Themes: Generation Gap, College Life, Home From the War
Main Cast: Elliott Gould, Candice Bergen, Robert F. Lyons, Jeff Corey, Max Julien
Release Year: 1970
Country: US
Run Time: 150 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
"Movies like Getting Straight are ceasing to be tolerable" complained one conservative movie magazine of 1970. Today, the once-relevant but now merely entertaining Getting Straight is not only tolerable, but downright user-friendly. Elliot Gould plays a Vietnam vet who decides to attend college after his tour of duty. Though much too old and worldly to truly fit in with the naive flower-power generation, Gould becomes swept up in the various activist movements on campus. The leading character's crisis of conscience concerns his field of study: he wants to be a teacher for idealistic reasons, while his Establishment professors try to convince him that it's just another job, and hardly the best one at that. He finally chooses which side he's on while attempting to act as a mediator between students and faculty during a campus riot. Candice Bergen plays Gould's girlfriend, while Robert F. Lyons steals every scene he's in as a draft dodger who'll go to any lengths to avoid military service. Getting Straight represents the final screen appearance of Cecil Kellaway, here cast as a hidebound tenured professor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Considering its time of release and subject matter, Getting Straight holds up much better than might be expected. Some of its flaws, which were obvious at the time, actually are less bothersome now. Chief among them the fact that Straight is a film that pretends to be about the conflict between the conventional and the unconventional, but which is very conventional in its approach, style, and structure. As such, it sometimes comes across as pandering, trying to exploit the then-current student unrest that was prevalent in the headlines without really exploring it with as much honesty and subtlety as it might. Fortunately, when the film veers away from the "big issues" and focuses instead on delineating its characters, it is much more successful. Even the stereotypes in Straight come with a few surprising edges to them, and that helps to enrich the picture. Richard Rush also deserves credit for some fairly imaginative and effective direction, but the film's biggest asset is star Elliott Gould. Playing a character who can't find a segment of society in which he totally fits, Gould stands apart from others even when he' assimilating. There's confusion and discomfort in his portrayal, yet also a great deal of strength and purpose, and a fine combination of vulnerability and weary cynicism. It's an exceptionally fine performance, and one which is crucial to holding Straight together. With Gould at its center, Getting Straight emerges as an uneven but quite interesting effort. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Sydney Z. Litwack - Art Director, Gene Ashman - Costume Designer, Howard W. Koch - First Assistant Director, Richard Rush - Director, Maury Winetrobe - Editor, Ronald Stein - Composer (Music Score), Leo Lotito - Makeup, Ben Lane - Makeup, Laszlo Kovacs - Cinematographer, Paul Lewis - Producer, Richard Rush - Producer, Edward Parker - Set Designer, Ira Anderson, Jr. - Special Effects, Les Fresholtz - Sound/Sound Designer, Arthur Piantadosi - Sound/Sound Designer, Chuck Bail - Stunts, Robert Kaufman - Screenwriter, Ken Kolb - Book Author
The story centered upon student politics at a university in the early 1970s, seen through the eyes of non-conformist graduate student Harry Bailey (Elliott Gould). Also featured in the cast were Candice Bergen as Bailey's girlfriend and Jeff Corey as Bailey's professor, with an early appearance by Harrison Ford in a bit role.
Getting Straight was released in an era of change and unrest in the United States in the early 1970s, and was in a long line of films that dealt with these themes. Other films of this period such as R.P.M. (1970), directed by Stanley Kramer, and The Strawberry Statement (1970) also typified these themes.
Harry Bailey, a former student activist and post-graduate, comes back to university to complete an education course to become a teacher. He tries to avoid the increasing student unrest that has surfaced, but finds this difficult as his girlfriend, Jan, is a leader in these protests.
Over time, student demonstrations bring police to the campus to quell the unrest, and the ensuing clashes lead to martial law. Harry is forced to question his values in relation to this. At the height of the rioting he concurs with Jan that "getting straight" is more important than unprotesting acceptance of the educational establishment.
Critical reception
Leonard Maltin noted that the film essentially was a "period piece" but that its "central issue of graduate student (Elliott) Gould choosing between academic double-talk and his beliefs remains relevant." On the other hand, Steven Scheuer wrote that the film was reflective of "hippiedom alienation at its shallowest."
Other reviewers, such as Roger Greenspun from the New York Times, were a little more complimentary in tone about the film. While he says that overall the film is "misguided" he lauded Gould for "a brilliant, mercurial performance" and that he "fires" the film "with a fervor and wonderful comic sense of reality."
References
Greenspun, Roger (1970) Getting Straight New York Times, May 14, 1970. (accessed 9 July 2007) [1]
Maltin, Leonard (1991) Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide 1992, Signet, New York.
Scheuer, Steven H. (1990) Movies on TV and Videocassette, Bamtam Books, New York.
