Where's Poppa?

"Where's Poppa" is a true cult classic of black comedy/absurdist humor. It pokes fun at things that we really shouldn't find funny, but manages to have us howling with laughter at nonetheless. Surprisingly, even though it's nearly 30 years old, it still has the power to shock and surprise an audience. An excellent cast and perfectly-timed direction by Carl Reiner (this is one of his very best) make this a comedy classic worth watching again and again.

I saw this movie originally in 1970. It was a co-feature with a movie called Sunday Bloody Sunday which is what we actually went to see. When this film came on my first reaction was, What the hell! Within minutes I was laughing and the laughs never stopped. I lived in Seattle at the time, but I had grown up in New York City, so the events of the film had a special cache for me. The parts that occurred within Central Park were incredibly funny, and the Taxicab scene is a true classic. I have seen a lot of films in the intervening years and have attempted several time to find a copy of this film (I was finally successful this morning). Despite the years since first seeing it and all that I have seen since nothing has ever topped this film for just plain fun. Carl Reiner is a true comic genius.

No, he did get one thing right: the plot summary is fine. But, Wayne misses the point about "black humor": it's NOT supposed to have limits, by definition. Yes, the bits are meant to skewer what we consider "sacred" and, yes, it will offend those you can't ponder why certain societal taboos exist. As a whole the movie is far, far tamer than a lot of the crap that passes for "art" and comedy these days. Is the plot warped? Yes. Do you stare slack-jawed in disbelief at some bits? Yes. Is it funny? Totally, but not in a Jerry Lewis or Jerry Seinfeld way (though some of absurd parts do have a Seinfeldesque quality). That's why I give it an 8 out of 10. (He did get one other thing right: the courtroom scene is pretty priceless).

Short of most John Waters films, today's cinema offers little by way of absurd comedy. Generally speaking, cinema has sold out to Nike, Madison avenue and all the rest of the greedy faces behind Hollywood who make sure their "clients" products are wagged in yor face and written into the script.(Think of "What Women Want" or "E.T." for instance) Well, here's a film that takes comedic chances and pays off big! This film is a equal opportunity offender and is in nobody's pocket! Segal and Gordon are in perfect pacing and timing thanks to Carl Riner's direction and no holds barred attack on everything. I can not recommend this film enough to the intelligent viewer who hungers for more than the banal "comedies" of today which are for the most part nothing more than padded 90 minute commercials.

...and it produced some low budget, but VERY memorable films. The genre seems to have been based around New York City. Most of them owe more than a little bit to the '60s vintage British version of Cinema Verite expressed in films like A TASTE OF HONEY and THE L SHAPED ROOM... and further back yet to the French films like THE 400 BLOWS.

The Americans added humor to the mix.

LITTLE MURDERS, THE PRODUCERS, and THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS were some of the better known products. They were made by directors and actors who had huge amounts of enthusiasm, social commentary crying out to be expressed, and intelligence... but not a whole mountain of money to put their visions on film.

They spun off major studio products with big name actors and production values like A NEW LEAF, HAROLD AND MAUDE, and PETE 'N TILLIE.

Enter WHERE'S PAPPA?... one of the "transition" films, firmly between the "No budget" New York stuff, and the later "Low Budget" Hollywood productions that they spawned.

Like MOST of the genre, WHERE'S PAPPA? takes on a sacred cow... dealing with older, dependent relatives (in this case, the hero's mother), and saying the things about it that we ALL think but DON'T DARE say out loud for fear of being thought a monster. In this case, we wrestle with the decision to put Mama into a nursing home. A hard choice... but it has it's comic aspects, which get explored fully.

George Siegel does a GREAT job in the lead, the perfect foil for Ruth Gordon. Ron Liebman's a standout as Siegel's brother. As in his roles in UP THE ACADEMY and WON TON TON, THE DOG WHO SAVED Hollywood, Liebman shows off a deft skill in handling comedic material.

Incidentally... look for Garrett Morris from the original Saturday NIGHT LIVE crew as a mugger in Central Park!

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BTW... I'm editing this review after the fact, because I made an interesting discovery about the film.

There are at least TWO DIFFERENT VERSIONS of it out there.

Having watched the TV version for a long time, when I recently came up with a copy of the Laserdisc version I was startled to see that the ending on the disc is completely different, and somewhat longer!

In a totally unsettling and quite uncomfortable way, it completely reverses the commonly seen ending's decision and solution to the story's central problem... and today, it would probably earn an R rating... if it's implications didn't get the original ending CENSORED, that is! The Freudian hints left a bad taste for me... I can see exactly WHY the filmmakers changed it.

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If irreverence is your bag, you'll enjoy WHERE'S POPPA?