Being There [Blu-ray] | ![Being There [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51kEkdQx9iL._SL160_.jpg)
| Actor: Peter Sellers
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $24.98
Buy New: $10.48
as of 7/30/2010 08:51 CDT details
You Save: $14.50 (58%)
New (23) Used (11) from $10.48
Seller: path4books
Rating:  37 reviews
Sales Rank: 11,337
Format: Color, Original recording remastered, Widescreen
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: Blu-ray
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Running Time: 130 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 6.6 x 5.3 x 0.4
MPN: WARBR44118
UPC: 883929043521
EAN: 0883929043521
ASIN: B001IHJ974
Theatrical Release Date: 2009
Release Date: February 3, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 02/03/2009 Run time: 130 minutes
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 37
 Still great after 30 years... January 19, 2009
Michael A. Anderson
28 out of 32 found this review helpful
This is a wonderful film that I saw theatrically some 30 years ago. This blu-ray is sharp and film like, with muted colors appropriate to the story, but still very nice to finally watch in hi def. Don't expect it to look like a modern day film. I saw several subtle things I hadn't noticed before, because of the sharp resolution.
The extras are nice, but brief. One short scene and one 'extension' plus the alternate (original) ending. Also, there's a promo piece for distributors with Peter and Hal Ashby. Nice to have these, but I'm wondering what happened to all those hours of videotapes of alternates of the whole film that I read about before. Were they poor quality or impossible to find? I heard some crumbled into dust when played back so perhaps they're gone for good.
The making of only has Illana Douglas (granddaughter of Melvyn)who was on set as a youngster. (Where is Shirley Maclaine? Most of the others are, of course, no longer with us.)
A no brainer buy for fans and if you haven't seen it - rent it!
A great performance from Peter Sellers and all involved.
Beautiful and Thoughtful July 12, 2009
Karen Joan (Texas)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
BEING THERE is a wonderful film; simple, quiet, and extremely though provoking. One of Peter Sellers' final and, perhaps, best performances, the role of Chance the gardener is a huge departure from the typical, over-the-top, slapstick comedic roles for which he is so well known and loved. An amazing mixture of political satire, social commentary, and Biblical metaphor, BEING THERE is strangely prophetic and very relevant to our own current political drama.
In BEING THERE, we meet Chance the Gardener (Peter Sellers), a mentally handicapped man who has learned everything he knows from TV and has had no other interaction with the outside world. Chance appears to have been born in the garden, and has never been outsides its walls. When his employer, the Old Man, dies, Chance is thrown into the real world. Chance's initial interactions with the outside world are very innocent, simplistic, and very literal. When the wife (Shirley MacLaine) of a wealthy power broker (Melvyn Douglas) accidently hits Chance with her car, he finds himself mingling with the rich and famous. To Chance, these are just people, people whose kindnesses and words he takes at face value. Yet these people believe that Chance is great man and a great scholar; they believe that his simple observations about plants are rich metaphors for life, business, and politics. Chance becomes a valued and well known advisor to the rich and famous, to the country, and to the world.
While Peter Sellers is always fun, in BEING THERE the humor is more muted and subtle. BEING THERE is a successful mockery of political conceit and the effects of seeing what you want to see. The character of Chance is a mirror; the people who go to him for advice see what they want to see - what they NEED to see - whether the subject is political, business, or just plain life. To me, BEING THERE is a new, updated version of the old fable The Emperor's New Clothes.
Peter Sellers is outstanding in this, his penultimate role. His performance is subtle, calm, and nuanced to near perfection. He makes you want to laugh, to cry, and to just plain hope. Shirley MacLaine as a woman looking for love and Melvyn Douglas as her dying, powerful husband are both superb. In fact the entire cast does a marvelous job.
As previously stated, BEING THERE is thoughtful, understated film, brilliant in its simplicity. The finale of the film is a subject of much debate, but like Chance, himself, I think the ending is what you want it to be. However, if you take the metaphors of the Old Man, the Garden, etc, to their natural conclusion, the meaning of the ending is quite clear. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Simply special... September 4, 2009
M. R. Griffin (So. California)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
An amazingly wonderful possibility takes root and grows in the most unlikely setting imaginable. What emerges is a truly witty and triumphant story. `Being There' allows us to look at what we have become as a society and tears down the ladders we are expected to climb. What is left is a revealing look at the common denominator and the math involved in obtaining it. Along the way, it becomes clear that friendship, understanding and love are unaffected by the simplicity of one's actions. Indeed, we find that it sprinkles the pathway with a chance to read one's intent not through words, but by thinking, searching one's eyes and trusting our instincts.
Peter Sellers is deeply entrenched in a character that may be the hardest role for someone of his intellect, oratory gifts, and physical presence to inhabit. I am not sure that I have ever seen a film that so brilliantly uses reactions as a major part of the script. This also makes for hilarious `what if' scenarios. Sellers' talent for this goes without saying. He is joined by an impressive array of old Hollywood talent who compliment his every gesture.
Melvyn Douglas rightfully earned the Oscar for his portrayal of Benjamin Rand, somewhat of a J. Paul Getty industrialist who has one foot in the grave and the President's ear as well. Shirley MacLaine is wonderful as Eve, Rand's devoted but antsy wife. Ms. MacLaine is always a good bet to take over any film she is cast in, and she steals several scenes. In one, she leaves us rolling on the floor laughing.
Jack Warden builds a role as the crafty and cranky President into a fine performance. Initially, it appeared that he would be used sparingly, but his subsequent scenes were very good. Ruth Attaway portrays Louise, a woman burdened by the truth, yet rightfully embittered by it. Richard Dysart provides intrigue as the skeptical Doctor Allenby.
`Being There' was directed by Hal Ashby. He was afforded an excellent script, cast, and crew. I think one of the reasons that great actors require great directors is due to their immersion into their roles. Mr. Ashby had the ability, as they say in sports, to `see the whole field'. It was an essential ingredient to making this a classic film. The movie was filmed in 1979, and there is much to date it. Yet, the core elements are timeless.
The movie is now on Blu-ray. There are a few extras, such as memories of the filming, an alternate ending and deleted scenes. It does look nice, but do not expect the normal HD experience. It was filmed almost 30 years ago. However, I sent this to the top of my Netflix list on the strength of its story. That and a message that I need to be reminded of from time to time when life seems absurd. This is a garden of earthly delights and one that makes being there special
Mr.Gardiner goes to Washington May 22, 2010
H. Schneider (window seat)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Actually he grew up there, spent all his life there, but he had not `been there'. In this mild wise superior comedy about political dimwittery we learn how he got there. Being there lifted him to an altogether new plateau of platitude. Louise sees his success as another proof that `this is a white man's country'. Admittedly, Chance the gardener, aka Chauncey Gardiner (not related to Babette Gardiner) has a rice pudding between his ears, but he hits the tone of the season and becomes the shooting star of the political scene. While he walks over water, he has just been unofficially nominated to run for the presidency as the candidate of the party who thinks that the economy has seasons, and that we just need to wait for spring.
One needs to revisit one's favorite movies every once in a while. Just to figure out if the world has changed. I would say, it has, to some extent. This gentle mockery seems anachronistic today. We can't really laugh about political fools in such a relaxed manner any more.
This is not a great movie in terms of message or structure or philosophy or technology. It is just Peter Sellers doing what he did best: making a fool of himself for our pleasure. Shirley MacLaine helps him admirably.
An amazing aspect on the side: the author of the book on which this is based is allegedly the same man who wrote the atrocious Painted Bird. Hard to believe and a true mystery to me.
Another totally irrelevant side aspect for the overall picture, but interesting to me: I watched the DVD with my younger daughter who has just, a few days ago, arrived home from the US for summer break. At the scene when Chance asks the first black woman in the street if she can give him lunch, I looked at my daughter to see if she got the joke, and I noticed she had dozed off. What does that tell me? This rating thing is very subjective.
5 plus stars from me. 4 from my daughter.
Extraordinary Performance Enhanced - Blu-Ray Review October 14, 2009
Rick L. Parrish
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Peter Sellers had his demons, ask Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards sometime, but he cast them all aside to pull from himself this absolutely riveting magical performance that will last the ages. Much has been said of all this before and there is no question he was robbed of the Oscar that year (he wasn't as popular as one might imagine with the hollywood crowd). The blu-ray transfer is stunning and adds so much detail as to take the whole movie up another notch. Highly recommended for both the true fan of this movie and the newbie checking it out.
It's the ONLY way to see it.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 37
|
|
|
![Dr. Strangelove [Blu-ray]](http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B001DJLCPE.01._AA75_PU_PU-5_.jpg)
