Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976)

Very well executed

Really Surprised!

Powerful

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This film is a fun evocation of the times, with young bohemian types in lower middle class New York city. The main protagonist is a very sympathetic character, by far the best of the film, an aspiring your actor who is leaving home and dealing with his Jewish mother. You also get the young Christopher Walken, Jeff GOldblum, Ellen Greene, and several others in their earliest roles, so film buffs will love to see them.Unfortunately, very little happens in the film, in the middle it kind of dragged, for me at least. Some of them get ready for the next stage, most of them don't. Pfft.I do like this film, indeed I watched it when I was contemplating moving to New York. But it didn't bear a critical re-watching at a more mature age, one of the crucial tests for film classics. I watched it and felt, so what?

I finally made time to see this movie, about 9 years after I told myself I would see it. This is a fine example of a movie that explores those feelings we have of failure, depression, angst, courage, hope, and contentment. I felt Paul Mazursky was spot on in capturing the feelings and scenery of what New York was like in the 1950's. Sure, I felt there was a little self-indulgence, ie. Larry Lapinsky's "award speech scene." This did not take away from experiencing the cast's emotional struggles to live love and succeed in Greenwich Village.Lessons they learned then are still highly applicable today. Lenny Baker, as Larry Lapinsky, was brilliant. He seems to be able to relate to his dad more than his mom, Faye (Shelley Winters), who effortlessly works to cause him guilt and high-blood pressure in her quest to be a loving mother. Personally I love the scenes where his parents show up at his apartment party and he is annoyed, and also later where he and his father remain silent while his mom flies off the handle in his apartment, Larry's face with a slight smile as if to be just taking in all of the emotions of the thing: anger, frustration, and comedy.The cast of aspiring artists and progressive thinkers beginning with Lenny Baker is awesome. Christopher Walken as Robert is very hip, suave, and smart. Do not think for a moment though that he steals the show. Dori Brenner as Connie, and Ellen Greene as Sara (Larry's girlfriend) are poised, beautiful, and compelling. They really convey what it is like to be young, in love, aspiring, poor, confused, depressed, and brave. See this movie.

Writer-director Paul Mazursky's ode to his colorful hungry years, and the experience of leaving home for the first time and setting out on your own. Cheeky Jewish graduate from Brooklyn in 1953 relocates to the Village, getting an apartment, a semi-serious girlfriend, and a spot in the avant garde crowd. Though his mother disapproves, our hero, working in a health food shop, studies to be an actor, gets his girl pregnant, and clearly sees the dreams and hopes of his new friends flair up and fizzle out--yet never losing his own personal ambition. Mazursky, who also co-produced the film, has created a meticulously-detailed encapsulation of a particular time and place, peopled with characters one can easily recognize. There's a sweet simplicity in the protagonist's friendships--and with his over-protective parents--but nothing is really nuanced for us. Mazursky lays it all right there on the surface (which is why the film will work best on a first-time viewing: everything you need to catch can be caught). While it isn't always subtle, and the gloppy cinematography and poor lighting sometimes causes the actors to look a bit frightful, the movie has a very big heart. This is detectable early on, yet it isn't until the finale that you come to appreciate what the characters have gone through (the parents as well). The picture is also a showcase for lots of budding talent circa 1976, with Chris Walken, Antonio Fargas, Dori Brenner, Jeff Goldblum, Michael Egan, and John C. Becher all doing terrific bits of business. In the lead, Lenny Baker is photographed very badly (with his jagged teeth glinting in the movie lights), but he warms to his role, and by the finish has created a three-dimensional man whom we really hope will succeed. **1/2 from ****

As the founder of an Arts and Entertainment magazine, writer and film-buff, I can safely say that "Next Stop, Greenwich Village." is the most poignant film of the century. The wrier/director, Paul Mazursky, brilliantly displayed his experience of a rising star from 'Greenwich Village.' For his mastery of a vast diversity of human-kind, I applaud him and am shocked that it received such a low rating on this pole. Without any tribulations, I do not hold back that I voted a 10- excellent for the film. Never before had I witnessed such a fine group of rising stars in one film. Lenny Baker, Jeff Goldbloom- even Bill Murray shared the stage. But clearly old time favorites such as the Golden Globe winner for best supporting actress in this film, Shelley Winters and a personal love, Lou Jacobi, held the most memorable scenes. If every movie was like "Next Stop, Greenwich Village", we would have no reason to live outside of the movie theater.