Paul Mazursky
We gotta talk about this guy
This week’s recommendations are director Paul Mazursky’s films.
There are two films I’ve been wanting to assign to Film Club, but they’re not available online anywhere. AN UNMARRIED WOMAN(1978) and HARRY AND TONTO(1974). Both films were influential in my life as far as what people are like, and what comprises at least some of the social structure. And both films are, unsurprisingly, directed by Paul Mazursky.
If you want to sample Mazursky’s other work, there are a few of his films online. A couple are TEMPEST(1982) and DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS(1986). Notice his unhurried absorption of everyday life, and his realistic representation of relationships.
AN UNMARRIED WOMAN stars Jill Clayburgh as a woman who is suddenly faced with being single after years of marriage. Her relationships with her girlfriends, her ex-husband, her new boyfriend, and her teenage daughter are rich (also see the Gena Rowlands/John Cassavetes relationship with “daughter” Molly Ringwald in TEMPEST). If you can get a hold of a copy, watch it a second time with the Mazursky commentary.
HARRY AND TONTO has Art Carney in the lead as a man who need to travel cross-country with his cat, Tonto. There’s a luxuriating in the observant pace of the scenes, the time taken to let us absorb the setting, the era, the people of 1974 New York and America.
Next up in Film Club is YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN(1974), in honor of Halloween. Watch beforehand and come discuss on Mon 10/30 4pPT on Clubhouse.
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Re: Young Frankenstein...if you have time AFTER you watch the film get extra credit - ok, more laughs at least - by watching the outtakes and bloopers on YouTube! Hilarious stuff!
I have long loved Paul Mazursky's films. And two I've been itching to see again after a long time are:
ALEX IN WONDERLAND, a comedy from 1970, with Donald Sutherland and Ellen Burstyn, about a film director agonizing over his sophomore film following his rookie success.
And especially NEXT STOP, GREENWICH VILLAGE -- from 1976, about a group of young actors in the 1950s Village and their many adventures. Among the cast of NSGV is a quite young Christopher Walken (a year before ANNIE HALL); the great Lois Smith; a star turn from Shelley Winters as an overbearing Jewish mother; and in his debut (not long before his sad passing from illness), the terrific Lenny Baker. And all of it is set to the Dave Brubeck classic TAKE FIVE album. A must, must see.
Depending upon availabilty, and interest, of course, maybe he is also ripe for a concentrated series of study.