Goodbye, Columbus (1969)

Based on the 1959 Philip Roth novella of the same name 1969's 'Goodbye, Columbus' is suitably Rothian in it's characters, settings and plot, though of a more light hearted and positive bent then I usually associate with the writer. A big hit at the time of its release, making nearly $23 million off a $1.5 million budget it's largely forgotten today, I'd been looking for it for years. The film stars Richard Benjamin as its Roth surrogate (few writers ever wrote about themselves so much), has Jack Klugman and Nan Martin in supporting parts, and features and "introducing credit" for Ali MacGraw, though she'd actually made her screen debut with a small part the previous year in 'A Lovely Way to Die'.

It's a slice life picture centered on a romance between Benjamin's librarian and MacGraw's college student over a long Westchester County summer. It is rich, languid and deeply satisfying, a highly observational piece that is content to privilege moments above story. There is a long sequence at a Jewish wedding, probably more then 20 minutes in length, that's just one of the best things, maybe the highlight of my week. Very much of its time, we don't make movies of quite this type anymore, it is exploring boundaries of both what a film can be and what one can get away with in a very transitional era in American cinema. Yet it is also, and this surprised me some, very big hearted, it's cynicism serving as a chaser. A real surprise and a minor joy, recommended for those who like a slow film and aren't put off by the R rating. Soundtrack by 'The Association'. ***1/2