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Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden, Richard Basehart ... see more see more... , Richard Dysart , Ruth Attaway , David Clennon , Fran Brill , Denise Du Barry , Elya Baskin , Alfredine Brown , Oteil Burbridge , Wendell Burton , Maurice Copeland , Brian Corrigan , Terrence Currier , Katherine de Hetre , Stanley Grover , Arthur Grundy , Georgine Hall , Mark Hammer , John Harkins , Austin Hay , Hanna Hertelendy , Alice Hirson , Gwen Humble , Donald Jacob , Ravenell Keller III , William Larsen , Fredric Lehne , Paul Marin , Ernest McClure , James Noble , Kenneth Patterson , Arthur Rosenberg , Richard Venture , Sandy Ward , Allen Williams , Ned Wilson , Than Wyenn , Jerome Hellman , Sam Weisman , John Miller , Melendy Britt , Danna Hansen , Mitch Kreindel , Richard A. Dysart , Shirley Mac Laine

Having lived his life as the gardener on a millionaire's estate, Chance (Peter Sellers) knows of the real world only what he has seen on TV. When his benefactor dies, Chance walks aimlessly into the s... read more read more...treets of Washington D.C., where he is struck by a car owned by wealthy Eve Rand (Shirley MacLaine). Identifying himself, the confused man mutters "Chance...gardener," which Eve takes to be "Chauncey Gardiner." Eve takes him to her home to convalesce, and because Chance is so well-dressed and well-groomed, and because he speaks in such a cultured tone, everyone in her orbit assumes that "Chauncey Gardiner" must be a man of profound intelligence. No matter what he says, it is interpreted as a pearl of wisdom and insight. He rises to the top of Washington society, where his simplistic responses to the most difficult questions (responses usually related to his gardening experience) are highly prized by the town's movers and shakers. In fact, there is serious consideration given to running Chance as a presidential candidate. Both a modern fable and a political satire, Being There was based on the novel by Jerzy Kosinski and costars Melvyn Douglas, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar as Eve's aging power-broker husband. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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PG, 2 hr. 10 min.

Directed by: Hal Ashby

Release Date: December 19, 1979

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DVD Release Date: April 3, 2001

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Flixster Reviews (1,816)

  • cosmo313
    December 23, 2011
    cosmo313
    Chance has spent his entire life working as a gardener for a millionaire. He has never left the estate. never been for a ride in a car, and all he knows of the outside world is what he has seen on television. That's all he does when not gardening- watch tv. When his benefactor di... read morees, he is thrust out into the world, which becomes a strange and wonderous journey for him, made all the more curious by the fact that he's middle aged and still retains a great sense of childlike innocence and naivety.

    This film is based on a novel (with the screenplay penned by the book's author), and it's quite an odd and interesting piece of work. It's also the sort of thing that I think only Peter Sellers and Hal Ashby could really sell and make work. It takes the right kind of touch to pull such a weird thing off, but I'm happy to say they get the job done.

    The film is a journey of discovery, as well as a sharp satire about dependence on the media, and just how much it rules our lives. It's a funny film, but also a touch sad. It's also quite beautiful in a poetic kinda of way.In a lot of ways, it's kinda of a fantasy, though it's mostly pretty well (for the most part) grounded in reality. Well, if you can buy into the premise that is.

    I enjoyed this film a great deal, but as of now, I don't think this is the masterpiece that others make it out to be. I think I'd need to see this a few more times and really absorb it before I could make that call myself. For the most part I really bought into it, though I had a hard time totally accepting the way people react to Chance and his behavior and way of life.

    The perforamnces and cinematography are what really make it work though. Sellers is absolutely brilliant, and I can't think of anyoen else who could pull this off. SHirley MacLaine is also quite good in her role of a woman who takes a liking to Chance. There's some great scenes throughout, but my favorite is the long sequence that shows Chance's first steps out into the larger world abroad. That sequence alone is what had me sold on this movie.

    All in all, a fine piece of work, but I'm not really 100% sure what I make of it.. It's odd, and I don't quite get it, yet it means no harm, and is pretty sharp when trying to make a point about life and society.
  • fb1710827246
    October 31, 2011
    fb1710827246
    Innocence, subtlety and a heartful of mirth substantiate this unique movie. Here is an insight unto life and its wonderful, simple truths, despite all the insipidity of modern humanity. For all the movies that only showed me something, this one actually taught me something.
  • FilmFanatik
    March 2, 2011
    FilmFanatik
    Another masterful performance from Peter Sellers and another wonderful film from the great Hal Ashby. Incredibly funny, insighful and captivating, Being There is a marvelously sweet picture...and the last of Peter Sellers' career.
  • fb100001493964409
    February 16, 2011
    fb100001493964409
    THIS is Peter Seller's best role, not necessarily his best film. He was in many funny movies, but this was more a serious comedy. I can't really say anything beyond that because this is definitely worth giving a look for the conclusion. A couple words of warning though, it can be... read more incredibly awkward and painful to watch Peter Seller's character, Chance, interact due to his mentally challenged nature. Also, one scene in there would (if rated today by the MPAA) place it in the R category (I Like to Watch... Oh God...). Under all other circumstances, watch this film though. Easily worth your time.
  • ajv2688
    January 6, 2011
    ajv2688
    I had always heard good things about this movie, but seeing it, I wasn't too impressed. Sure the actors do a good job, but the story is slow and not that great. It's okay, but I didn't care for it.
  • TomBowler
    December 31, 2010
    TomBowler
    The plot gets a little lost but Peter Sellers' performance and the biting social satire are fantastic. Full review later.
  • imrealgod
    July 9, 2010
    imrealgod
    Plot: "Chance, a simple gardener, has never left the estate until his employer dies. His simple TV-informed utterances are mistaken for profundity."

    Sounds interesting, doesn't it? Well, at least, it did to me & I fell for it. More or less, I fell flat on my face!!!

    Some movies... read more require you to keep thinking & carry your brains with you if you wanna enjoy them. On the other hand, most movies require you to screw logic & put your brains aside for most of the part of the movie to enjoy them. 'Being There' falls under the latter category, the only difference being it requires you to ignore logic for almost every other minute of the movie. I mean, how long does it take for one to figure out that a man is just a simpleton & no wise guy? Okay, they might have misunderstood it for the first time. Okay, twice. But I gotta assume myself a real fool if they wanna make me carry this belief throughout the movie that everyone's nonsense to figure out something so apparent.

    My bad that I went for a classic that's beyond my talents. Yep, I lack the talent of leaving my thinking cap aside for 2+ hours non-stop. Surely, the movie did make me chuckle at times, but there weren't really enough of them.

    Final word? Check it out, it might work for you, for you may not have the flaws I possess.
  • sononothing
    November 9, 2009
    sononothing
    Sometimes movies are like a crystal ball. They take a deep, dark look at our future and end up nailing it right to the wall. It always seems to be films about the media that do this. Films from thirty years ago that at the time seem totally ridiculous are now standard fodder for ... read moreT.V. Guide (which in itself is a parody anymore). Network is the first to come to mind with its over the top obsession with getting ratings at the expense of the people on the tube. Another is the almost unknown sequel to The Rocky Horror Picture Show called Shock Treatment in which a town is actually a television audience and real people play out the broadcast days entertainment. Those two films sandwich in what should have been Peter Seller's farewell performance (we'll pretend it is) in Being There, a film that is partly about media perception and partly about people hearing what they want to hear.

    Peter Sellers plays Chance, the gardener in a Washington, D.C. home of an old man. Chance has spent his entire life at this house, which leads to the first question: Is he the old man's son? The thing about Chance is that he's rather slow in the head and his entire life revolves around two things: gardening and television. His life can't function without the tube as it plays non stop throughout his day. When the old man dies Chance is unceremoniously thrown out of the home and forced into the streets of Washington for a day that ends with him falling into an accident with the wife of a prominent billionaire (Shirley MacLaine) who brings him home to recuperate. Unintentionally re dubbed as Chauncey Gardner, Chance's simple statements about gardening and non-responses are interpreted by many as financial and political gospel and he begins to ascend a ladder of success by chance (pun intended, of course).

    I think a ton of today's politicians and media people have taken a course from Chance. He says nothing that sounds like something. He has two interests and neither one of them will bring you money or power. Even sex has no business in his world. The film is basically people hearing what they want to hear. We don't want to hear things are bad, we want the good even if it's a bunch of bullshit. Chance is just there for the walk and the ride that he doesn't even know he's on. It doesn't interest him. He even flips the channel on himself because he isn't interested. Maybe he IS the perfect human being since he's not self absorbed and has no ambitions except where to find the next television set.

    The is the cap to Peter Seller's career. Seller's plays Chance in a way that you fear that he's going to fail after finally walking into the world, but he always comes out smelling like a rose. What's striking about Seller's performance is that he doesn't play Chance as a character with something overly wrong. When we first meet him we don't know that he's a bit slow between the ears. We figure it out the longer we get to know him. Seller's performance is rather striking when compared to the two Oscar winning performances that can be compared to Chance during the following fifteen years, Dustin Hoffman for Rainman and Tom Hanks for Forrest Gump. Those guys play it up. Sellers is more subdued and it works. Sadly, he was nominated but did not win an Oscar in 1979 (ironically losing to Dustin Hoffman for the craptastic Kramer vs. Kramer).

    Being There is kind of a lost gem of Sellers' career. You know about Clouseau and Strangelove, but this one just about tops both of those (well, I can't put it over Strangelove). It's a quirky satire that has become standard in the thirty years since its release. The cast is great and it has some fine direction from Hal Ashby, who gives us a little message at the end of the film. It's funny and thought provoking, proving that you can do both at the same time. It's great.
  • mumby1988
    October 16, 2009
    mumby1988
    With the arrival of alternative comedy at the end of the 1970s, it was tempting to write off Peter Sellers as a complete comedy has-been. But in the midst of seeming obsolete, and suffering from various health problems, he produced one of his very best performances in Hal Ashby?s... read more Being There.

    One of the strange things about Seller?s performance is that it is strangely un-comedic ? or at least, it?s not the sort of comedy we have come to expect from Sellers. There is none of the outrageous characterisation of The Goon Show, or any of the farcical slapstick of The Pink Panther series. This is much, much more subtle, and as a result it is tempting to see Sellers as playing the straight man, in one great admission that he was no longer funny. But this just adds to the sense of ambiguity which flows throughout the film.

    Two examples of this are to be found at opposite ends of the film. Firstly, near the start, with the meeting with the President of the United States. It?s a perfect example of both Chance?s childlike naivety, and of the willingness of the other characters to accept his ?words of wisdom?. Where does the comedy lie? Are we supposed to laugh as Chance for being an idiot, for saying things which are completely out of context and meaningless in everyday life? Or it is a satire on the gullibility of the ?sane?, ?rational?, ?normal? people who are endlessly searching for meaning in this life and will hence belief anything? The greatest masterstroke of this film is that it can be enjoyed as both a light-hearted portrait of the ?stupid? and ?simple?, and as a much-deeper piece of social commentary, which pokes fun at and questions the values our society holds dear. In many ways, Forrest Gump owes its biggest debt to this film.

    The second example is the famous final shot of Chance wandering from his master?s funeral and then walking on water. This is a scene which has caused much debate since the film?s release. Some have claimed that Chance is a Christ figure, and that the film is an allegory of the Christian story before the build-up to the resurrection. It raises the question that if Christ came back into our society today, would we recognise him? Would we accept him as the Messiah, or would be reduce him to a flavour-of-the-month celebrity? Others have claimed the opposite, saying that he is walking on a submerged pier, or that the film simply gave up because it couldn?t think of a proper ending.

    All and none of these are true. As Roger Ebert explained in his review, the film shows us an image, rather than an explanation for the image. We can dispute its meaning, but we cannot offer our own reasoning which explains the image away. Just as the ending of 2001 cannot just be written off as Stanley Kubrick ?giving up? because he couldn?t think of a way to put the original story on screen, so the ending to Being There is part of its very essence. It is the very nub of what the film means: do we really know anything about anyone? Or, more to the point, can we know?

    Sellers? performance, which is easily his best since The Magic Christian, is complimented beautifully by Melvyn Douglas as the ailing tycoon and Shirley MacLaine as his wife. They provide the ideal starting point from which Chance?s influence can inadvertently spread, with MacLaine seeking a new outlet for her capacity to love and Douglas looking for a companion to ease him into death. And while the speed at which Chance becomes a celebrity is a little contrived, one has to accept it in the end as a necessary evil in condensing the novel for the screen.

    The film is not a masterpiece, or if it is, it is a flawed one. Ebert has written before about the scene in which MacLaine expresses her love to an otherwise engaged Sellers, which is not completely unnecessary but is perhaps overdone for the sake of pandering to an audience. It is a mistimed attempt at eye candy or comic relief which sits at odds which much that precedes or follows it.

    The other real fly in the ointment is that the film doesn?t develop the character of Chance?s guardian nearly enough. In her final scene of the film, sitting in an old folks? home and watching him on television, she is one of the few people in the film to see him as a fraud. Depending on your interpretation, she is either blind to his real nature through her cynicism, or is seeing the truth (or neither ? she may just have missed the point in a whole other way). Unfortunately the film does not develop this scene, and chooses instead to wrap it up quickly with a cheap shot about racial politics. We never see her again and that?s a shame.

    Despite these two blemishes, Being There is a poignant, bittersweet comedy which offers its audience both food for thought and light relief. It?s a great mix of comedy and intellect, demonstrating that comedies can be about something rather than just a loose conglomeration of jokes. In many ways, this is like a lighter, more relaxed version of Monty Python?s Life of Brian. Neither are the creative peak of their stars (The Magic Christian and Holy Grail respectively), but both are great comedies which manage to be funny while making very serious points about religion, power, and the way that societies work. Had Sellers not died, he could well have gone on to an autumnal renaissance in his career, winning a Golden Globe for his performance and being both Oscar- and BAFTA-nominated. Disregarding his last two films, which do him no justice at all, Being There is a very fitting farewell.
  • SirPant
    September 2, 2009
    SirPant
    This is a subtle satire that needs repeat viewing, not because its complicated to follow but because there are lots of little, sometimes hidden, splashes of symbolism and hidden meaning. It doesn't however, need to be watched more than once to be thoroughly enjoyed and appreciate... read mored for what it is, one of the most beautiful films ever made. The cast is fantastic but its Sellers who really steals the show in his greatest, and unfortunately, his last performance. Absolutely brilliant.

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Critic Reviews

Variety Staff
October 31, 2007
Variety Staff, Variety

A highly unusual and an unusually fine film. Full Review

Dave Kehr
October 31, 2007
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

No one seems to know what to do with the allegorical undertone of Jerzy Kosinski's script, but as a whole this 1979 film maintains a fine level of wit, sophistication, and insight. Full Review

Janet Maslin
May 20, 2003
Janet Maslin, New York Times

Hal Ashby directs Being There at an unruffled, elegant pace, the better to let Mr. Sellers's double-edged mannerisms make their full impression upon the audience. Full Review

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Satire is a threatened species in American film, and when it does occur, it's usually broad and slapstick, as in the Mel Brooks films. Being There, directed by Hal Ashby, is a rare and subtle bird tha... Full Review

Dennis Schwartz
January 26, 2012
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Peter Sellers gives a stellar performance. Full Review

Kelly Kessler
January 2, 2011
Kelly Kessler, Common Sense Media

Amazingly poignant performance by Peter Sellers. Full Review

Sandie Angulo Chen
October 14, 2010
Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media

Sweet, feel-good sports flick is girl-powered. Full Review

Walter Chaw
May 20, 2009
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central

a product not of Ashby's essential modesty but of Kosinski's essential egoism. Full Review

Brian Webster
April 27, 2009
Brian Webster, Apollo Guide

If you are going to see only one Peter Sellers movie, see Dr. Strangelove, but if you're going to see two, then Being There also belongs on your must-see list. Full Review

Kevin Carr
March 5, 2009
Kevin Carr, 7M Pictures

While the story is utterly ridiculous, since not everyone would be fooled all the time, it still works as a charming work of fiction. Full Review

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Being There Trivia

  • Peter Sellers' last film, plays Chance the Gardener, with Shirley MacLaine & Melvyn Douglas?  Answer »
  • Walked on water in Hal Ashby's "Being There"  Answer »
  • What was the name of Peter Sellers last movie?   Answer »
  • The novel and screenplay upon which this 1979 film was based were written by controversial author Jerzy Kosinski.  Answer »
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