Over the Brooklyn Bridge

In the opening scene, as the title "Over the Brooklyn Bridge" splashes across the screen, the main characters are shown (in a dramatic shot) driving across the... Manhattan Bridge... I witnessed this egregious error in a Brooklyn theater, back in the day. I swear, if the director or producer had been present, they would have been ripped apart (literally). Anyway, It all goes down hill from there... the cast although usually talented fail to deliver in this one, they simply sleepwalk through a cookie-cutter Hollywood plot, doing the minimum to earn their keep. This film is a tedious bore, full of cliché lines and cheap devices. it is best sent to the "lost forever" bin.

This movie was a disaster of sorts in that it failed miserably at the box office perhaps due to its very strong Jewish content. Nevertheless for the Jewish audience it is a fantastic comedy where we laugh at ourselves. There are some flies in the ointment. As always the Jewish boy in question can not have a Jewish girl-friend. Hollywood does not accept the fact that Jews marry Jews and Alby ( a rather fat Elliot Gould!!) is no exception, but his shiksa is worth her weight in gold. A Jewish mother would kill to have a daughter-in-law as caring as Elizabeth is to her diabetic shlemiel of a son. Margaux Hemingway (may she rest in peace) is wonderful in this role. We lost a terrific actress here. The Family is a pastiche of all the stereotypes we Jews love and hate so well: the rich uncle who is a tough businessman with a heart of gold and his bitch of a wife and useless son. The usual hangers-on and assorted nebbishes who work for him are there - God this fits my family to a "T" !!! The scene at the synagogue is wonderful and the Lubliner Rebbe is well interpreted by the great Zvi Scooler. The celebration at the Rumanian restaurant is word for word exact of whatever we had in the 1950's. Shelly Winters is a great actress her role is a treat to watch. Her outburst at the restaurant is the hit of the show. When we heard the audience gasp (99% Jewish) I felt that the movie was an effective comedy - but I also knew that a 99% gentile audience would not see the humour and sadly I was right.

This is a marginal film and must be accepted as such but that is too bad because there is enough in there to amuse everybody. Elliot Gould and his friend Nick played by my favorite cro-magnon Burt Young are a pair of shleppers that you have to love - that piss scene is wild. The scene in Uncle Benjamin's house with the plastic on the chairs must be preserved in a Jewish museum - that is exactly how we were!!! Sid Caesar is Uncle Benjamin and is a delight. His acting ranges from shtick meshuga to Shakespearean pathos. Anyway grab a copy at the local Blockbusters or whatever and invite the family and...enjoy!! To hell with the bad reviews - what do "they" know ?????

"Over the Brooklyn Bridge" is an okay movie...at best. Much of it is because the story is about a guy who is really difficult to like or care about his plight. Had they made Elliott Gould's character at least likable, it could have been a much better film. As it was, I found my interest in the film waning the more I watched.

Alby (Gould) runs a grubby little restaurant in Brooklyn and wants his uncle (Sid Caesar) to help him buy an upscale eatery in Manhattan. However, the uncle is hesitant to give him money because Alby is dating a shiksa (non-Jewish woman). Much of Uncle Benjamin's concerns seem valid...mostly because Alby NEVER has introduced the woman (Margeaux Hemingway) to the family and he seems ashamed of her. However, if Alby drops this two year relationship, the uncle will give him the money. What is Alby to do?

Alby NOT introducing the girlfriend is pretty shameful. But he also just seems like a putz throughout the story....someone who wants to make good but who the audience STILL doesn't care about in any meaningful way.

The direction and editing are choppy and could be much better in addition to the script problems. After all, director Menahem Golan (and his business partner, Yorum Globus) were known as hacks who promoted schlock films during the 1980s. Don't believe this? Try watching their first film "The Apple" or any of their later explosion-riddled action movies!

By the way, the print they showed of this film on Turner Classic Movies is VERY dark and in need of restoration. However, considering it's not exactly a beloved masterpiece, I doubt if this will ever happen.

Extremely stereotypical, but I'm using movie with Elliot Gould and Marguax Hemmingway... said Caesar is also on board and he is top-notch along with the rest of the cast editing is choppy and corny... and Hemingway's performance truly haunts me as she should've had a much better career than she did... she is absolutely luminous and does some really terrific emotional work... Elliot Gould is very dependable and lovable in his role... and the chemistry between him and Hemmingway is palpable. A pretty good popcorn movie that could've and should've been better but for what it is... it does very well in it's messaging... and performances, especially with Elliot and Hemingway are top-notch.

So OK this is not a great film, but there are several excellent moments here, and at the end you feel you have watched something worthwhile.

Elliott Gould stars as a luncheonette owner making a living in Brooklyn. He has a doting mother (Shelley Winters), a domineering uncle (Sid Caesar), and a non-Jewish girl friend (Margaux Hemingway). He's also overweight, diabetic, and Jewish.

While this seems a lot like Woody Allen territory and their are plenty of comic moments, there's a dark underside of "otherness" here that gives depth to this film, a serious took at perhaps passing as a White American but being always aware of otherness.

Of course all of Gould's extended family here are Jewish stereotypes: the language, the gestures, the work ethic, etc. Gould straddles the fence, White but Jewish, Brooklyn but with an eye toward Manhattan. In the Orthodox wedding scene, Gould wears a baseball cap over his yarmulke. His best friend (Burt Young) is Italian. His employee (Robert Gossett) is Black.

There are two surprising and extraordinary scenes in this film, both quite memorable. One has Gould wandering New York in the wee hours and making a call from a phone booth when he is approached by a speechless derelict gesturing for smokes. He tries to wave him off but eventually hands the old man cigarettes after the old man has urinated on him, a slight twist to doing a good need and getting urinated on for doing it.

The other is the engagement party scene where Caesar pontificates about the upcoming marriage of Gould to his cousin (Carol Kane) unaware that Gould has no such intentions. Caesar thinks the marriage will take place because of a loan he's giving Gould to buy a Manhattan restaurant. He's also gloating for keeping Gould in the fold, i.e., marrying a Jewish girl.

But Gould rebels, stands up for his love for Hemingway, and hands back the check. Caesar tries to bully him and slaps him in front of the astonished guests. Gould does the unthinkable. He literally strikes back, reducing Caesar to a tearful rage that ends in a bear hug of anger, fist pounding, and paternal love. Extraordinary. It's all one scene, no cuts, no editing.

Co-stars include Francine Beers as Ruth, Lynnie Greene as Cynthia, Jerry Lazarus as Caesar's weird son, Zvee Scooler as Rebbe, and Lou David as the loan shark.

Not for all tastes, but this is a surprising film and worth seeking out.