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Taking Off (film)

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Taking Off
Poster
Directed byMiloš Forman
Written byJean-Claude Carrière
Miloš Forman
John Guare
John Klein
Produced byAlfred W. Crown
StarringLynn Carlin
Buck Henry
CinematographyMiroslav Ondříček
Edited byJohn Carter
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • March 28, 1971 (1971-03-28) (New York City)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Taking Off is a 1971 American comedy film, directed by Miloš Forman.[1] It tells a story of an average couple in the suburbs of New York City who, when their teenage daughter runs away from home, connect with other parents of vanished children and learn something of youth culture.

Plot

Larry Tyne and his wife Lynn return home one evening to find that their teenage daughter Jeannie is not there. (Viewers know she is attending an audition, clips from which, with future star performers like Carly Simon and Kathy Bates, recur throughout the film). The Tynes ring the Divitos, with whose daughter Jeannie is supposed to be, but the Divitos' daughter claims she doesn't know where Jeannie is. Enlisting their friends Tony and Margot, the two men search the neighbourhood bars while the women stay by the phone and gossip about sex. When the men return home drunk, Jeannie reappears, only to vanish again. Next day, Larry goes into the city to search for her. In the street he meets Ann Lockston, a parent who's also searching for a missing daughter, and Ann tells Larry about a self-help group for parents in their predicament.

The police from upstate call the Tynes to say their daughter's been arrested 300 miles away, for stealing. The two rush to see her, only to find that it is the Divitos' girl in custody, having given the police a false name. On the trip back home, they stop off at a hotel, where Ike & Tina Turner are performing. A drunk Lynn is followed back to their room by an amorous stranger, unaware that Larry is already asleep in the bed. After the stranger disappears, Lynn tries out some of the tips Margot had confided to her earlier.

Later, back in the city, Larry and Lynn attend a formal dinner for the self-help group. Afterwards, marijuana joints are handed round, and a young man named Schiavelli instructs the parents on how to smoke them. Happily high, Larry and Lynn take Ann and her husband Ben back to their home for more drinks and a game of strip poker. As the group gets more inebriated, a naked Larry jumps on top of the table to sing "Libiamo ne' lieti calici". At this point, Jeannie reappears and the guests hastily leave.

When Jeannie admits to having been with a boy, Larry suggests she brings him home for dinner soon. When he appears, he proves to be an intelligent and wealthy musician. However, he declines to play for them, upon which Larry entertains the four with "Stranger in Paradise".

Cast

Awards

The film won the Grand Prix at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival.[2]

Reception

Writing in The New York Times, Vincent Canby declared that "Taking Off is not a major movie experience, but it is — a good deal of the time — a charming one."[3] Variety called it "a very compassionate, very amusing contemporary comedy."[4] However, John Simon wrote- 'I declare Taking Off an antihuman film: mean, arrogant, and thoroughly destructive'.[5] It is noteworthy that John Simon's obituary in The New York Times called him a "caustic" critic who "saw little that he liked", and The Washington Post reported that a published collection of 245 film reviews he wrote contained only 15 positive ones.

Home media

Taking Off was released to Blu-ray Disc, by British company Park Circus, on 7 November 2011 as a Region-2 widescreen Blu-ray Disc and by Gaumont (with Carlotta Films as home video distributor) on March 23, 2011 as a Region-0 widescreen Blu-ray Disc.

See also

References

  1. ^ Canby, Vincent (March 29, 1971). "The Screen: 'Taking Off':Milos Forman Directs a Charming Farce". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  2. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Taking Off". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
  3. ^ Canby, Vincent (March 29, 1971). "The Screen: 'Taking Off':Milos Forman Directs a Charming Farce". The New York Times. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  4. ^ "Taking Off". Variety. December 31, 1970. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  5. ^ Simon, John (1982). Reverse Angle: A Decade of American Film. Crown Publishers Inc. p. 40.
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