Um Vagabundo na Alta Roda

Nick Nolte is "Down and Out in Beverly Hills," a 1986 film directed and co-written by Paul Mazursky and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Bette Midler, Elizabeth Pena, Little Richard, and Tracy Nelson.

Nolte is Jerry, a street person so low even his dog leaves him for a kind jogger. While searching for his dog, he stumbles onto the property of Dave and Barbara Whiteman - Whiteman is a clothes hanger king living the good life in Beverly Hills.

Filling his pockets with rocks, Jerry attempts suicide by diving into the Whiteman pool, but is saved and ultimately taken in by Dave. Jerry isn't particularly grateful - he wants Courvoisier instead of the alcohol offered him, and, given dinner, questions the meat on the turkey.

Dave, guilty about his wealth, bored with his life, and wanting to do some good, buys Jerry clothes and lets him live at the mansion. He even offers Jerry jobs, which Jerry doesn't accept.

Jerry's history is on the vague side - he speaks of doing the concert piano circuit, he is recognized in a restaurant by as a writer, maybe he did some acting...hard to know. Before long, he's taken over the entire household, becoming the only one in the house that the Whiteman's psychologically disturbed dog, Matisse, can tolerate.

Jerry becomes Barbara Whiteman's masseuse and the man who finds her G-spot, the lover of housekeeper Carmen (Pena) after Dave goes back to sleeping with Barbara, the man who gets the Whiteman's anorexic daughter (Nelson) to fall in love with him and start eating; and the man who convinces the androgynous Whiteman son to come out to his parents. Too late, Dave realizes he's Dr. Frankenstein, and Jerry is the monster.

This is an entertaining film with dark undertones and good performances, particularly from Nolte, Dreyfuss, Midler, Pena and Mike (Matisse the dog). Little Richard is a riot as a neighbor.

Nolte is in great shape here, as is Midler, who looks fantastic. The party scene toward the end of the film where Dreyfuss chases Nolte throughout the house and grounds is quite funny. The ending isn't the best, but it's a fun watch anyway.

To this is one of the great movies(another example would be "Ferris Buellers Day Off"), that manages to be purely entertaining from beginning to end. Not really loaded with laugh out loud gags or thought provoking drama, its just plain fun all the way through.

One of the charms of Down and Out is it's "dated" quality. Paul Mazursky has a great talent for capturing an era in popular culture and some of his movies, such as Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice are incredible historical records of their times as well as durable entertainment. Down and Out jump-started Richard Dreyfuss' flagging career, as well as Bette Midler's as a movie actress and Little Richard as a popular singer. This is something modern audiences probably don't know, just a historical side note. Nick Nolte prepared for the part by actually living on the street and not bathing for a month. An actor who takes his parts seriously.

Another fun quality of Mazursky's films is that he puts his friends and family into his movies. Don Muhich, the dog psychiatrist, was Paul's psychotherapist in the '70s and has that role in two other Mazursky movies (B&C&T&A and Blume in Love)

`Down & Out in Beverly Hills' is a good film in retrospect. It's one of those bright, `just for fun' comedies that existed between 1982 and 1992. Sadly this genre that consisted of feel good movies such as `L.A. Story', `Mr. Destiny' and `My Blue Heaven' doesn't exist in the fast moving world of today. Anyway, the film isn't perfect and has plenty of bad flaws.

One of the problems is the way the film grips at the start, but into the last half-hour, it begins to ramble and loses your attention. It could have done with some rather un-necessary scenes being excised. In the supporting cast, the acting standard is a bit ropey. Even though the film is only 99 minutes, it only barely going into overlength and getting too nonsensical. Only one more quibble- the title. Surely they could have come up with something a bit more attractive than `Down & Out in Beverly Hills'. But the film isn't completely marred by these flaws.

The acting standard is quite good. Back in the days when we could understand what he was saying, Nick Nolte gives a terrifically eccentric performance as the happy-go-lucky tramp brought into this stylish environment. Richard Dreyfuss and Bette Midler are quite good in their respective roles as the neurotic husband and the spoilt rich wife. While the rest of the acting isn't anything above adequate, the characters themselves are likeable. With the flamboyantly effeminate teenage son, the anorexic daughter and even a rather pointless cameo from rock & roll superstar Little Richard.

Even if it tends to bumble a bit towards the end, the theme song (Once in A Lifetime) starts and ends the film on a good note, leaving you with nothing but memories of the good things in the movie. There are some flaws in the narrative and in general, but if you don't take the film seriously, then you'll probably like it. I did and I though it was good. So I give it 6.4/10.

DOWN & OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS is a smart American remake of the French film BONDU SAVED FROM DROWNING updated to modern day Beverly Hills. In this version, a homeless man accidentally wanders onto the property of a wealthy Beverly Hills family and tries to drown himself in their pool. Upon rescue, the family takes pity on him and take him in but the bum gets a little too comfortable and begins biting the hand that feeds him (in more ways than one). Nick Nolte gives a rock solid performance as Jerry, the homeless bum who ends up running the Whiteman home. Nolte has rarely been so convincing in a role...apparently he spent several weeks on the streets of LA pretending to be homeless in preparation for the role. Richard Dreyfuss plays Dave Whiteman, the wealthy owner of a hanger company who takes Jerry in and initially envies Jerry's freedom before Jerry goes too far. Bette Midler is very funny as Dave's social climbing wife Barbara and Tracy Nelson plays their snooty college student daughter. Evan Richards also has some funny moments as the Whiteman son, Max. Paul Mazursky's spirited direction (Mazursky also cameos as one of Dave's fat-cat friends)and a clever screenplay help to make this one of the more entertaining comedy confections from the 80's. There is also a scene-stealing performance by a dog named Mike, who plays the Whiteman family pet, Matisse.