Rent Being There (1979)
3.8 of 5 from 258 ratings
2h 5min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- After Being There was published, author Jerzy Kosinski got a telegram from its lead character Chance the Gardner: "Available in my garden or outside of it". Kosinski dialled the accompanying telephone number and Peter Sellers answered. Sellers indeed got the part and gave an indelible performance in this modern comedy classic. Isolated all his life in a Washington DC townhouse, Chance knows only what he's seen on TV. Cast into the world, he stumbles into the inner circle of governmental power brokers eager for "sage wisdom". As Chance might say, you'll like to watch
- Actors:
- Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden, Richard Dysart, Richard Basehart, Ruth Attaway, David Clennon, Fran Brill, Denise DuBarry, Oteil Burbridge, Ravenell Keller III, Brian Corrigan, Alfie Brown, Don Jacob, Ernest McClure, Kenneth Patterson, Richard Venture, Arthur Grundy, W.C. 'Mutt' Burton
- Directors:
- Hal Ashby
- Writers:
- Jerzy Kosinski
- Aka:
- Un jardinero con suerte
- Studio:
- Warner
- Genres:
- Comedy
- Collections:
- A Brief History of Films About Television: Part 1, A Brief History of Films About Television: Part 2, A Brief History of Old Age on Screen: Part 1, Acting Up: British Actors at the Oscars, Award Winners, BAFTA Nominations Competition 2024, Cinema Paradiso's 2023 Centenary Club: Part 2, Elvis Presley on Screen, Getting to Know..., Oscar Nominations Competition 2025, Oscar's Two-Time Club, Oscars: Winners & Losers, People of the Pictures, Remembering Julian Sands and Frederic Forrest, The Coppola Clan: Hollywood's Most Creative Family, A Brief History of Film..., The Instant Expert's Guide, The Instant Expert's Guide to Wes Anderson, The Instant Expert's Guide to: Charles Crichton, Top 10 Films By Year, Top 10 Films of 1979, Top 100 AFI Laughs, Top Films
- Awards:
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 23/02/2009
- Run Time:
- 130 minutes
- Languages:
- English Dolby Digital 1.0, English Dolby TrueHD 1.0, French Dolby Digital 1.0, Spanish Dolby Digital 1.0
- Subtitles:
- Brazilian, English, French, Spanish
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.78:1 / 16:9
- Colour:
- Colour
- Bonus:
- New featurette memories from Being there
- Alternate ending
- Two recently discovered scenes
- Gag reel
- Theatrical trailer
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Reviews (2) of Being There
Enjoyed Every Moment - Being There review by griggs
Being There is a clever and funny film that feels surprisingly relevant today. Peter Sellers plays Chance, a simple gardener who knows nothing about the world except what he’s seen on TV. When he ends up outside his sheltered life, people mistake his basic comments for deep wisdom, turning him into an unlikely celebrity. Sellers is brilliant, making Chance innocent yet oddly charming.
The story, directed by Hal Ashby, is calm and slow, but that’s part of its magic. It’s not flashy—it wants you to think. The film pokes fun at how powerful people can be fooled by appearances and how easily the media shapes opinions.
The ending is unforgettable, leaving you wondering what it all really means. Funny, strange, and thought-provoking, Being There shows how sometimes the simplest people can reveal the silliest truths about the world. I really enjoyed every moment of it.
2 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
The Best of All Possible Worlds - Being There review by CH
At more than two hours, most scenes as slow moving as Peter Sellers's voice, Being There is so absorbing that it goes by quickly. The story, from Jerzy Kosinski's novel, is well known, and perhaps not his own creation. Whether or not he took it from a Thirties Polish novel is perhaps irrelevant, for it is a variant on the theme of an innocent in a complex world.
A Candide for our times, Sellers's incarnation of the gardener Chance who has been cocooned from the world all his life is a performance galvanised by all that he sees of that world previously known through the television screen. This gives rise to his catchphrase "I like to watch" which becomes all the more memorable when uttered during the scene where Shirley Maclaine attempts to seduce him (a pleasuring to rival the "I'll have what she's having" of When Harry Met Sally). As memorable are the sexual difficulties suffered by the President (Jack Warden) and his wife when Chance's indvertent fame finds him so acclaimed for his simple wisdom that he could be a front runner for the highest office in the land.
Bring There is, then, hardly a work of stark realism but it goes beyond the limits of a fable to become something genuinely affecting - not least an ending which occured ro director Hal Ashby as he was about to film it. Superby filmed, often within large interiors, Being There achieves a form of magic.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.