Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971)

A Masterpiece!

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This film is in the tradition of absurdist cinema, and suffers from some of the defects of that genre. Particularly in the first half it is very mannered and seems to revel in quirkiness for its own sake. But as the movie progresses it becomes much more relateable and, in many cases, quite affecting. Barbara Harris' performance marks this transition very obviously.But what I think is important about this movie is that its narrative style and devices clearly were big influences on Woody Allen (particularly the integration of childhood memories with adult experience) and Charlie Kaufman (the use of absurdist devices to drive personal narrative). So in that sense it was quite groundbreaking.

Georgie Soloway (Dustin Hoffman) is a Bob Dylan-esquire folk singer whose neurosis has sent him into drug addiction. He finds it hard to hold relationships for two reasons: 1) his own nature and 2) someone named Harry Kellerman keeps undermining his relationships."Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?" is one of those movies where you're never sure about what you're seeing on the screen. Is it real or is it his imagination? And what about Harry Kellerman? Either way, it's a good look at how a mixture of neurosis and drugs can drive a person over the edge. Georgie finds that out to the extreme. Not exactly a masterpiece, but worth seeing.

Labeling this movie as ahead of its time would be a bit too generous. In truth, it was ahead of its time but missed the mark. With lots of cuts between fantasy and what is probably reality, the movie does take you into the head of a disconnected music star. The only trouble is that once we're there, ... then what? In this case, nothing much, and that's a shame. At one point Hoffman's character meets a woman more screwed up than he is, and he sets about to help her a bit. Their interaction is poignant, but the movie is mostly devoid of emotion. It's nice enough to watch Hoffman walk through this movie, but i really can't recommend it for much else.

I just watched this last night. I bought it because Barbara Harris received an Oscar nomination for it. I happen to think that she is a very underrated actress.....and was I right!This movie started out very strange. From the opening scene where Hoffman falls of the top of a building, it just got stranger. I realize that this is one of those independent films that try to make a point about life in a different way than we're use to in mainstream films, but please! I knew this film was bad when I kept thinking to myself, "When does Barbara Harris come into this?!"My husband had come home, watched a little and said, "What is this? Turn it off!" Just then Barbara Harris came on. We both sat there in awe. She made that audition scene into brilliant showcase of her talent. When Dustin Hoffman left her, you really missed her. The film really missed her. SHE is what makes this film worth seeing, well the last half at least. Dustin gives his typical performance here, nothing special. Barbara Harris is fantastic and deserved an Oscar for making it worth the torture of watching the first half of this @$%#^%, so you can see HER in the second half.