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

• Director: Ulu Grosbard
• AMG Rating:
• Genre: Fantasy
• Main Cast: Gabriel Dell, Barbara Harris, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Warden
• Release Year: 1971
• Country: US
• Run Time: 108 minutes
• MPAA Rating: PG

Plot

Georgie Soloway (Dustin Hoffman) is an unbelievably successful composer of popular music. Just in the last year, he has written over 60 hit songs. That kind of output worries him, however. Now that he is getting to be middle-aged, he wonders if he will be able to keep the pace he has set. He also has a rich crop of neuroses, and his worries go way beyond what might seem reasonable. For instance, Georgie believes that someone named Harry Kellerman sabotaged each of his previous relationships, and he is worried about his current one with Alison (Barbara Harris), a singer. He seeks the aid of his psychiatrist (Jack Warden) but gets little satisfaction. He then tries to get comfort from his business associates (Dom De Luise and Gabriel Dell), but they don't have a clue about how to help him. Turning to home, he visits his mother (Betty Walker) and father (David Burns) but is further distressed when he learns that his father is dying. Still highly agitated, he takes to the air in his private jet. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Review

"Give me an overdose of anything," Dustin Hoffman says in Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?, and that, more or less, sums up an audience's reaction to this uneven, but fitfully, fascinating film. The movie keeps promising to take the audience to an interesting, unusual level, but never follows through on its promises, frustrating one into wishing that the director and writer had chosen one path to take and followed it through. The attempts to mix reality and fantasy just don't work, although there are some individually satisfying sequences. The writers provide some juicy lines here and there and the framework of an interesting character study, but they don't flesh it out enough to make it worthwhile. Hoffman's performance is technically assured though sometimes self-conscious and overly mannered, but he makes the most of his big scenes. There's also solid support from Jack Warden, Gabriel Dell, and David Burns, but by far the best performance comes from the mesmerizing Barbara Harris, whose audition scene is priceless. A quirky, unique actress, Harris almost always enlivens any film in which she appears; her touching yet hilarious vulnerability provides a much-needed anchor for Kellerman. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide

Cast

Sidney Armus - Marvin; Candice Azzara - Sally; Regina Baff - Ruthie Tresh; Rudy Bond - Newsdealer; David Burns - Leon; Gabriel Dell - Sid; Josip Elic - Chomsky; Rose Gregorio - Gloria Soloway; Barbara Harris - Allison; Amy Levitt - Susan; Robyn Millan - Samantha; Joseph R. Sicari - Marty; Betty Walker - Margot; Jack Warden - Dr. Moses; Ed Zimmermann - Holloran; Dom DeLuise - Irwin; Martin Greene - Uncle Louis; Dustin Hoffman - Georgie Soloway; Shel Silverstein - Bernie; Irwin - Georgie's accountant; Susan Bell - Sky Phone Operator; James Hall - Lemuel

Credit

Anna Hill Johnstone - Costume Designer, Peter R. Scoppa - First Assistant Director, Ulu Grosbard - Director, Barry Malkin - Editor, Shel Silverstein - Composer (Music Score), Shel Silverstein - Songwriter, Dick Smith - Makeup Special Effects, Harry Horner - Production Designer, Victor J. Kemper - Cinematographer, Fred Caruso - Producer, Herb Gardner - Producer, Ulu Grosbard - Producer, Leif Pedersen - Set Designer, Jack C. Jacobsen - Sound/Sound Designer, Richard Vorisek - Sound/Sound Designer, Herb Gardner - Screen Story, Herb Gardner - Screenwriter, Ulu Grosbard - Screenwriter

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