Being There (1979)
Being There (1979) — This is one of my all-time favorite movies. Words cannot describe the love I have for this movie but I will try anyway because that is the basic point of writing movie reviews. Peter Sellers in one of his most restrained yet most fantastic performances plays Chance, a gardener for a rich old man who passes away. Chance is simple-minded and ignorant to the ways of the world but now that the old man is dead he’s on his own. Through a series of events, he winds up involved with the movers and shakers of Washington D.C. and becomes an advisor to a man who is an advisor to the President. His simple-mindedness is mistaken for wisdom and straightforwardness and the result is one of the single best movies ever made. Melvyn Douglas is great as the kingmaker who mistakes Chance for the political genius that the rest of the world eventually accepts him as. Shirley MacLaine is great as Douglas’s wife. And Sellers is great. Just amazing. This movie also boasts one of the best closing shots in the history of cinema. If you haven’t seen this movie, see it already so your life may be complete…
