Where's Poppa?

From a very young Rob Reiner (and a tiny cameo by his fiance Penny Marshall), to jokes about rape, this is obviously a product of a very specific window in history. Reiner's character goes off on a World War II officer regarding the draft, black crime is everywhere (almost it's own character) and women are emotional, needy, and can't figure out anything without a man. Sex is considered creepy and weird, and therefore mentioning porn is supposed to have a huge audience shock value. Sorry, no, there's no actual sex, besides an off screen rape, shown. The movie opens with a scene of Gordon being woken up by a clock radio, with the New York radio show "Rambling with Gambling" playing. I remember that show growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, so that brought a smile to my face right away. The rest of the movie kind of diddled along. I have an elderly mother, so I could relate to Gordon's feelings somewhat. I felt sorry for the guy! With the star power and the funny moments and the nostalgia, I think it's a solid seven.

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!

____________________________________________________________

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.

____________________________________________________________

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

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).

After reading some of the negative comments on this film,I felt I must add a comment or two,myself. God bless you,Carl Reiner for taking one of the most laugh out loud novels (By Robert Klane) and turning it into my favorite black comedy classic. My mother,God rest her, was,in many ways very similar to Ruth Gordon's masterful portrayal. While my Mother was still alive,I found many reasons to laugh at some of her shennanagins,especially her treatment of me,and now that she's passed,I have fond,funny memories that if it were not for this film,I'd have spent a lot more time in therapy than I had to. Criticising the film,It's direction,or any of the actor's performences is,to me,ridiculous and can only be a lack of knowledge of the art of acting or cinema in general. Is it the greatest comedy ever produced? No. But it certainly is among the most unique. On newer prints,however,I would avoid the last few minutes of the film,as it does change the overall flavor,and should have ended as it did in it's theatrical releases. Just turn the tape off as you hear the song,"I Don't want to go like this,so I'll just go like that..."