Being There (Blu-Ray) ~ Peter Sellers (actor) Cover Art

Being There (Blu-Ray)

Peter Sellers (actor), Melvyn Douglas (actor) and Hal Ashby (director)

More About this Product
List Price: $28.99
Tower Price: $19.55
You Save: $9.44 (33%)
Add to BagAdd to Bag Click to go directly to the checkout.
This item qualifies for FREE Shop N' Save Shipping for orders over $25. Check individual shipping price. *Some Restrictions Apply.
Availability: On Sale - Ships in 12 Hours
Share This:
Add To KaboodleAdd To Kaboodle  Submit To Digg!Submit To Digg!  Share On FacebookShare On Facebook  Add to FavoritesAdd to Favorites  TwitterTwitter 

Product Description

Run a Quick Search on "Being There" starring Peter Sellers to Browse Related Products:

Browse more products related to "Being There"

Browse more products related to "Peter Sellers, Melvyn Douglas and Hal Ashby"

Review

Premiere, 04/01/2004, p.64, "[Chance] is a cipher both funny and frightening, making utter vacancy look like Zen inscrutability."

Total Film, 04/01/2009, 4 stars out of 5 -- "Peter Sellers redeemed himself with one last major turn in BEING THERE....This is an exceptional comedy..."

Empire, 03/01/2009, 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] strange, evocative swan song whose charm is still strong after 30 years....It's an uncanny part for Sellers, who by repute was an empty vessel into which characters were poured."

Chicago Sun-Times, 05/25/1997, p.5, "...A rare and subtle bird that finds its tone and sticks with it. It has the appeal of an ingenious intellectual game..."

Entertainment Weekly, 01/15/1999, pp.64-5, "...Deadpan farce....Sellers in his greatest performance..." -- Rating: A-

New York Times, 12/20/1979, p.C20, "...A stately, beautifully acted satire....Sellers never strikes a false note..."

Title Note

Theatrical release: December 19, 1979.

Director Hal Ashby's former producer, Jerome Hellman, plays the role of Gary Burns, a talk show host.

The film was cited for Best Screenplay by BAFTA.

Jerzy Kosinski actually performed experiments in schools with young children, trying to see if TV creates culture or is a reflection of it.

Product Quotation/Excerpt

"I like to watch."--Chauncy Gardner (Peter Sellers) to Eve Rand (Shirley MacLaine)

Release Note

Blu-ray Features:

Additional Release Material:
Additional Scenes
Alternate Ending
Outtakes

Blu-ray Disc Features:

Full Frame - 1.33
Additional Release Material:
Additional Scenes
Outtakes
Alternate Ending

Product Notes

BEING THERE is based on Jerzy Kosinski's short comic novel about a simpleton, Chance (Peter Sellers), raised in isolation whose only education came from watching TV. When he's forced out of the house where he worked as a gardener by the death of the wealthy recluse who raised him from infancy, he's fortuitously struck by a limousine carrying Eve Rand (Shirley MacLaine), the wife of a wealthy industrialist. He's mistaken, because of his well-tailored suits, for a man of means and taken to dinner with her husband, Ben Rand (Melvyn Douglas). There, as Chauncy Gardner, his blank affect is taken for seriousness and his literal pronouncements about gardening for metaphoric economic predictions. Soon he's meeting the president (Jack Warden) and becoming a star on TV--where he's a natural.

Kosinski was well known to be personally fascinated by the power of television. In BEING THERE, which he adapted for the screen himself, he presents a comic fable about a man whose entire sense of reality came from watching television. Sellers is marvelous as the always-deadpan cipher in whom everyone he meets sees whatever it is they need to see. Shirley MacLaine, Jack Warden, and Melvyn Douglas give outstanding performances in this biting satire directed by Hal Ashby.

Customer Reviews for "Being There (Blu-Ray)"

There are no customer reviews yet. Be the first to write a review!

Submit your Review

ADVERTISEMENT

Explore More Great Tower Sales & Specials

Tower.com video Sales, Promotions & Special Features

Tower.com Video Boutique Stores

Interact with Tower.com