Getting Straight

Infobox Film
name = Getting Straight


caption = Theatrical release poster
director = Richard Rush
producer = Richard Rush
writer = Robert Kaufman Ken Kolb
starring = Elliot Gould Candice Bergen
music = Ronald Stein
cinematography = László Kovács
editing = Maury Winetrobe
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = flagicon|USA May 13, 1970 flagicon|Finland July 31, 1970 flagicon|Spain September 10, 1977
runtime = 124 mins
country = USA
language = English
budget =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0065775

"Getting Straight" is a 1970 American comedy-drama motion picture directed by Richard Rush, released by Columbia Pictures. The story centered upon student politics at a university in the early 1970s, seen through the eyes of non-conformist graduate student Harry Bailey (Elliot Gould). Also featured in the cast were Candice Bergen as Bailey's girlfriend, Jeff Corey as Bailey's professor, and an early appearance by Harrison Ford in a bit role.

"Getting Straight" was released in an era of change and unrest in the United States in the early 1970s, and was in a long line of films that dealt with these themes. Other films of this period such as "R.P.M." (1970), directed by Stanley Kramer, and "The Strawberry Statement" (1970) also typified these themes.

ynopsis

Harry Bailey, a former student activist and post-graduate, comes back to university to complete an education course to become a teacher. He tries to avoid the increasing student unrest that has surfaced, but finds this difficult, as his girlfriend, Jan, is a leader in these protests.

Over time, student demonstrations bring police to the campus to quell the unrest, and the ensuing clashes lead to martial law. Harry is forced to question his values in relation to this. At the height of the rioting he concurs with Jan that "getting straight" is more important than unprotesting acceptance of the educational establishment.

Critical reception

The film's reception by reviewers was generally mixed. Leonard Maltin denoted that the film essentially was a "period piece" but that its "central issue of graduate student [Elliot] Gould choosing between academic double-talk and his beliefs remains relevant," (Maltin, 1991: 440). On the other hand, Steven Scheuer said that the film was reflective of "hippiedom alienation at its shallowest," (Scheuer, 1990: 397).

Other reviewers, such as Roger Greenspun from The New York Times, were a little more complimentary in tone about the film. While he says that overall the film is "misguided" he lauded Eliott Gould's performance as being "a brilliant, mercurial performance" and that he "fires" the film "with a fervor and wonderful comic sense of reality," (Greenspun, 1970).

References

*Greenspun, Roger (1970) "Getting Straight" New York Times, May 14, 1970. (accessed 9 July 2007) [http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?title1=Getting%20Straight%20%28Movie%29&title2=&reviewer=ROGER%20GREENSPUN&pdate=19700514&v_id=19598]

*Maltin, Leonard (1991) "Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide 1992", Signet, New York.

*Scheuer, Steven H. (1990) "Movies on TV and Videocassette", Bamtam Books, New York.

External links

*imdb title|0065775