criterionforum.org

Charles Grodin, at 86. Not just an unbelievable comic talent, but a wonderful raconteur and memoirist with an incredible mastery of wry observations. He was going to be in a play that Elaine May had workshopped with Stanley Donen a number of years back, and I dearly wish they had been able to reunite on a project just one more time.

Oh no. I adore Midnight Run and he is such a huge reason for that. The scene where he impersonates the FBI agent at a bar is hilarious entirely because of his delivery and timing — on paper, none of the lines are even remotely funny. And he is magnificent in Albert Brooks' Real Life, serving as the antithesis to Brooks' manic energy.

He's always been one of my favorite actors, starting with growing up seeing him in The Great Muppet Caper (he's one of the reasons I still think that's the best Muppet movie) and Beethoven. His cameo in So I Married an Axe Murderer never fails to crack me up.

In addition to The Heartbreak Kid, 11 Harrowhouse was another great lead role for him

I used to love seeing him on The Last Show with David Letterman. I had no idea who he was outside of being that guy from the Beethoven movies, but his antagonistic shtick was hilarious. ("It's cold in here...you're never this cold on Leno!")

But yes, The Heartbreak Kid, Real Life, even Ishtar. (Asked about the making of the film Ishtar, Grodin recalled walking a back street in Marrakesh with Dustin Hoffman. He asked, "Am I imagining this, or are a lot more people recognizing you than are recognizing me?" and Grodin replied "I've done a lot of community theater here.")

And even The Woman in Red, a rare sympathetic view of a closeted gay man in an '80s Hollywood comedy that didn't resort to caricature. His scene at the restaurant posing as a blind man was hilarious. (I forgot why, but the ruse had something to do with a vengeful prank they wanted to pull on the restaurant.)

He had an MSNBC show back in the '90s that was supposed to be excellent. From a vintage review in EW.com:

Right now, it’s still unclear just where Grodin is going as he settles into replacing Snyder in his CNBC time slot. As a guest on Letterman and, earlier, Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, Grodin excelled at the rude put-on, provoking reaction by seeming to appear angry or offended by his host. Now sitting in the opposite chair, Grodin frequently ignores his guest and gasses on about himself. When novelist Jackie Collins was a recent guest, Grodin launched into an endless autobiographical anecdote and the cameraperson, perhaps out of sheer boredom, showed us a shot of Collins while Grodin went on yakking.

When Grodin stopped his story and snapped, ”Can I have the camera, please?” the camera quickly returned to his petulant mug. I was loving every second of this and didn’t care whether Grodin was truly miffed or faking it. I don’t know how long he can sustain the sort of poker-faced performance art he’s practicing on Charles Grodin, but I’ll be there rooting for him. You’ve gotta love a guy who can say to Charlton Heston, ”If I’m being unfair, that’s kind of my goal.”

Grodin was also great as the archetypal 1980s character of the yuppie whose entire life falls apart over the course of a few days as a force of nature breezes in an upends his ordered life (the National Lampoon films, After Hours, Something Wild and Who's That Girl all come to mind as well) in the late entry into the trend Taking Care of Business (aka Filofax in the UK). Presumably dealing with Jim Belushi was a good preparation for a Saint Bernard a few years later! That film has a really interesting supporting cast too: Gates McFadden (at the same time she was Beverly Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation), Hector Elizondo (the same year he was in Pretty Woman) and Dawn of the Dead's Ken Foree.

In a different register he's also the first, seemingly sympathetic young doctor in Rosemary's Baby.

colinr0380 wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 6:43 pmTaking Care of Business (aka Filofax in the UK)

I guess BTO isn't so big in the UK? (Not exactly a fan myself, but I do like "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet.")

hearthesilence wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 7:00 pm

colinr0380 wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 6:43 pmTaking Care of Business (aka Filofax in the UK)

I guess BTO isn't so big in the UK? (Not exactly a fan myself, but I do like "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet.")

They must prefer ELP

PfR73 wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 6:16 pm He's always been one of my favorite actors, starting with growing up seeing him in The Great Muppet Caper (he's one of the reasons I still think that's the best Muppet movie) and Beethoven. His cameo in So I Married an Axe Murderer never fails to crack me up.

I've always loved him in The Great Muppet Caper when he talks into Diana Riggs' cleavage. "Thieves aren't breathing down your neck..."

Him and John Cleese absolutely make it the best Muppets film bar none

"Hail to the power of Kong...with Petrox!"

hearthesilence wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 7:00 pm

colinr0380 wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 6:43 pmTaking Care of Business (aka Filofax in the UK)

I guess BTO isn't so big in the UK? (Not exactly a fan myself, but I do like "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet.")

I think it was more that Filofaxes were a huge thing at the time, and the complications of this film entirely revolve around one (where a man loses it and therefore unnervingly quickly his entire identity),so it was title changed to ride on that trend. It appears from imdb to have been retitled Filofax throughout most of Europe as well. Although weirdly on its single UK television showing (on ITV in late 1994) it was broadcast under the original Taking Care of Business title! I remember that so well because it was my first experience of being confused by a title being changed, not because of the usual issue of a translation out of a different language, but seemingly because it was felt a different title would work better in a different territory.

PfR73 wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 7:07 pm They must prefer ELP

More ELO!

As others have said, he has many masterpieces as a star, most glaringly The Heartbreak Kid, 11 Harrowhouse and Midnight Run, but he even makes the smallest bit parts gold in otherwise bad movies. I recently watched The Ex for my self-flagellating Amy Adams completist project, and he was absolutely hysterical (notably after a 12-year hiatus from screen acting too)

He has some great anecdotes about his sole film as a credited writer, Movers & Shakers (1985), in his book It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here, which I've always sensed was more fun to read about than actually watch.

therewillbeblus wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 7:52 pm I recently watched The Ex for my self-flagellating Amy Adams completist project

Amy Adams is in The Ex????? I've had a copy sitting in a box in my kevyip for like 10 years! Somehow all this time I overlooked it was in her filmography. One more film to watch tonight, it seems.

beamish14 wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 8:00 pm He has some great anecdotes about his sole film as a credited writer, Movers & Shakers (1985), in his book It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here, which I've always sensed was more fun to read about than actually watch.

He's credited on 11 Harrowhouse also.

PfR73 wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 8:05 pm

therewillbeblus wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 7:52 pm I recently watched The Ex for my self-flagellating Amy Adams completist project

Amy Adams is in The Ex????? I've had a copy sitting in a box in my kevyip for like 10 years! Somehow all this time I overlooked it was in her filmography. One more film to watch tonight, it seems.

She had many bit parts in the 2000s, and her role in The Ex is certainly minimal, tho as I outlined in my writeup she does play a particular kind of patronizing neo-hippie many of us may be familiar with in progressive subcultures

I unapologetically love The Lonely Guy and still think that Steve Martin's dislike for that film is down to Charles Grodin stealing the entire movie from under his nose!
R.I.P

therewillbeblus wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 8:41 pm

PfR73 wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 8:05 pm

therewillbeblus wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 7:52 pm I recently watched The Ex for my self-flagellating Amy Adams completist project

Amy Adams is in The Ex????? I've had a copy sitting in a box in my kevyip for like 10 years! Somehow all this time I overlooked it was in her filmography. One more film to watch tonight, it seems.

She had many bit parts in the 2000s, and her role in The Ex is certainly minimal, tho as I outlined in my writeup she does play a particular kind of patronizing neo-hippie many of us may be familiar with in progressive subcultures

Yeah, I knew about all the rest of those films (except that short film "Pennies", whose subject matter is not as enticing as its typo'd title "Pennis" on YouTube might suggest) but somehow has overlooked The Ex on her IMDb. Had you seen very first on-screen apperance?

PfR73 wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 8:06 pm

beamish14 wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 8:00 pm He has some great anecdotes about his sole film as a credited writer, Movers & Shakers (1985), in his book It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here, which I've always sensed was more fun to read about than actually watch.

He's credited on 11 Harrowhouse also.

11 Harrowhouse is wholly molded to his persona and comic sensibility. If any Grodin lover hasn't seen it yet, you're in for a treat

Also, I like Jack Warden, but who could possibly watch him and Grodin in Heaven Can Wait and give the Oscar nom to Warden??

PfR73 wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 8:48 pm

therewillbeblus wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 8:41 pm

PfR73 wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 8:05 pm Amy Adams is in The Ex????? I've had a copy sitting in a box in my kevyip for like 10 years! Somehow all this time I overlooked it was in her filmography. One more film to watch tonight, it seems.

She had many bit parts in the 2000s, and her role in The Ex is certainly minimal, tho as I outlined in my writeup she does play a particular kind of patronizing neo-hippie many of us may be familiar with in progressive subcultures

Yeah, I knew about all the rest of those films (except that short film "Pennies", whose subject matter is not as enticing as its typo'd title "Pennis" on YouTube might suggest) but somehow has overlooked The Ex on her IMDb. Had you seen very first on-screen apperance?

Nope, but I'll never forget being introduced to her as Kat Peterson on That 70s Show (as the popular girl who gaslights Hyde's claims of sexual relations across social classes) when it aired and being immediately starstruck. It's worth noting that Pennies is a segment of the apparently consistently-awful omnibus film Love & Distrust, so I managed to avoid watching the other sketches having figured this out just as I popped the DVD in my player.

She's also the Iowan farmer who teaches Josh and Toby about the importance of corn on the West Wing. But we digress....

hearthesilence wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 6:39 pm He had an MSNBC show back in the '90s that was supposed to be excellent...

It truly was. He was an inquisitive, witty humanist who was able to get a fascinating discussion out of any guest on any subject. Then he got fired for being anti-war, along with his friend Phil Donahue.

One of the funniest people of all time, and an impeccable craftsman as an actor. When he's let loose, like in The Heartbreak Kid, his performances could be jaw-dropping, several decades ahead of their time. Since no one's mentioned it yet, I'll also say that his presence makes Clifford 10x funnier than it has any right to be.

I love him in all of the above, but I want to give a shout out to The Woman in Red, a grossly overlooked 80s comedy, directed by Gene Wilder. Gordon’s portrayal is genuine in a part that might be played (especially at that time) only for laughs in the hands of another actor/director.

There are a lot of clips of Grodin online on Carson or Letterman, but the real Charles Grodin is a great guest on one of my favorite podcasts, The Carson Podcast by Mark Malkoff.

His own talk show was more of a Costas like show than typical late night fare, something especially missed nowadays.