GOODBYE, COLUMBUS (1969)
Label: Fun City Editions
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 101 Minutes 50 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:)
Director: Larry Peerce
Cast: Richard Benjamin, Ali MacGraw, Jack Klugman, Nan Martin, Michael Meyers
Goodbye, Columbus (1969) is a coming-of-age love story, directed by Larry Peerce (Two-Minute Warning), based on the 1959 novella by Philip Roth, telling the unorthodox love story that brings together odd couple Neil (Richard Benjamin, Scavenger Hunt) and Brenda (Ali MacGraw, The Getaway) - he's a poor Bronx librarian clerk recently discharged from the military and she's a wealthy Jewish American princess from Westchester attending Radcliffe on summer break. The pair meet at a Old Oaks Country Club in Purchase, New York, a private club that Neil visits as a guest of his cousin Doris (Kay Cummings, Why Would I Lie?), a romance blossoms but fledgling couple meet resistance when Brenda's stuck-up mother (Nan Martin, Jackson County Jail) gets hung up on the issue of social status, and pushes back on it, not approving of his lower stature and aimless career goals, while her father Ben (Jack Klugman, TV's The Odd Couple), a hard-working, nouveau-riche businessman who has been successful in the plumbing business, is more accepting of Neil if it means his daughter's happiness.
It's a terrific watch, a bit of an unorthodox love story to be sure with how it pans out, but MacGraw and Benjamin are dynamite together, and the film's observations of the Jewish American middle class and the idiosyncrasies of young love are both touching and compelling. The dinner sequences are gems as Neil gets to know Brenda's family, there's a wonderful wedding sequence when Brenda's brother Ron (Michael Meyers) gets hitched, and of course her spoiled younger sister is a bratty hoot. We also get some terrific New York spotting with scenes shot in Westchester and around the Bronx and Yonkers, including a couple of scene with Neil interacting at his library job with a curious young black boy who has a passion for art. If you're a fan of quirky love stories that are both humorous, poignant and with a socially curious conscience this tale of young love in the vein of The Graduate and Baby, It's You comes highly recommended.
Audio/Video: Goodbye, Columbus (1969) arrives on Blu-ray from Fun City Edition in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen, sourced from a sparkling 4K restoration of the 35mm Original Camera Negative, the restoration looks wonderful, the source has been fine tuned removing most of the nicks and scratches, a few minor blemished remain by way of faint vertical lines or nicks, but it really does look tremendous. Depth and clarity please, black levels are solid, and colors have some nice punch to them. The lush Technicolor cinematography of Gerald Hirschfeld (T.R. Baskin) is sumptuous, I loved soaking in these late 60s vibes through his lens, wonderful stuff that is both nostalgic and bittersweet. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitle. The track is clean and well balanced, dialogue is always easy to discern, room acoustics sound great, and the soundtrack features catchy tunes by the 60/70s popsters The Association as well as the lush score music by Charles Fox (Barbarella) that really drives home the melancholic tone of the film.
FCE offer a well-stocked Blu-ray edition, we get a new Audio commentary by Bill Ackerman that digs into the book versus the film, the casting, the themes, locations, score and plenty more. There's also a new 15-min video interview with composer Charles Fox, in which he talks about his early career, love of jazz and classical music, getting into scoring with The Incident, and then Barbarella for Paramount and then getting invited to L.A. to score Goodbye Columbus, Meeting Henry Mancini, Nwil Hefti, Elmer Bernstein and on the Paramount set his first day, plus Mancini getting invited to join the Motion Picture Academy, his relationship with director Larry Peerce, how he approached the score, pulling ideas from his own background, appreciation of the cast and film. The last of the disc extras is a 33-min Archival video of post-screening on-stage conversation with cast and crew that too place in 2016 at The Academy Film Archive in Los Angeles, which is a wonderful gathering of the key participants as they looked back on the film and it's legacy.
The single-disc Blu-ray arrives in a clear keepcase with a Reversible Wrap featuring three original movie poster display options. inside there is a 20-Page Illustrated Booklet with new essay by Jim Healy, which is limited to the First Pressing Only, the essay 'How Philip Roth's Goodbye, Columbus Became a "Very Big Movie"', detailing the adaptation of the book, changes in the film version, casting, the score what author Roth did not like about the film adaptation, and quite a bit more, its a terrific read.
Special Features:
- Audio commentary by Bill Ackerman
- New video interview with composer Charles Fox (14:56)
- Archival video of post-screening on-stage conversation with cast and crew (32:56)
- FCE Trailers: Goodbye Columbus (4:56)
- Image gallery (5:15)
- Double-sided wrap with legacy artwork
- 20 Page Illustrated Booklet with new essay by Jim Healy (First Pressing Only)
Screenshots from the Fun City Editions Blu-ray:
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