BEING THERE (1979)

BEING THERE
Directed by Hal Ashby
Starring Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, and Melvin Douglas

After being passed over for nominations in several excellent films, and losing to Rex Harrison for his performance in “Dr. Strangelove”, “Being There” was supposed to be the film that would allow Peter Sellers to join the pantheon of men who were Academy Award winners. “Being There” was his pet project. It took him nine years to get it made and he still had to convince studio heads that he was right for the lead.

“Being There” is about John Chance (Sellers), an illiterate and simple-minded gardener for an old man. At the beginning of the movie the old man has just died. He has no family, so his lawyers come to take the house away. They inform John Chance that he must leave, which he does without any complaint. He walks out the door and into Washington, DC in 1979. We begin to wonder how he's going to survive his first night on the streets when he's hit by a car owned by Eve Rand (Shirley MacLaine. Eve insists that Chance come home with her to be taken care of by the private doctors who have been hired to take care of her dying husband Benjamin (Melvyn Douglas). On the way home there is a miscommunication and Eve mistakenly believes that John Chance is Chauncey Gardiner, a businessman who has just lost his business.

Benjamin is a very powerful man, and he takes a shine to Chauncey, eventually deciding to introduce him to the President of the United States, who has come to be advised on economic matters. The President asks Chauncey's opinion on the matter, and Chauncey tells him that in a garden there is Spring and Summer, but there is also Fall and Winter. If the roots aren't damaged during Fall and Winter, then growth will happen again in Spring and Summer. The President quotes Chauncey in a nationally televised speech and soon Chauncey is one of the most popular yet mysterious characters in the country.

Peter Sellers delivers a strong performance. He was truly a comic master. His portrayal of John Chance/Chauncey Gardiner was so innocent, yet hilarious. Equally good were the performances of Shirley MacLaine and Melvyn Douglas. They never doubt Chauncey's legitimacy, and in less capable hands this could look asinine, but I was never taken out of the moment.

Unfortunately, Sellers did not win his Oscar for “Being There”. He died a year later, so he would never have the chance again. In a lesser year, “Being There” might have swept the awards, but 1979 was a very strong year, including the releases of “Kramer vs. Kramer”, “Apocalypse Now”, “All That Jazz”, “The Rose”, “Norma Rae”, and “Breaking Away”. Sellers lost his Oscar to Dustin Hoffman's performance in “Kramer vs. Kramer.” Other nominees were Al Pacino in “...And Justice for All”, Roy Scheider in “All That Jazz”, and Jack Lemon in “The China Syndrome”.

Sellers didn't win an Oscar, but the film was awarded a statue for Melvyn Douglas's performance as Benjamin Rand, the dying husband who's last few weeks are made brighter by the presence of Chauncey Garniner. Other nominees for Best Supporting Actor were Robert Duvall in “Apocalypse Now”, Mickey Rooney in “The Black Stallion”, Justin Henry in “Kramer vs. Kramer”, and Frederic Forrest in “The Rose”.

This review was written on June 9, 2008