Awesome Movie

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

After so many years I have at last watched "Move" again, and my first impression that it is a weird funny comedy has not changed. Released on DVD (although not in its original wide-screen format) in 2015, the package includes its trailer and it is quite obvious that in 1970 20th Century Fox did not know how to promote it. Far from the 1960s romantic comedy formula, Fox did not come up with an original campaign to handle the eccentricity and strangeness of many of the scenes and images the plot describes. "Move" is an absurdist comedy that makes irreverent jokes on social stratification, authorities and married life. Though a crazy product of its times (from the company that brought that same year "Myra Breckinridge" and "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls") it is not a harsh confrontational story, but a gentle tale, treating its points in a light and comic way. Based on a tight script that never loses its cohesion, the plot follows New York writer Hiram Jaffe (Elliott Gould) through situations as he tries to move from one apartment to another, an action that also can be interpreted as his attempt at moving up a level, pressured by his wife Dolly (Paula Prentiss). He has to face his creative crisis, his sex life and his paranoia. He is about to leave behind his old quarter and most probably his usual activities, as walking out other people's dogs to make ends meet, and he is definitely afraid of "moving", imagining (or not) all kinds of difficulties and obstacles. The production had an inspired casting, pairing Gould and Prentiss, an ideal couple for the 1970s that surely would have developed into a fine act in other comedies: there's good chemistry between them, they handle the comedy aspects very well, and Prentiss even adds a touch of humor in her single dramatic moment, that fits the whole concept of absurdity by novelist-scriptwriter Joel Lieber. If I have any complaint (apart from Prentiss' excessive make-up) it is Stuart Rosenberg's direction, who maybe was not the best choice to film a screenplay that easily changes from slapstick to verbal comedy, from Brechtian estrangement to a chase on horseback. Although I sometimes felt a too heavy handling of a few scenes (as Prentiss' dramatic monologue), Rosenberg was a professional and did a good job.

Following his breakthrough role in BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE, Elliott Gould appeared in a flood of movies (four in 1970 alone). There were some masterpieces like MASH, THE LONG GOODBYE and later THE SILENT PARTNER as well as dismal flops like MATILDA and THE DEVIL AND MAX DEVLIN. MOVE falls somewhere in between. It's certainly not a great movie, but it has enough worthwhile things to offer to make it an entertaining expose of urban angst. Gould is a writer (apparently of soft-core porn) and dog walker trying to move from one apartment to another in a very uncooperative NYC. His flights of paranoid fancy, often tinged with black-humored surrealism, lead him to drift from his loving wife (the great Paula Prentiss) and get involved with a ditsy model (Geneviève Waïte). MOVE is a funny and often cringe-inducing experience as Gould gets himself into various uncomfortable fixes, often resulting in him stripping his clothes off. There's terrific chemistry between Gould & Prentiss and the direction by Stuart Rosenberg (as director of the likes of MURDER INC. and COOL HAND Luke, he was NOT known for a light touch) is fine. Waïte comes close to stealing the film as the elfin Brit who gives Gould a real going-over.

Move is a treat. At the time of its release Elliot Gould was just reaching a his first cycle of over exposure and most people missed this movie completely. It is in the same tradition of self conscious movies as "You're a Big Boy Now" and others that came out during the late 60s. The difference is this movie is intelligently written and directed and it gets better as it progresses as opposed to falling apart and resorting to slapstick like most zany movies do at the three quarters mark. Gould perfectly captures the o.c.d. craziness of his character and Paula Prentiss as usual is terrific. The only flaw in this film is I would have loved to see at least one more scene with her. All the supporting characters are scarily great. I do not want to give the whole story away. See it!

I read someone once say that "films like _Move_ destroyed Gould's career in 1 and a half years." Maybe, maybe not, but _Move_ is really not a bad film at all: a bit counter-culture, but not obnoxiously so.Gould is an intellectual New Yorker whose fortunes have led him to walk dogs in central park, and to author pornographic literature to make a living--a self-described "scatological existence." Prentiss (in a straight role) is his long-suffering wife, who watches as he suffers a mental breakdown. This film is of interest to Prentiss fans as it was her first big role in 5 years of eschewing Hollywood. Genevive Waite is the ditzy model Gould meets in the park.Perhaps the film's greatest drawback (to us men, at least), is Gould's penchant for dropping his trousers to reveal an inordinately hirsute physique.When all is said, its a film with its own charms, and the ending sweetly closes the story.