Getting Straight (1970)

I do believe that todays college campus is not as frenetic as the one in this college comedy drama.In 1970 many college campuses were in a turmoil, the events staged in this movie had some basic facts of other events, .Richard Rush who in 10 years) would make THE STUNT MAN directed Robert Kaufmans screenplay taken from Ken Kolbs novel. This movie was a laugh riot & also quite tense in the final riot scenes.Today it is still good & not dated as some similar films of that period are.Elliot Gould is superb in the lead, His performance was od award caliber, why he was not at least nominated is beyond me.Candace Bergen co-stars. Now Miss Bergen has never been know for her acting ability, she does try however to give a credible performance.In the cast are Jeff Corey,Cecil Kellaway (this fine actors last role)& in a bit role Harrison Ford (one of his first roles).I highly recommend this pick for all, those who have seen it before & for those too young to have seen it in 1970.Ratings: ***1/2 (out of 4) 95 points (out of 100) IMDb 9 (out of 10)

I saw this film as a student, when it first came out. As someone who was involved with important issues like the Vietnam War and civil rights and free speech, I was totally offended by the film's nihilism, the ideas that students demonstrate just because that's what today's students do, and that there are no substantive issues involved. The film is all about the main character's life style and sex life, and (as I recall) his meaningful, altruistic, innovative, and condescending attempt to teach literature to ghetto kids by getting them to read comic books.In addition, (as I recall) we are clearly supposed to sympathize with the main character for being in trouble because he was caught cheating at an exam. At the schools I went to at the time, we took our politics and social issues seriously, but our academics no less so.

************ Caution --- Contains Spoilers ********** Have you ever wanted to tell off your boss? Have you ever longed to tell off a rambling, narrow-minded, spacey, self-righteous college professor? If so, `Getting Straight' is the movie for you.`Getting Straight' is almost a good movie. The story line is very dated, very much in the 1960s. The script and the acting are uneven, the characters are flat, and overall the film is just average. But – the REAL value in this movie is the climax!Harry Bailey (Elliott Gould) is a penniless graduate student working on his Ph.D. thesis in American Literature. Everything is going wrong for him – he never has enough money for the rent, his old clunker is always breaking down, he's worried about his thesis, and even his girlfriend Jan (Candace Bergen) starts dating a wealthy doctor.The academic aspect of this movie is very true to life. To earn a Ph.D., a student must pick a very specific topic and write a comprehensive book that covers every bit of knowledge on that subject. The thesis topic must be approved by the advising professor, and students have five years to finish it. When completed, the student must defend his/her thesis to a panel of professors who ask very incisive questions.There is a lot of ‘Sixties flavor to this film. Student leaders are trying to radicalize the student body, Harry's friend is always working on beating the system by draft-dodging scams and welfare scams to collect $900 a week. This movie came out not long after Kent State, Columbia student strike and the `Moratorium' March on Washington. The dialog and the clothes and the "zeitgeist" in general are all true pictures of a bygone era. However, some other movies have done a better job, such as "The Strawberry Statement" or even "Hair." I was in college at the time, and the majority of students were trying to get an education. The political radicals were a minority, although most students were against the war in Vietnam. If you rent this movie, I would recommend checking in at the beginning for a few minutes just to get the background, and then fast forward about 75 minutes to the exciting climax.Harry's PhD Thesis presentation scene will have you laughing and cheering! His thesis deals with the literary value of the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald. As Harry tries to make his points, the professors derail him on a tangent that Fitzgerald may have been gay. No matter which book he references, one of the ivory tower denizens will always relate it to Fitzgerald's alleged homosexuality. When Harry defends his points about `Tender is the Night,' one prof enthuses, `Ah, yes, perfect, don't you see that the Dick Diver Character was the manifestation of Fitzgerald's repressed latent homosexual drives?' Unable to take any more, Harry explodes, `Well, that must have been news to ZELDA!' Shocked, the profs are speechless as Harry grabs each man's copy of the thesis and tells off the eggheads one by one. Jumping up on the table, he trashes everything they believe in as he throws papers all over the place, especially in their faces. It is a better catharsis than `Dilbert.'The denouement comes as the student riot finally erupts on campus. Harry sneaks out as small hordes of authentic sixties hippies run through the building and seize rooms including the one holding the stupefied, frightened professors. Jan magically appears among the anarchy and once again pledges her love to Harry, who has decided to leave the academic establishment.Harry never indicates what he will do instead of teaching in college, but the happy couple walks off into the sunset in search of a better tomorrow. If they ever make a sequel to this movie, I wonder if Harry would start a `dot-com' company.

Just to say that this is one of the good movies that still holds up well. Richard Rush (director) didn't make many movies, but he did well with many of them. The screenplay is often excellent and Elliot Gould is usually excellent. There aren't many other good roles or performances, but that doesn't in my opinion bring the film very far down below good.Gould's acting in this story about student protests and "riots" in the late 60s is about as good as he got (gets?) - and that is very good.Technically the movie's first rate. Photography, cutting, timing. All good.I hope this show gets more credit as time goes on.