Goodbye, Columbus! This film screens the novel of the same name by the famous American writer Philip Roth, telling the romantic story of Brenda and Neil - two young people who want only to have fun with each other, without thinking about something truly serious.
The plot of the film is quite simple and does not have any phenomenally unexpected turns, but only calmly, slowly, follows the logical course of the general narrative system. It is difficult to say how accurately the film embodied the content of the literary original Philip Roth (by the way, this was the first film adaptation of his rich bibliography), since nowadays it is not possible to thoroughly study the source text in Russian. However, given the fact that Arnold Shulman, responsible for the adaptation of the book for the screen, received an Oscar nomination in the category Best Adapted Screenplay, it is safe to say that in the plot plan, much in comparison with the literary source, the picture did not leave out.
But in the aspect of the depth of content, the film is clearly inferior to the original novel, due to the fact that the characters of the main characters in the tape, although well represent their visual image, the intrinsic motivation of their actions is still not disclosed to the extent to understand the nature of their actions and thoughts. In this case, as is often the case, the book is very likely to provide this very depth of content and immersion in the inner world of the characters in full, unlike the film.
Of course, it is worth highlighting the light, carefree and very idle atmosphere of the film, extremely similar to such cult works of the sixties as the Hollywood "Graduate" with Dustin Hoffman and the French "Pool" with an incredibly sexy duet "Alain Delon" and "Romy Schneider". The freedom-loving, in some ways reckless and sometimes erotic aesthetic of the films of New Hollywood, often telling about the young, beautiful and carefree, has its own incomparable atmosphericity, quite accurately depicted in the film work in question.
The undoubted and, perhaps, the main advantage of the picture is Eli McGraw, who performed the central female role of the film. Her brand can not but attract men’s views, as it has an undying female energy that can give everyone a storm of emotions, if, of course, she wants it. Thirty-year-old actress incomparably embodied on the screen the image of a young and very hot soul, for which she received the Golden Globe in the nomination Best debutante.
Another advantage of the tape is the extremely memorable scene of the Jewish wedding, which can absolutely rightly be put on a par with other equally delightful film models of the celebration of marriage, presented in such famous paintings of the seventies as the Godfather and the Deer Hunter, in which Italian and Russian weddings were stunningly demonstrated respectively.
As one of the significant drawbacks of the film, the hero Richard Benjamin should be singled out. Neil in his performance seems simply an undisclosed character, despite the fact that he is actually the main character of the entire plot. He is truly eclipsed by the brand and her family, occasionally getting the opportunity to unleash his potential. That is why the ending of the tape seems somewhat strange, in which the two main characters lead a funny-ridiculous for the audience ear conversation about "cap", designed to prevent the potential likelihood of getting pregnant Brand from countless sexual relations with Neil, which seems to need only this, however, as well as she herself. She either intentionally, or still, as she claims, did not intentionally leave this miracle remedy almost before the eyes of the strict mother, who, of course, was not delighted with the fact that her beautiful older daughter, not being in an official marriage, sleeps with a young man, whom, frankly, she does not particularly like. Neil, interrupting useless dialogue, goes out into the street, slowly following in an unknown direction, which is called where the eyes look, thus somewhat scrappy, crumpled and very absurdly completing this love story
As a result, Farewell Columbus is a forgotten, but rather good representative of New Hollywood, telling a classic story about the carelessness of freedom-loving and especially not aspiring for life young people who, except for fun and momentary joy, in principle, do not need anything more. The atmosphere of the picture has a light mood and has a winding energy, through its heroes broadcasting a pleasant summer breeze of seemingly endless holidays, which, undoubtedly, sooner or later will come to its logical conclusion, returning young hearts to the usual routine of the educational and working process, sometimes awakening in their memory joyful fragments of the not so far gone past.
Do you know how old I was when I got married? 35! I still don’t know why the hell I was in such a hurry.