Minsky’s (Friedkin, 1968), in
which he played the owner of a New York burlesque club. Prominent roles followed and he quickly rose to
stardom, becoming one of the top five highest paid actors in Hollywood by the end of 1970. Notable
performances include Ted Henderson in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (Mazursky, 1969), for which Gould was
nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award; an iconic turn as Trapper John McIntyre in the
hugely successful M*A*S*H (Altman, 1970)-which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival; a Vietnam
veteran who goes back to college in the smash Getting Straight (Richard Rush, 1970); and he turned in a
humorous performance as a surgeon in I Love My Wife (Mel Stuart, 1970). In 1970 at age 32, his picture graced
the cover of Time magazine, which named him “Star for an Uptight Age” in the headline and in an
accompanying feature article titled “Elliott Gould: The Urban Don Quixote.” He was the first non-Swedish actor
to appear in a film by Ingmar Bergman: he played an archeologist and concentration camp survivor opposite Bibi
Andersson and Max von Sydow in The Touch (Beröringen) (1971). In 1973 he played private eye Philip
Marlowe in Altman’s updating of Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye (1973), which was transplanted from
the 40s LA to 70s LA. After this film, his best-known performance, he appeared in films including Busting (Peter
Hyams, 1974), S*P*Y*S (Irvin Kershner, 1974), California Split (Altman, 1974), Harry and Walter Go to New
York (Mark Rydell, 1976), and Capricorn One (Hyams, 1978).
Since the 70s, Gould has continued to perform in film and television. Select TV credits include the role of Jack
Gellar on twenty episodes of Friends from 1994 to 2003, as well as Dr. Howard Sheinfeld on twenty-two
episodes of ER in the 80s. In addition to appearances on shows including LA Law, Lois & Clark: The New
Adventures of Superman, Las Vegas, and K Street, he has hosted Saturday Night Live six times. Other film work
includes The Muppet Movie (James Frawley, 1979), Muppets Take Manhattan (Frank Oz, 1984), Bugsy (Barry
Levinson,1991), Kicking and Screaming (Noah Baumbach, 1995), and American History X (Tony Kaye, 1998).
He has played the role of Reuben Tischkoff in each film in Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Trilogy. He is on the
National Board of Directors of the Screen Actors Guild. Gould currently lives in Los Angeles.
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Credits
Leadership support for BAMcinématek is provided by The Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Charitable Trust.
BAM Rose Cinemas are named in recognition of a major gift in honor of Jonathan F.P. and Diana Calthorpe Rose. BAM
Rose Cinemas would also like to acknowledge the generous support of The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, The Estate of
Richard B. Fisher, Jim & Mary Ottaway, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Delegation of the New
York City Council, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, The Ford
Foundation, Bloomberg, Time Warner Inc., and Trollbäck & Company. Additional support for BAMcinématek is provided
by The Cultural Heritage Preservation Fund, The Grodzins Fund, and The Liman Foundation.
Special thanks to Elliott Gould, Rick Yankowski/Criterion, Ross Klein/MGM, Peter Simpson/Port Townsend Film Festival,
Jared Sapolin/Sony, and Paul Ginsburg/Universal.
General Information
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, BAMcafé, and Brownstone Books at BAM are located in the
Peter Jay Sharp building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene
neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street
(between Ashland and Rockwell Places). BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn’s only movie house dedicated to first-run
independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, is open for dining prior to Howard Gilman Opera House performances. BAMcafé also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music for BAMcafé Live nights on Friday and Saturday with a special BAMcafé Live menu available starting at 8pm.
Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue;
D, M, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue
Train: Long Island Railroad to Flatbush Avenue
Bus: B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM
Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM
For ticket and BAMbus information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit BAM.org.
Series spotlights Gould’s 1970s roles in films by Robert Altman, Paul Mazursky,
Alan Arkin, Ingmar Bergman, and others including Mel Stuart’s I Love My Wife
(1970)-in a New Print-and Peter Hyams’ Busting (1974)
Opens with week-long run of recently-struck print of M*A*S*H (Robert Altman, 1970),
August 1-7
BAM Rose Cinemas (30 Lafayette Ave.)
Tickets: $11 per screening for adults; $7.50 for seniors 65 and over,
children under twelve, and $7.50 for students 25 and under with valid I.D.
Monday-Thursday, except holidays; $7 BAM Cinema Club members
Tickets available by phone at 718.777.FILM
Call 718.636.4100 or visit BAM.org