Getting Straight

(1970)
Though some still enjoy his work, we forget that in the late 60s/early 70s, Elliot Gould used to be a major movie star. I tend to like him, and having Candice Bergen co-star made this a no-brainer. Its 1970, and Gould is Harry, a graduate student preparing to take his orals so he can become a teacher. Bergen is his girlfriend Jan, who seems sort of directionless; Harry is beloved by the student body for his radical days of recent years, but Harrys more concerned about getting his masters and then teaching. Hes viewed with suspicion by the teaching establishment at the university, and his fellow radicals accuse him of being a sell-out. Harry has to navigate this as well as deal with being broke, and avoiding the student protests on campus that turn violent and summon the National Guard. Okay, okay, so it really is a picture aimed at its time, and often when a movie does that it doesnt age well, and this one doesnt. Everyone walks around acting stoned (except Harry), and saying man and groovy a lot. All the older people are up in arms, and all the younger people are smoldering and activist (even Jan eventually picks up a megaphone and rallies the mob). Gould is an angry, edgy mensch (his usual role), the kind of character John Turturro would play in a remake; but hes very good, and his Harry carries us through the picture despite the distractions of all the chanting and screaming in the background and the fact that, Bergen included, most of the rest of the cast isnt all that strong (Harrison Ford has a small role that he largely falls flat with). The film broadly takes the students side, and Harry is given an impassioned speech that half-measures are no longer going to placate the restless youth. But the film provides no answers, and when the demonstrations become riots and all hell breaks loose, the film slides out of control, allowing Gould a grandstanding finale but ultimately not saying much, aside from wont you listen to the kids, they have something to say? I enjoyed it for Goulds performance, and as I tend to like this period I was patient with some of the films sins; I suspect an audience less enamored of the lead and the youth movement would find this film tinny and whiny. Even to my sympathetic eyes it didnt age well too rooted in the concerns of its day and so I really couldnt suggest it to anyone not already inclined to like it, which Ill cede is a pretty limp recommendation. September 3, 2013