''The Goodbye Girl'' is a 1977 American romantic

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

directed by

Herbert Ross Herbert David Ross (May 13, 1927 – October 9, 2001) was an American actor, choreographer, director and producer who worked predominantly in theater and film. He was nominated for two Academy Awards and a Tony Award. He is known for directing ...

, written by

Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...

and starring Richard Dreyfuss,

Marsha Mason Marsha Mason (born April 3, 1942) is an American actress and director. She has been nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Actress: for her performances in '' Cinderella Liberty'' (1973), '' The Goodbye Girl'' (1977), '' Chapter Two ...

Quinn Cummings Quinn L. Cummings (born August 13, 1967) is an American entrepreneur, author, humorist, inventor and former actress. Cummings came to prominence as a child actor, playing Lucy McFadden in Neil Simon's '' The Goodbye Girl'', for which she was no ...

and

Paul Benedict Paul Benedict (September 17, 1938 – December 1, 2008) was an American actor who made numerous appearances in television and films, beginning in 1965. He was known for his roles as The Number Painter on the PBS children's show ''Sesame Street ...

. The film, produced by

Ray Stark Raymond Otto Stark (October 3, 1915 – January 17, 2004) was one of the most successful and prolific independent film producers in postwar Hollywood. Stark's background as a literary and theatrical agent prepared him to produce some of the most ...

, centers on an odd trio of characters: a struggling actor who has sublet a

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

apartment from a friend, the current occupant (his friend's ex-girlfriend, who has just been abandoned), and her precocious young daughter. Richard Dreyfuss won the 1977 Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Elliot Garfield. At the time, he became the youngest man to win an Oscar for Best Actor. Both Mason and Cummings were nominated for Oscars. The film became the first romantic comedy to earn $100 million in box-office grosses.

Plot

Dancer and divorcee Paula McFadden (

) and her ten-year-old daughter Lucy (

) live in a Manhattan apartment with her married boyfriend, Tony DeForrest. Coming home from shopping, Paula finds Tony gone as he'd suddenly deserted her to travel to Italy for a film role. Prior to his departure (and unbeknownst to Paula), Tony sublet the apartment to Elliot Garfield ( Richard Dreyfuss), a neurotic but sweet aspiring actor from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, who shows up in the middle of the night expecting to move in. Paula, who is demanding, cynical, and neurotic, makes it clear from the start that she doesn't like Elliot, but reluctantly lets him move in. They argue about boundaries, with Elliot agreeing to allow Paula and Lucy to stay. Paula is struggling to get back into shape so she can resume her career as a dancer. Meanwhile, Elliot has landed the title role in an

off-off-Broadway Off-off-Broadway theaters are smaller New York City theaters than Broadway and off-Broadway theaters, and usually have fewer than 100 seats. The off-off-Broadway movement began in 1958 as part of a response to perceived commercialism of the pro ...

production of '' Richard III'', but the director, Mark (

), wants him to play the character as an exaggerated homosexual stereotype—in Mark's words, "the queen who wanted to be king." Reluctantly, Elliot agrees to the non-traditional portrayal, despite knowing that it may mean the end of his acting career. Theater critics from numerous

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

television stations and newspapers attend opening night and savage the show, paying special attention to trashing Elliot's performance. The play quickly closes, much to his relief. Despite their frequent clashes and Paula's lack of gratitude for Elliot's help, the two fall in love and sleep together. Lucy, despite liking Elliot, grows cautious and sees the affair as a repeat of what happened with Tony. Elliot convinces Paula that he won't be a repeat of their experience with Tony; later he picks up Lucy from school and takes her on a carriage ride, during which the youngster admits she likes Elliot. In response, Elliot explains how much he cares for Lucy and Paula and that he wouldn't do anything to hurt them. Elliot lands a job at an

improvisational theatre Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted: created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, a ...

, and is soon seen by a well-known film director. He is offered an opportunity for a film role that he cannot turn down, but the job is in Seattle and Elliot will be gone for four weeks. Paula is scared that Elliot is leaving her, never to return, like all the other men in her life. Later, Elliot calls Paula from the

phone booth A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box, telephone box or public call box is a tiny structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience; usually the user steps into the booth and closes the booth ...

across the street to say his flight was delayed, and at the last minute, he invites Paula to go with him while he is filming, suggesting Lucy stay with Paula's friend Donna until they return. Paula declines but is encouraged by Elliot's invitation. Before hanging up, Elliot asks Paula to restring his prized guitar (which he deliberately left at the apartment), and she realizes this proves he really does love her and will indeed return.

Cast

* Richard Dreyfuss as Elliot Garfield *

as Paula McFadden *

as Lucy McFadden *

as Mark Bodine * Barbara Rhoades as Donna Douglas *

Theresa Merritt Theresa Merritt Hines (September 24, 1922 June 12, 1998), known professionally as Theresa Merritt, was an American actress and singer. She's known for her role in '' That's My Mama'' (1974-1975) and for her film roles in ''The Wiz'' (1978) and ''B ...

as Mrs. Crosby * Michael Shawn as Ronnie Burns *

Patricia Pearcy Patricia Sue Pearcy is an American film, stage, and television actress. She began her career in theatre, appearing on Broadway and in local theatre companies in Connecticut and Kentucky before making her film debut in Monte Hellman's '' Cockfig ...

as Rhonda Fontana *

Nicol Williamson Thomas Nicol Williamson (14 September 1936 – 16 December 2011) was a Scottish actor, once described by playwright John Osborne as "the greatest actor since Marlon Brando". He was also described by Samuel Beckett as "touched by genius" and view ...

as Oliver Fry (uncredited)

Production

The film began as a screenplay called ''Bogart Slept Here'' (essentially the story of what happened to

Dustin Hoffman Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. He is ...

after he became a star) that was to star Robert De Niro and Mason for

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

It would have been the film De Niro made immediately after ''

Taxi Driver ''Taxi Driver'' is a 1976 American film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Paul Schrader, and starring Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, Leonard Harris, and Albert Brooks. Set in a decaying ...

''.

Mike Nichols Mike Nichols (born Michael Igor Peschkowsky; November 6, 1931 – November 19, 2014) was an American film and theater director, producer, actor, and comedian. He was noted for his ability to work across a range of genres and for his aptitude fo ...

was hired to direct. Simon recalled the original idea for the film:

The basic idea of the story was that Marsha, an ex-dancer, was married to a very promising but struggling off-Broadway actor who gets discovered in a small play and is whisked out to Hollywood, where he reluctantly moves with his family. He feels very out of place there...and they have trouble adjusting, especially after his first film makes him an international star...and it creates chaos in their marriage. The story was coming out a little darker than I had imagined, but I envisioned the character of the wife as a very good role for Marsha.

Filming began on ''Bogart Slept Here'' but it became apparent that De Niro wasn't right for the role. Simon recalled: "...it was clear that any of the humor I had written was going to get lost. It's not that De Niro is not funny, but his humor comes mostly from his nuances, a bemused expression on his face or the way he would look at a character, smile and then look up at the ceiling." Nichols insisted on recasting De Niro. Soon after, Nichols left the project. Dreyfuss was brought in to audition with Mason. At the end of the reading, Simon decided the chemistry was there, but the script needed work. He rewrote the screenplay in six weeks.

he screenplay He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
had to be funnier, more romantic, the way Marsha and I first imagined the picture would be. What I wanted to do was a prequel. In other words, instead of an off-Broadway actor, married with a child, why don't I start from the beginning? I'd start when they first meet. Not liking each other at first and then falling in love.

The film's exteriors were filmed in New York City and the interiors were shot on sets in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Warner Bros. was less than enthused about Simon's script and considered selling the project to

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...

, but the studio ultimately decided to partner with MGM on the film instead. With the 1996 acquisition of Turner Entertainment Company, which owned the pre-May 1986 MGM film library by

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

, Warner Bros. now owns the rights and distribution of the film.

Soundtrack

The title song, " Goodbye Girl", was written and performed by

David Gates David Ashworth Gates (December 11, 1940 – January 5, 2023) was a American singer-songwriter, guitarist, musician and producer, frontman and co-lead singer (with Jimmy Griffin) of the group Bread, which reached the top of the musical charts ...

in 1978, and was a top 20 hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart that same year, peaking at #15.

Reception

Roger Ebert gave the film a mostly favorable review, awarding three stars out of four. He was unimpressed with Mason's performance and the character as written, calling it "hardly ever sympathetic." However, he praised Dreyfuss and cited his ''Richard III'' scenes as "the funniest in a movie since

Mel Brooks Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began ...

staged ''

Springtime for Hitler ''Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp With Adolf and Eva at Berchtesgaden'' is a fictional musical in Mel Brooks' 1967 film '' The Producers'', as well as the stage musical adaptation of the movie, and the 2005 movie adaptation of the musical. It ...

''." Ebert criticized the beginning as "awkward at times and never quite involving," but "enjoyed its conclusion so much that we almost forgot our earlier reservations." Gene Siskel awarded an identical three-star grade and said, "Make no mistake about it, the very best thing about 'The Goodbye Girl' is the character of Elliot Garfield as played by Dreyfuss, a character that comes very close to Dreyfuss' own self-and-profession centered lifestyle. But like Dreyfuss himself, Elliott Garfield, who initially comes off as pushy, prickly type, ultimately wins you over."

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' found the film to be "exhausting without being much fun" and "relentlessly wisecracked."

Charles Champlin Charles Davenport Champlin (March 23, 1926 – November 16, 2014) was an American film critic and writer. Life and career Champlin was born in Hammondsport, New York. He attended high school in Camden, New York, working as a columnist for the ...

of ''

The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' lauded it as "the best and most blissfully satisfying romantic comedy of the year and then some." Arthur D. Murphy of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called the film "another feather in Herbert Ross' directorial cap," with Dreyfuss giving "his best screen performance to date." Gary Arnold of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' wrote that the film "evolves into the most satisfying comedy Simon has written directly for the movies. One tolerates the plot mechanics for the sake of the genuinely amusing aspects of his script, the bright remarks and the distinctive or appealing character traits that provide good performers with live ammunition."

Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' magazine from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael's opinions oft ...

of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' was negative, commenting, "It's not Neil Simon's one-liners that get you down in ''The Goodbye Girl'', it's his two-liners. The snappiness of the exchanges is so forced it's almost macabre."

David Ansen David Ansen is an American film critic. He was a senior editor for ''Newsweek'', where he served as film critic from 1977 to 2008 and subsequently contribute to the magazined in a freelance capacity. Prior to writing for ''Newsweek'', he served a ...

of ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...

'' wrote, "It's pure formula, and Simon plays it straight, all cards on the table, with the conservative professionalism of a gambler used to winning. As directed by the ubiquitous Herbert Ross, ''The Goodbye Girl'' is a modest, bittersweet comedy that will delight Simon fans and leave his critics staunchly unconverted."

Awards and nominations

Richard Dreyfuss was 30 when he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, making him the youngest actor to ever to win the category. This record stood for 25 years until 2002 when

Adrien Brody Adrien Nicholas Brody (born April 14, 1973) is an American actor. He received widespread recognition and acclaim after starring as Władysław Szpilman in Roman Polanski's '' The Pianist'' (2002), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Acto ...

—just one month shy of his 30th birthday—won for '' The Pianist''. American Film Institute * AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – Nominated * AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs – Nominated * AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – #81 * AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs: **The Goodbye Girl – Nominated * AFI's 10 Top 10 – Nominated Romantic Comedy

Musical and remake

There were three failed attempts to turn ''The Goodbye Girl'' into a half-hour, television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

, according to

Lee Goldberg Lee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter, publisher and producer known for his bestselling novels ''Lost Hills'' and ''True Fiction'' and his work on a wide variety of TV crime series, including '' Diagnosis: Murder'', ''A Nero Wolfe M ...

's book ''Unsold Television Pilots.'' The first pilot, aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

in May 1982 and titled ''Goodbye Doesn't Mean Forever'', starred

Karen Valentine Karen Valentine (born May 25, 1947) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as young idealistic schoolteacher Alice Johnson in the ABC comedy drama series ''Room 222'' from 1969 to 1974, for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award f ...

and

Michael Lembeck Michael Lembeck (born June 25, 1948) is an American actor and television and film director. Best known as Max Horvath in '' One Day at a Time'' (1979-1984). Life and career Lembeck was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Caroline Dubs and ...

, and was directed by James Burrows from a script by Allan Katz. The second, unaired pilot was produced a year later starring

JoBeth Williams Margaret JoBeth Williams (born December 6, 1948) is an American actress and television director. Her directorial debut with the 1994 short film ''On Hope'' earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film. In 2009 she began ...

and was directed by Charlotte Brown from a script by Brown and Pat Nardo. The third pilot, which never aired, again starred Valentine and was directed by

Jay Sandrich A jay is a member of a number of species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the Crow family, Corvidae. The evolutionary relationships between the jays and the magpies are rather complex. For example, the Eurasian m ...

. ''The Goodbye Girl'' was developed into a 1993 Broadway musical of the same name starring Martin Short and

Bernadette Peters Bernadette Peters ( ''née'' Lazzara; born February 28, 1948) is an American actress, singer, and children's book author. Over a career spanning more than six decades, she has starred in musical theatre, television and film, performed in solo co ...

. A 2004 remake with Jeff Daniels and

Patricia Heaton Patricia Helen Heaton (born March 4, 1958) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for her work on sitcoms, having played Debra Barone on ''Everybody Loves Raymond'' (1996–2005) as well as Frances "Frankie" Heck on '' The Middl ...

keeps the screenplay from the original version.

Home media

The VHS format has been released several times over the years.

MGM/UA Home Video MGM/UA may refer to: *Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, American film and television production and distribution company **United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital p ...

released the 1993 and 1996 versions, while

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Vide ...

released the 2000 version in addition to releasing the DVD version. A manufacture-on-demand Blu-ray format was released through

Warner Archive Collection The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the inte ...

on November 8, 2016.

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Goodbye Girl 1977 films 1977 comedy films 1977 drama films 1970s romantic comedy-drama films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films American romantic comedy-drama films Best Musical or Comedy Picture Golden Globe winners Films about actors Films directed by Herbert Ross Films featuring a Best Actor Academy Award-winning performance Films featuring a Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe winning performance Films featuring a Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe winning performance Films scored by Dave Grusin Films set in apartment buildings Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Films with screenplays by Neil Simon Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Warner Bros. films