''Mister Buddwing'' is a 1966 American film drama starring

James Garner James Scott Garner (né Bumgarner; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American actor. He played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, which included ''The Great Escape (film), The Great Escape'' (1963) with Steve McQueen; Paddy Ch ...

Jean Simmons Jean Merilyn Simmons (31 January 1929 – 22 January 2010) was a British actress and singer. One of J. Arthur Rank's "well-spoken young starlets", she appeared predominantly in films, beginning with those made in Britain during and after the ...

Suzanne Pleshette Suzanne Pleshette (January 31, 1937 – January 19, 2008) was an American actress. Pleshette was known for her roles in theatre, film, and television. She was nominated for three Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. For her role as Emily Hart ...

Katharine Ross Katharine Juliet Ross (born January 29, 1940) is a retired American actress. Her accolades include an Academy Award nomination, a BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. An alumna of The Actors Workshop, Ross made her television debut in 19 ...

, and

Angela Lansbury Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury (October 16, 1925 – October 11, 2022) was an Irish-British and American actress, producer, and singer. In a career spanning 80 years, she played various roles on stage and screen. Among her numerous accolades wer ...

. Directed by

Delbert Mann Delbert Martin Mann Jr. (January 30, 1920 – November 11, 2007) was an American television and film director. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film '' Marty'' (1955), adapted from a 1953 teleplay which he had also directed. ...

, the film depicts a well-dressed man who wakes up on a bench in

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

with no idea who he is. He proceeds to wander around

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

desperately trying to figure out his own identity. He meets various women, played by Lansbury, Ross, Pleshette, and Simmons, and each woman triggers fragments of his deeply-buried memories. Based on the 1964 novel ''Buddwing'' by

Evan Hunter Evan Hunter (born Salvatore Albert Lombino; October 15, 1926 – July 6, 2005) was an American author of crime and mystery fiction. He is best known as the author of '' 87th Precinct'' novels, published under the pen name Ed McBain, which ar ...

, the black-and-white drama was written by

Dale Wasserman Dale Wasserman (November 2, 1914 – December 21, 2008) was an American playwright, perhaps best known for his 1965 book, ''Man of La Mancha''. Early life Dale Wasserman was born in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, the child of Russian Jewish immigr ...

, and accompanied by a jazz-based musical score written by

Kenyon Hopkins Kenyon Hopkins (January 15, 1912 – April 7, 1983) was an American composer who composed many film scores in a jazz idiom. He was once called "one of jazz's great composers and arrangers." Biography Early life and education Hopkins was ...

. In his memoirs, Garner said "I'd summarize the plot but to this day I have no clue what it is. Worst picture I ever made. What were they thinking? What was I thinking?"

Plot

A man wakes up on a New York park bench to find that his mind is a total blank. He has no identification or money on him, just a slip of folded paper in his pocket, enclosing two large white pills and with a phone number written on it. He rings the number, reaching Gloria, who first mistakes him for her shiftless husband Sam. Arranging a rendezvous, he creates a name for himself, appropriating "Sam" and cobbling "Buddwing" from the first two things that seize his attention, a

Budweiser Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, a brand of Belgian company AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States. Budweiser is a filte ...

beer truck and an airplane. Gloria, a liquor-sodden slattern, does not recognize him but, as he is leaving, gives him a handful of cash, purely out of pity. Trying to pull himself together over breakfast he sees a giant headline blaring the news of the escape of a violently insane criminal. Finding a possible match with one of the initials inside the ring he is wearing he immediately fears he is this criminal. Shortly, he spots a woman on the street he thinks he knows and hails her as "Grace". A student at a music school in Washington Square, Janet proves a stranger, but a flashback of a romance with her from college days goes through Buddwing's mind. In it he is the music student, she is "Grace", and they impulsively marry. Back in the park Janet rejects his attentions and creates a scene. A policeman arrives, Buddwing is questioned, but flees when the patrolman becomes distracted by hecklers. He is pursued by a mad street person, who raves that indeed Buddwing is the murderer on the loose. More spooked than ever Buddwing races away, ending up aimlessly roaming the sidewalks. Soon he meets coquettish actress "Fiddle". They have sex, after which he instinctively begins to play piano, jarring loose more fragments of his possible former identity. Falling asleep in her arms he roils in a nightmare of fighting with her - by the name of Grace, and again his wife - over a pregnancy he feels they cannot afford. He insists on an abortion. Crushed, "Grace" climbs over the guardrail of the 59th Street Bridge, ready to commit suicide. He arrives to save her just in time. Snapping out of it, he flees once again, ending up buying a pint of whisky and looking for somewhere to paper-bag it alone. A

socialite A socialite is a person, typically a woman from a wealthy or aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having ...

out for kicks on a

scavenger hunt A scavenger hunt is a game in which the organizers prepare a list defining specific items that need to be found, which the participants seek to gather or complete all items on the list, usually without purchasing them. Usually participants work i ...

spies the tall, handsome man on the sidewalk. After boozing some together on the nearest stoop the pair end up in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

, seeking to clear $100,000 in a

craps Craps is a dice game in which players gambling, bet on the outcomes of the roll of a pair of dice. Players can wager money against each other (playing "street craps") or against a bank ("casino craps"). Because it requires little equipment, " ...

game to complete her list. Becoming woozy, Buddwing once again lapses into a conscious flashback, this time with The Blonde as his troubled wife Grace. In spite of having achieved success the couple has lost everything: she is a miserable tramp, unable to get over an abortion that left her sterile, he is trapped in his own web of affluence at the expense of honoring his inborn talent. In his trance he sees a blood-spattered vanity top and a razor blade. Like a lightning bolt it dawns on him he had, that morning, dialed the right phone number in the ''wrong area code''. It was not for "Monument" on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper We ...

of Manhattan, it was for Mt. Kisco in

Westchester County Westchester County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York, bordering the Long Island Sound and the Byram River to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The county is the seventh most populous cou ...

. He calls and finds the number reaches a hospital, and it all starts to come together for him: he had married Grace, she had had an abortion, they never could have a family, he had indeed sacrificed his talent for success as an A&R man as he had told her he intended to, and revolted her. She had slashed her wrists, but was barely alive. He begs to be able to see her. He takes her lifeless arm. He fears her last breaths are ebbing away. Slowly the limb moves, beckoning his hands. He takes her hand and clasps it in his, sharing his rediscovered life force with her.

Cast

as Mr. Buddwing *

as The Blonde *

as Fiddle Corwin *

as Janet *

as Gloria * George Voskovec as Shabby Old Man *

Jack Gilford Jack Gilford (born Jacob Aaron Gellman; July 25, 1908 – June 4, 1990) was an American Broadway, film, and television actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for '' Save the Tiger'' (1973). Early life and ...

as Mr. Schwartz *

Joe Mantell Joe Mantell ( Joseph Mantel; December 21, 1915 – September 29, 2010) was an American film and television actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as best friend Angie in the 1955 film ''Marty (film), ...

as 1st cab driver *

Billy Halop William Halop (February 11, 1920 – November 9, 1976) was an American actor. Early life Halop was born to Benjamin Cohen Halop and Lucille Elizabeth Halop on February 11, 1920. Halop came from a theatrical family; his mother was a dancer, and ...

as 2nd cab driver * Raymond St. Jacques as Hank *

Ken Lynch Kenneth E. Lynch (July 15, 1910 – February 13, 1990) was an American radio, film, and television actor with more than 180 credits to his name. He was generally known for portraying law enforcement officers and detectives. He may have been bes ...

as Dan *

Nichelle Nichols Nichelle Nichols ( ; born Grace Dell Nichols; December 28, 1932 – July 30, 2022) was an American actress, singer and dancer whose portrayal of Uhura in ''Star Trek'' and its film sequels was groundbreaking for African American actresses on A ...

as Dice Player *

Charles Seel Charles Seel (April 29, 1897 – April 19, 1980) was an American actor. He acted in over 30 films from 1938 to 1974 and appeared in over one hundred titles for television from 1952 to 1974. He was also credited as Charles Seal and Charles F. S ...

as Printer

Reception

Awards and honors

The film was nominated for two

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

; for Best Costume Design, Black and White (

Helen Rose Helen Rose (February 2, 1904 – November 9, 1985) was an American costume designer and clothing designer who spent the bulk of her career with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Career Helen Rose was born on February 2, 1904, to William Bromberg and Ray Bobb ...

) and Best Art Direction, Black and White ( George Davis, Paul Groesse,

Henry Grace Henry Grace (March 20, 1907 – September 16, 1983) was an American set decorator. He won an Oscar and was nominated for twelve more in the category Best Art Direction. As an actor, he had a role as Dwight D. Eisenhower, whom he strongly r ...

, and Hugh Hunt).

Notes

External links

* * *
James Garner Interview on the ''Charlie Rose Show''

James Garner interview
at

Archive of American Television The Interviews: An Oral History of Television (formerly titled the Archive of American Television) is a project of the nonprofit Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, that records interviews with notabl ...