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| Product | ★ |
| Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (check at Amazon) | 3.5 |
| Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? [VHS] $9.48 (check at Amazon) | 4.0 |
| Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (Original Soundtrack Lp Vinyl, 1971) (check at Amazon) | 3.0 |
Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? have 218 words, post on at September 12, 2014. This is cached page on Smart Prices. If you want remove this page, please contact us.
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There are some movies that prove that no matter how talented the actor seen front and center may be they can’t always save the movie they are in. Those moments also make you wonder what that actor was thinking when they signed on to make that particular movie. Such is the case with Dustin Hoffman in this movie.
The story centers around George Soloway (Hoffman), a pop songwriter who has trouble connecting with anyone on a personal level. Sure he may go through the motions but does he really love anyone other than himself? For that matter does he even love himself? Moving in and out of fantasy and reality, we get to see this tormented artists try and reconcile his life and the changes that superstardom results in. I have a hard time dealing with people talking about tormented artists having lived through hearing about people actually tortured in various wars in my lifetime.
As George lives his life and worries about his own existence and stardom someone is trying to mess with that same life, the title character of Harry Kellerman. There are hints as to who he might be that are muddled at best and misleading at worst, but in the end it makes sense as to just who this culprit is. The problem is as disjointed as this film is by that time you find yourself not caring.
This is one of those movies that fans call ahead of it’s time and art but in the end are just confusing and boring. They will tell you how wonderful it was to see a film with a disjointed timeline or that doesn’t use the standard narrative structure. When I read reviews like that it usually says to me "I don’t get what the heck is going on here but I don’t want to appear unintelligent so I’ll heap more praise and follow the rest of the lemmings".
I would say that Hoffman does do a great job of acting here even if the end result is boring but that might make someone think it was worth watching. Perhaps if you were a die hard Hoffman fan that might make it worthwhile. I thought that the movie was pretentious and more than that put on display an example of the worst of the time period it was made. There are some movies that when you watch them you can immediately narrow down the decade it was filmed in and when they’re really bad you can almost note the year. This is one of those films. 1971 never looked worse for movies than this one.rthwhile. I thought that the movie was pretentious and more than that put on display an example of the worst of the time period it was made. There are some movies that when you watch them you can immediately narrow down the decade it was filmed in and when they’re really bad you can almost note the year. This is one of those films. 1971 never looked worse for movies than this one.
A unique character study. Some hilarious fantasy scenes. Highly engaging. Performances could not be more natural.
Excellent audio/video transfer on DVD. So glad it was finally released.
WHO IS HARRY KELLERMAN etc. is typical of its time: trippy, introspective, colorful, melancholy.
The tone is established in an opening shot of composer Georgie Soloway’s free-fall from a Manhattan skyscraper. This slow-speed happy faced plummet to the concrete is only one of Georgie’s many hallucinations. Schizophrenia may be more accurate.
The film has several themes: the brevity of life, loneliness, fear of failure, celebrity, insomnia, the efficacy of psychotherapy. Although Georgie is very self-involved and caught up in a mystery of who is calling his friends and badmouthing him, he is at times able to get beyond his own baggage and show kindness to others, including a gal he meets at an audition.
It’s Allison Densmore’s 34th birthday. Her attempt to land the role of a much younger woman ends with a perfunctory \\”that’s all for now\\” from the play’s director, but Georgie liked her song and is attracted to Allison. He invites her on a NYC flyover in his private plane and spends a romantic night at Allison’s apartment. She confides of having suicidal thoughts upon waking up that morning, yet at the end of this same day is grateful to be alive and feels blessed by Georgie’s special birthday present. A rare feel-good moment in a troubling story.
Another joyful sequence is an on-stage performance at the Fillmore East in front of a real concert audience by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show, vocalist Shel Silverstein and Georgie, who’s asked to duet on one of his many hit songs.
Georgie’s therapy sessions with Dr. Moses haven’t done much good. His marriage ended in divorce some years earlier and those hallucinations seem to be getting worse. In one sequence set at July 4th, the shrink appears as Santa. He’s also in Georgie’s final daydream, a peaceful mountainside ski scene that’s totally unrelated to what is really about to happen.
In this story of partial revelations, at the end we learn just who Harry Kellerman is but not why he’s saying those terrible things, how Georgie overcomes insomnia but not why he’s afflicted with it, that he’s afraid but not what of, and how a man retreats inside a shell of fantasy but not why he does so.
Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 IMDb viewer poll rating.
(5.7) Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971) – Dustin Hoffman/Barbara Harris/Jack Warden/David Burns/Gabe Dell/Rose Gregorio/Betty Walker/Dom DeLuiseman is but not why he’s saying those terrible things, how Georgie overcomes insomnia but not why he’s afflicted with it, that he’s afraid but not what of, and how a man retreats inside a shell of fantasy but not why he does so.
Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 IMDb viewer poll rating.
(5.7) Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971) – Dustin Hoffman/Barbara Harris/Jack Warden/David Burns/Gabe Dell/Rose Gregorio/Betty Walker/Dom DeLuise
Well, this terrific little cult film is finally available on DVD! And it’s long overdue, too — Dustin Hoffman gives a strong performance as a successful songwriter who should be on top of the world because he has it all … except that he doesn’t believe he deserves it. And in the course of his glittering, tormented story, through childhood flashbacks & encounters with the people in his world who do actually care about him, he struggles to make himself believe he is good enough to love & be loved. Except that some malicious stranger named Harry Kellerman is constantly phoning him & making outrageous public attacks on his character (or lack thereof, actually) — why?
It’s true that the film is very definitely of its period, and that may be a bit off-putting for contemporary viewers. Its style of filmmaking is currently out of fashion — which isn’t to say that it doesn’t deliver! But you might need to make some mental adjustments while watching if you’re more accustomed to current so-called "realistic" trends (which really aren’t so realistic anyway, just a different type of stylization). The script is sharp & scathing, the performances are gems of characterization — the lovely & warm Barbara Harris garnered a deserved Oscar nomination for hers — and it features an ending with an extra layer of horrific overtones due to something that happened since the film was made.
As I said, it’s of its period. Its existential tone & its examination of the emptiness of success belong very much to the late 1960s/early 1970s, which is probably the far side of the moon to many younger viewers now. Not for every taste, to be sure — but for those seeking a film that’s a bit challenging & certainly fascinating, highly recommended!
This largely (and unjustly) forgotten Dustin Hoffman flick from ’71, in which he plays a mixed-up pop songwriter in existential crisis, features a sharp script by Herb Gardner, music by Shel Silverstein, an appearance by Dr Hook and the Mediciane Show and an excellent supporting cast including the emotionally gorgeous Barbara Harris making an indelible, film-stealing (and Oscar-nominated) impression as an auditioning actress…is at last going to be available on DVD in Jan ’14. About time, too.