dweilermg-1
In The Graduate we loved the suspension of disbelief ending where Elaine rejects the charming yuppie guy chosen by her parents whom she has just wed to run off with Benjamin who she has previously rejected realizing he is her true love. However the ending of Goodbye Columbus where Neil realizes the reality of the situation and that a happily ever after relationship won't be possible and walks away is more realistic. We rejoice at 1 movie's ending while being just stunned by the other.
mandala-4
Towards the end of the movie Neil and Brenda meet at an inn where she tearfully informs him that the cleaning lady discovered her diaphragm in her bedroom chest. Neil acts mildly annoyed at first then gives Brenda the third degree for failing to take the thing along with her back to Radcliffe. Her explanations are totally flaky and insufficient; she says to Neil he's always expressed dissatisfaction with her "beauty improvements", etc. Slowly he puts his coat on and leaves the room, where the movie ends with him outside waiting for the bus back to NYC.My take is that she engaged in this relationship halfheartedly, as a sort of late adolescent rebellion against her class-obsessed mother. But the rebellion was also halfhearted, and she eventually decided to remain the Jewish American Princess she really never stopped being.But instead of being direct, she "sabotaged" the relationship in a passive aggressive way by "accidentally on purpose" forgetting to take the diaphragm with her. Neil ultimately suspects this, but Brenda never admits it outright. After all, this was 1969 (but the social mentality was more like 1964), and psychological self-analysis and reflection had not become widespread yet.It was a bittersweet experience for me to watch this movie about a world that, by then in my life, I had one foot in and one foot out of.
Syl
I have been doing a lot of research on the author, Philip Roth, who wrote Goodbye, Columbus. Unfortunately, I am disappointed that it was set in the Bronx, New York and not Newark, New Jersey and that Westchester County replaced posh, upscale Livingston, New Jersey. What makes Roth special is that he really is a New Jersey writer even though he has lived in Connecticut for decades. Unfortunately, the story does not lose any of it's original impact as it was written in his novella. Richard Benjamin and Ali McGraw are excellent as Neil and Brenda. Neil Klugman, the Jewish librarian from the Bronx, and Brenda, the Jewish girl from Westchester, who get together. The relationship is believable at times while Neil is from the wrong side of the tracks so to speak while Brenda's family is upscale. Just because they are both Jewish doesn't mean that they don't have their share of problems. Jack Klugman and Nan Martin are perfect as Brenda's parents. The film would have been better or more authentic if it was set in Newark and Livingston rather than the Bronx and Westchester but what's done is done. I hope next time that they will take the time to film where it is set. It's not set that far from New York City anyway.
Tom DeFelice
The look of the film is very 1969 (the year it came out), but the attitudes are very much 1962. Two Dartmouth students yell with glee when they meet at a party that one is Class of '64 and the other is Class of '66. Brenda, the female lead character, relates how surprised she was when as a little girl her father had shown her 2 $100 bills. She had never seen a $100 bill before.For a modern audience to enjoy this film, you have to look at it as a period piece. After all, the film's tag line is "Every father's daughter is a virgin". You know you are not in 2004. Not all of the biting satire still holds, but the romance does. Both Ali MacGraw and Jack Klugman give very warm, appealing performances.It is amazing how many thing have changed in the last 35 years...and how many thing haven't changed. An interesting film from a time when there were "good girls" and "bad girls" and a bride wearing white meant something.
AD
