- Director: Milos Forman
- AMG Rating:
- Genre: Comedy Drama
- Movie Type: Satire
- Themes: Generation Gap, Suburban Dysfunction, Runaways
- Main Cast: Lynn Carlin, Buck Henry, Linnea Heacock, Georgia Engel, Tony Harvey
- Release Year: 1971
- Country: US
- Run Time: 92 minutes
- MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Czech filmmaker Milos Forman's first American production stars Linnea Heacock as Jeannie Tyne, a runaway teenager. While she wanders aimlessly around New York, her suburban parents, Lynn (Lynn Carlin) and Larry (Buck Henry), desperately search for their "missing" daughter. Larry and his best friend, Tony (Tony Harvey), inaugurate a search, but their expedition is sidetracked by a drinking binge at a local bar. Meanwhile, Lynn and Tony's wife, Margot (Georgia Engel), begin discussing their sex lives. Jeannie does finally return home, to constant questioning by her parents about which drugs she has taken; later, after Lynn and Larry join a support group for the parents of runaway children, they turn around and get stoned on marijuana themselves during one of the group meetings, then lapse into a randy game of strip poker -- little realizing that their daughter is close at hand and within earshot. As a critically revered lampoon of late-'60s sensibilities, Taking Off is full of "unknown" Manhattan-based performers who became famous during the '70s and '80s, including Paul Benedict, Vincent Schiavelli, Allen Garfield, Audra Lindley, and, in fleeting roles as auditioning singers, Carly Simon, who performs "Long Time Physical Effects," and Kathy Bates (billed as Bobo Bates), who performs "Even the Horses Had Wings." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie GuideReview
It feels unmistakable -- the cinematic eye of immigrant directors who journey to the U.S. and instantly establish a unique perspective on America with what is exclusively an outsider's gaze. Louis Malle did it with Atlantic City (1980), Wim Wenders did it with Paris, Texas (1984), and Milos Forman does it with this little-seen generation-gap comedy from 1971 (which, not coincidentally, was co-scripted by Atlantic City scenarist John Guare). From the opening sequence, when Forman spends almost 20 minutes on young American women trying out for a singing audition (recalling the prologue to his Loves of a Blonde), the film exudes the director's fascination with American types of all shapes and sizes -- the types gleaned or glossed over by indigenous filmmakers. That sequence also projects Forman's deep-seated love of humanity; even as he skewers with devilish glee the behavioral modes of American youth and the parental bourgeois (consider, for example, the hilarious pornographic ditty "Ode to a Screw," performed by one of the tryouts), he possesses that rare ability to love his characters deeply and empathetically at the same time. (What other director would travel to such great lengths to give every young actress at the audition a few seconds on camera?)Within the Czech filmmaker's catalogue, this work feels immediately identifiable; it shares a great deal with Forman's other outings, but particularly the Formanesque tone -- a tone that waxes bittersweet. On the most immediate level, the filmmakers pack in one uproarious sequence after another, thanks largely to the impeccable comic timing of star Buck Henry (who, as Larry Tyne, has arguably never been better); sequences such as Larry drunkenly attempting to eat a hard-boiled egg at a bar, Larry's run-in with violent counterculture types at a New York City sandwich counter, and the ultimate showstopper -- the parents' marijuana-induced strip-poker game, with its musical climax -- are unforgettable. But look deeper, and one senses an intransigent sadness at the film's core, masked by the humor -- and no scene drives this home better than Larry's private encounter with his wife, Lynn (Lynn Carlin), who cries and sobs uncontrollably as the couple prepares to meet their teenage daughter's first boyfriend. The film carries a sense of time passing, as one generation ages and another grows up, that feels wonderfully poignant, thoughtful, and (when one reflects on it) even heartbreaking. Overall, the motion picture triumphs for its ability to create and sustain one of the most deeply felt, authentic, and honest onscreen portraits of the rift between Greatest Generation parents and late-'60s/early-'70s youth -- a difficult and remarkable accomplishment for a single narrative feature. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
Cast
- Lynn Carlin - Lynn Tyne
- Buck Henry - Larry Tyne
Linnea Heacock - Jeannie Tyne- Georgia Engel - Margot
Tony Harvey - Tony
