Being There (Warner Blu-ray + DVD-Video)

 

Picture: B/C+     Sound: B-/C     Extras: C+     Film: B

 

 

Hal Ashby’s 1979 film Being There is a bit of an enigma.  The film stars Peter Sellers in his last performance alongside Shirley MacLaine, Jack Warden, and Melvyn Douglas.  The story is a strange oddity about a man named Chance (Sellers) who by strange circumstances comes into a highly influential and wealthy family after some misunderstandings Chance finds himself strangely welcomed by the man of the house named Ben (Melvyn Douglas) who is dying of a strange disease.  His wealth and power have given him heavy influence, even all the way to the top of Capital Hill and to the president himself (played by Jack Warden).  What no one in the film realizes though is that Chance is not really ‘normal’.  He was born and raised early on by another wealthy family who likely took him in and cared for him most of his life, during which time he became the gardener to that family and that is his one true passion.  He has never been in a car, learned to read or write, but his one true love is gardening, oh and of course he loves to watch TV.

 

Upon arriving at the wealth of Ben (Douglas) and Eve Rand (MacLaine) there comes a fascinating with Chance despite not knowing anything about him, but that doesn’t dissuade Ben from trusting him or having a level of hope too.  Oddly enough through other strange misunderstandings Chance meets the president at Ben’s home where he gives the president some gardening advice, which becomes a metaphor for his presidential speech that he gives on the economy, soon after Chance becomes the talk of the town as everyone wants to know who he is and where he is from, but Chance has never really ‘existed’ in terms of having identification and neither the FBI or the CIA can seem to find any history on the man, this only leads to more confusion and chaos, but despite such misgivings Chance becomes well acquainted with Ben and his wife, which slowly turns into a romance between Chance and Eve, which Ben obliges knowing that he is near death anyway. 

 

The film has aged fairly well over these past 30 years and it’s evident that its survival has been mainly due to Seller’s dynamite performance as he makes the character of Chance vulnerable, yet honest, sincere, and believable.  The fact that the film has become somewhat of a lost gem will only make its arrival to Blu-ray all the more welcoming as this is by far the best way to see the film at home to date and the film can now have a new audience to find.

 

Presented in an admirable 1080p high definition transfer and framed in its original 1.85 X 1 aspect ratio Being There has never looked quite this good at home.  While it may have a slightly grainier structure than some may like, the film still has a sharp appearance with good color and depth.  The biggest flaw is that it has a slightly softer appearance throughout and does not have the smoothest resolution we’ve seen in Blu-ray titles, but still holds up well for a film of this age, which is more apparent on the print when viewing the anamorphically enhanced DVD.  There are many aspects to the film that demonstrate it’s age in particular, the zany late 70’s soundtrack or the various TV clips quickly put the film smack into 1979, but at times the film feels more like an earlier 70’s film than it really is. 

 

This is a 25GB disc, which puts the entire 130-minute film onto one disc along with a few supplements and a Dolby TrueHD 2.0 audio mix that bodes well for the film.  In comparison there is a Dolby 1.0 mix that is far weaker and gives the film a more distant mix, while the Dolby TrueHD is far superior and has more life and overall dynamics that help present the films heavy-dialogue nature.  One should note that the packaging lists the film as a Dolby TrueHD 1.0 mix, but this is not the case.  The DVD has Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono which is a little weaker still.

 

Extras are a bit of a disappointment overall as they seem like they are large in number, but are short in both content and length.  We have a 15-minute “Memories From Being There”, which is delivered through the perspective of Douglas’ granddaughter and actress Illeana Douglas, which is the best supplement here.  There are a few minutes of deleted scenes and there is an alternative ending that is just horrible, plus a 6-minute gag reel that is really just one scene in particular that was shot several times because Sellers couldn’t stop laughing.  The trailer is also included.

 

We are glad that Being There is finally being here… on Blu-ray!

 

 

-   Nate Goss