The People Next Door

(1970) The People Next Door PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMA

It has parents, Arthur Mason (Eli Wallach) and Gerrie Mason (Julie Harris) have two children with promising music careers- one as a pianist; their daughter, Maxie Mason (Deborah Winters) and their rock and roll son, Artie Mason (Stephen McHattie). Problems start as soon as their daughter, Maxie begins to try acid and she not only gets herself hooked but also craves to try other drugs such as LSD.

Upon looking at the rating of one of my favorite movie critics, Roger Ebert, I was quite surprised he gave this movie a positive rating to the tune of 3 and a half stars out of 4 when I thought when I watched it, it felt it was out of touch and outdated. Upon glancing Ebert's review, he kept mentioning the documentary "Woodstock", as if the two movies are somehow linked- they are not. Perhaps during the era but these days there are better movies made about the subject matter than their were back then. It is also more unlikely that a daughter pianist would get into drugs than someone who is into rock and roll who happens to be the family's son. It also does not address other drugs that can be helpful such as marijuana and mushrooms to which tests have been revealed they can be helpful, but are often abused.

The People Next Door captures the spirit of it's age in a way few other films of it's era have. Eli Walach and Julie Harris are two of the greatest actors of our time and play remarkably well together. Just check out the last few scenes of this movie. Their performances help keep this film from becoming dated. The subject matter is touchy stuff. It deals with teenage alienation, rebellion and trust. Many films of this era are somewhat tongue in cheek, this movie however never lets up. It takes itself very seriously and as a result has often been misunderstood. The music is cool and so is the rest of the cast. This is a must see for anyone interested in forgotten classics of the early seventies.

Seemed like one of those after school special on troubled teens, preoccupied parents, and anti-drugs turned all the way up to 11. Wasn't in the mood for it.

Sadly Eli's overacting and completely preposterous reactions to every single thing that happened wore extremely thin pretty rapidly. It's too bad because there's many things that work in this film. The music is very good and there's some very powerful scenes of confrontation and honesty. Seems to lose it's direction from time to time but eventually finds it's way back on track. It's easy to say these are messed up people, and maybe they are. But it was common and new and there was no frame of reference for people to cope with these issues. The neighbor's weren't any better. Parents are rarely ever portrayed realistically in movie throughout the decades. In this film the fathers were more over the top in their knee jerk reactions. The mothers were sympathetic and I did feel for them. The young adults were all excellent and once again I should say that the music was appropriate and absorbing. I can see why it garnered the praise it did and it's not nearly as dated as others from this era. This could have been a solid 6 or even a 7 if it wasn't for Eli's dundering incompetence. He should stick to westerns where his stilted dialogue delivery is easier to overlook. Editing was okay and the mood was consistent for the most part.

Theatrical remake of a well-regarded 1968 "CBS Playhouse" special for television about the secret drug-life of today's suburban teenagers was directed both times by David Greene, who practically disowned this franker, R-rated version. The problem could be in the central casting: Eli Wallach pushes far too hard as the clueless father of a tripping 16-year-old girl while mom Julie Harris smokes and looks distraught (when her daughter tells her she's on the Pill, Harris hilariously responds, "I think I'm losing my mind!"). The original rock songs (performed by The Bead Game and The Glass Bottle) are dreadfully pedagogic--hoping to 'inform' us with their lyrics--but, since nobody can reach this alienated girl, what good is it probing her inner-thoughts to music? Generation Gap tale has a solid cast (including Hal Holbrook, Cloris Leachman, Rue McClanahan, Stephen McHattie, Don Scardino, newcomer Deborah Winters, and Rutanya Alda as a pixilated nurse), yet the pitch of the film is off, hysterical instead of riveting. ** from ****