Reuben, Reuben
Encyclopedia
Reuben, Reuben is a 1983 comedy drama film. It stars Tom Conti
, Kelly McGillis
, Roberts Blossom
, Cynthia Harris
, and Joel Fabiani
.
The film was adapted by Julius J. Epstein
from the play Spofford by Herman Shumlin
, which in turn was adapted from the novel Reuben, Reuben by Peter De Vries
. It was directed by Robert Ellis Miller
. The main character in DeVries's novel was based largely on the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas
, who was a compulsive womanizer and lifelong alcoholic, finally succumbing to the effects of alcohol poisoning in November 1953, while on a speaking tour in America.
The second half of the film becomes appreciably darker, after Gowan falls in love with a young college student, Geneva Spofford (Kelly McGillis, in her debut film role), who has everything to lose from a relationship with a drunken deadbeat poet unable to hold a job. After a couple of ugly incidents (Gowan throws a messy tantrum in a fancy restaurant, after getting into a humiliating tavern brawl from which Geneva has to rescue him), they split up. He also suffers an ironic come-uppance from a husband he has cuckolded; the man is a dentist, and he offers Gowan free dental care in order to ruin his smile and force him to wear dentures.
Gowan prepares to hang himself but, while dictating his last thoughts into a tape recorder, he comes up with some good lines and regains his will to write. Unfortunately, his host's pet dog, an Old English Sheepdog named Reuben, comes bounding into the room, causing Gowan to lose his balance before he can undo the noose, turning the aborted suicide into accidental asphyxiation. Only at the very end does the film's title – Gowan's final words, an attempt to dissuade the dog from approaching – make sense.
Tom Conti
Thomas "Tom" Conti is a Scottish actor, theatre director and novelist.-Early life:Born Thomas Conti in Paisley, Renfrewshire, he was brought up Roman Catholic, but he considers himself anti-religious...
, Kelly McGillis
Kelly McGillis
Kelly Ann McGillis is an American actress. Her films include Top Gun, The Accused, and Witness, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination.-Career:...
, Roberts Blossom
Roberts Blossom
Roberts Scott Blossom was an American theater, film and television actor and poet. He is best known for his roles as Old Man Marley in Home Alone and as Ezra Cobb in the horror film Deranged...
, Cynthia Harris
Cynthia Harris
Cynthia Harris is an American film and television actress.She is known for her role as Helen Hunt's character Jamie Buchman's overbearing mother-in-law on Mad About You. She has also appeared in many television series and TV movies, such as L.A. Law, All My Children and in the classic drama, Edward...
, and Joel Fabiani
Joel Fabiani
Joel Fabiani is an American film and television actor.Fabiani was born in Watsonville, California. He co-starred in the British espionage series Department S as Stewart Sullivan in 1969-1970...
.
The film was adapted by Julius J. Epstein
Julius J. Epstein
Julius J. Epstein was an American screenwriter, who had a long career, best remembered for the adaptation - in partnership with his twin brother, Philip, and others - of the unproduced play Everybody Comes to Rick's that became the screenplay for the film Casablanca , for which its team of writers...
from the play Spofford by Herman Shumlin
Herman Shumlin
Herman Shumlin was a prolific Broadwaytheatrical director and theatrical producer beginning in 1927 with the play Celebrity and continuing through 1974 with a short run of As You Like It, notably with an all male cast...
, which in turn was adapted from the novel Reuben, Reuben by Peter De Vries
Peter De Vries
Peter De Vries was an American editor and novelist known for his satiric wit. He has been described by the philosopher Daniel Dennett as "probably the funniest writer on religion ever"-Biography:...
. It was directed by Robert Ellis Miller
Robert Ellis Miller
Robert Ellis Miller is an American film director. He has directed 50 films and TV episodes between 1959 and 1996.He was born in New York, New York.-Selected filmography:* Pointman * Brenda Starr * Hawks...
. The main character in DeVries's novel was based largely on the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
, who was a compulsive womanizer and lifelong alcoholic, finally succumbing to the effects of alcohol poisoning in November 1953, while on a speaking tour in America.
Plot summary
The first half of the film shows Gowan McGland (Tom Conti), a creatively blocked Scottish poet, cutting a swath through various older society women as he recites his verse to various arts groups and cultural societies. The tone is very much uneasy social comedy: McGland cadges expensive dinners from well-off patrons (usually stealing the tips afterward) while seducing their bored wives and affecting superiority over the bourgeois types he exploits. While obviously quite talented, he is also a career drunk, indifferent to the wounds he can casually inflict with his wit. (When one of his middle-aged conquests undresses for him, he mutters, "Deprived of their support, her breasts dropped like hanged men.") But his rumpled charm, Scottish burr, and mouthful of brilliant white teeth make him irresistible to women, and he manages to eke out a day-to-day existence by leaning on the kindness of strangers.The second half of the film becomes appreciably darker, after Gowan falls in love with a young college student, Geneva Spofford (Kelly McGillis, in her debut film role), who has everything to lose from a relationship with a drunken deadbeat poet unable to hold a job. After a couple of ugly incidents (Gowan throws a messy tantrum in a fancy restaurant, after getting into a humiliating tavern brawl from which Geneva has to rescue him), they split up. He also suffers an ironic come-uppance from a husband he has cuckolded; the man is a dentist, and he offers Gowan free dental care in order to ruin his smile and force him to wear dentures.
Gowan prepares to hang himself but, while dictating his last thoughts into a tape recorder, he comes up with some good lines and regains his will to write. Unfortunately, his host's pet dog, an Old English Sheepdog named Reuben, comes bounding into the room, causing Gowan to lose his balance before he can undo the noose, turning the aborted suicide into accidental asphyxiation. Only at the very end does the film's title – Gowan's final words, an attempt to dissuade the dog from approaching – make sense.
Awards
- Reuben, Reuben was nominated for Academy AwardsAcademy AwardsAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for Best Actor in a Leading RoleAcademy Award for Best ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(Tom Conti) and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another MediumAcademy Award for Writing Adapted ScreenplayThe Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
.
Miscellany
- Epstein performed a similar cross-fertilization with another Peter DeVries novel, The Blood of the Lamb, which he transformed into Pete 'n' TilliePete 'n' TilliePete 'n' Tillie is a 1972 American comedy-drama film starring Walter Matthau and Carol Burnett in the title roles. Its advertising tagline was "Honeymoon's over...
, a star vehicle for Walter Matthau and Carol Burnett in which, as with Reuben, Reuben, the light comedy made for an awkward mix with tragedy.