"To be made a slave is to be stripped of any possible honour. But honour is, by definition, something that exists in the eyes of others. To be able to recover it, then, one must adopt the rules and standards of the society that deprived him of his honour in the first place." - David Graeber
Released in 1969, and directed by Larry Peerce, "Goodbye, Columbus" was based on a novel by Philip Roth. It stars Richard Benjamin as Neil Klugman, an army veteran who now works as a library clerk. Neil falls in love with Brenda Patimkin (Ali MacGraw), a wealthy college student. Their relationship is frowned upon by Brenda's fussy family.
Better than the similarly themed "The Graduate", "Goodbye, Columbus" crackles with a brand of energy typical of the 1960s. Peerce's film is sceptical of post-war capitalism, its attached aspirations and values, and portrays Neil as a cynical type who deems the Patimkin family to be vapid and materialistic. Unlike anyone else in the film, Neil is also is intimately aware of social class. He compares himself to servants, comes out of the Army refusing to be used by anyone again, sympathises with black kids and is wary of being assimilated into the lives of the nouveau riche.
But Peerce's film complicates familiar poor-boy-meets-rich-girl narratives. Brenda's father, hardworking and from humble backgrounds, is sympathetically portrayed. Neil, meanwhile, is pretentious, aloof and unconsciously a bit of a social-climber. Brenda herself is ultimately only interested in Neil as a means of infuriating her class-obsessed mother.
It is thus unsurprising that Neil and Brenda's relationship ultimately breaks down. Unlike the climax to "The Graduate", where a jaded graduate runs off with the daughter of a lawyer, Neil and Brenda do their best to sabotage their own relationship. Neil taunts Brenda, makes fun of her plastic surgery, shallow friends and wealth, whilst she in turn cannot fathom life with a man determined to exist outside of her social circles. A vein of aggression thus exists beneath the couple's games of seduction; Neil the non-conformist who unconsciously desires conformity, forever passively aggressive toward Brenda, the conformist who fancies herself a rebel.
In the 1960s, cinema reflected churning anti-establishment attitudes. Even in the mainstream, films like "In the Heat of the Night", "Cool Hand Luke" and so forth were garnering major awards, whilst books like David Brion Davis' "The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture" were picking up Pulitzers left, right and centre. "Goodbye, Columbus'" themes can also be found in the countless similar films released around about this time ("Easy Rider", "The Paper Chase", "The Graduate", "You're a Big Boy Now", "They Might be Giants", "The King of Marvin Gardens", "Smile", "The Swimmer", "Hair", "Get to Know Your Rabbit", "A Thousand Clowns, "Some Came Running", "The Sandpiper" etc), most of which dealt with generation gaps, issues of assimilation and featured young men – often model sons and exemplary students – who rejected mid-20th century white and blue collar conformity.
"Goodbye, Columbus" itself ends with rejection. Here Neil and Brenda split and return to their separate worlds, he to a life of books and bohemianism, she to a life of money and materialism. But both Neil and Brenda never stop wishing for validation from what are essentially ideologies they oppose; Neil still measures success in Brenda's terms, and vice versa.
"Goodbye, Columbus'" title alludes to young men and women who leave behind the protective havens of university halls, lose their innocence, "come of age" and experience the pitfalls of the "real world". As it was made in the 1960s, these pitfalls include everything from premarital sex to unwanted pregnancies to envious mothers to class-conflicts to issues of Jewish identity. Throw in casual nudity, wacky slow motion sequences, a serio-comic tone, and goofy close ups of breasts, bikinis and swaying buttocks, and you have a film that is overflowing with an almost sensationalistic need to break free of 1960s codes and conventions. That such a busy film works is thanks largely to Roth, whose source-material is sensitive and at times even wise.
"Goodbye, Columbus" was essentially Ali MacGraw's film debut. She had previously played a bit part in 1968's "A Lovely Way to Die", but "Columbus" finds her thrust into a starring role. A rapturous vision, she spins her way through Peerce's film, a princess whom the geeky Neil simultaneously despises and adores.
8.5/10 – Underrated. See "They Might be Giants".
Released in 1969, and directed by Larry Peerce, "Goodbye, Columbus" was based on a novel by Philip Roth. It stars Richard Benjamin as Neil Klugman, an army veteran who now works as a library clerk. Neil falls in love with Brenda Patimkin (Ali MacGraw), a wealthy college student. Their relationship is frowned upon by Brenda's fussy family.
Better than the similarly themed "The Graduate", "Goodbye, Columbus" crackles with a brand of energy typical of the 1960s. Peerce's film is sceptical of post-war capitalism, its attached aspirations and values, and portrays Neil as a cynical type who deems the Patimkin family to be vapid and materialistic. Unlike anyone else in the film, Neil is also is intimately aware of social class. He compares himself to servants, comes out of the Army refusing to be used by anyone again, sympathises with black kids and is wary of being assimilated into the lives of the nouveau riche.
But Peerce's film complicates familiar poor-boy-meets-rich-girl narratives. Brenda's father, hardworking and from humble backgrounds, is sympathetically portrayed. Neil, meanwhile, is pretentious, aloof and unconsciously a bit of a social-climber. Brenda herself is ultimately only interested in Neil as a means of infuriating her class-obsessed mother.
It is thus unsurprising that Neil and Brenda's relationship ultimately breaks down. Unlike the climax to "The Graduate", where a jaded graduate runs off with the daughter of a lawyer, Neil and Brenda do their best to sabotage their own relationship. Neil taunts Brenda, makes fun of her plastic surgery, shallow friends and wealth, whilst she in turn cannot fathom life with a man determined to exist outside of her social circles. A vein of aggression thus exists beneath the couple's games of seduction; Neil the non-conformist who unconsciously desires conformity, forever passively aggressive toward Brenda, the conformist who fancies herself a rebel.
In the 1960s, cinema reflected churning anti-establishment attitudes. Even in the mainstream, films like "In the Heat of the Night", "Cool Hand Luke" and so forth were garnering major awards, whilst books like David Brion Davis' "The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture" were picking up Pulitzers left, right and centre. "Goodbye, Columbus'" themes can also be found in the countless similar films released around about this time ("Easy Rider", "The Paper Chase", "The Graduate", "You're a Big Boy Now", "They Might be Giants", "The King of Marvin Gardens", "Smile", "The Swimmer", "Hair", "Get to Know Your Rabbit", "A Thousand Clowns, "Some Came Running", "The Sandpiper" etc), most of which dealt with generation gaps, issues of assimilation and featured young men – often model sons and exemplary students – who rejected mid-20th century white and blue collar conformity.
"Goodbye, Columbus" itself ends with rejection. Here Neil and Brenda split and return to their separate worlds, he to a life of books and bohemianism, she to a life of money and materialism. But both Neil and Brenda never stop wishing for validation from what are essentially ideologies they oppose; Neil still measures success in Brenda's terms, and vice versa.
"Goodbye, Columbus'" title alludes to young men and women who leave behind the protective havens of university halls, lose their innocence, "come of age" and experience the pitfalls of the "real world". As it was made in the 1960s, these pitfalls include everything from premarital sex to unwanted pregnancies to envious mothers to class-conflicts to issues of Jewish identity. Throw in casual nudity, wacky slow motion sequences, a serio-comic tone, and goofy close ups of breasts, bikinis and swaying buttocks, and you have a film that is overflowing with an almost sensationalistic need to break free of 1960s codes and conventions. That such a busy film works is thanks largely to Roth, whose source-material is sensitive and at times even wise.
"Goodbye, Columbus" was essentially Ali MacGraw's film debut. She had previously played a bit part in 1968's "A Lovely Way to Die", but "Columbus" finds her thrust into a starring role. A rapturous vision, she spins her way through Peerce's film, a princess whom the geeky Neil simultaneously despises and adores.
8.5/10 – Underrated. See "They Might be Giants".