Wo is' Papa? (1970) Online

After reading some of the negative comments on this film,I felt I must add a comment or two,myself. God bless you,Carl Reiner for taking one of the most laugh out loud novels (By Robert Klane) and turning it into my favorite black comedy classic. My mother,God rest her, was,in many ways very similar to Ruth Gordon's masterful portrayal. While my Mother was still alive,I found many reasons to laugh at some of her shennanagins,especially her treatment of me,and now that she's passed,I have fond,funny memories that if it were not for this film,I'd have spent a lot more time in therapy than I had to. Criticising the film,It's direction,or any of the actor's performences is,to me,ridiculous and can only be a lack of knowledge of the art of acting or cinema in general. Is it the greatest comedy ever produced? No. But it certainly is among the most unique. On newer prints,however,I would avoid the last few minutes of the film,as it does change the overall flavor,and should have ended as it did in it's theatrical releases. Just turn the tape off as you hear the song,"I Don't want to go like this,so I'll just go like that..."

I saw this movie originally in 1970. It was a co-feature with a movie called Sunday Bloody Sunday which is what we actually went to see. When this film came on my first reaction was, What the hell! Within minutes I was laughing and the laughs never stopped. I lived in Seattle at the time, but I had grown up in New York City, so the events of the film had a special cache for me. The parts that occurred within Central Park were incredibly funny, and the Taxicab scene is a true classic. I have seen a lot of films in the intervening years and have attempted several time to find a copy of this film (I was finally successful this morning). Despite the years since first seeing it and all that I have seen since nothing has ever topped this film for just plain fun. Carl Reiner is a true comic genius.

The brothers Hocheiser make a solemn promise to their dying father that they will "never put their mother (Ruth Gordon) in a home." But brother Gordon (George Siegel) gets stuck with the old dingbat and she is wrecking his life. His law practice is falling apart, his sex life nonexistent, and he can't even hire a nurse to take care of the wacko. Then, suddenly, a nurse-- the girl of his dreams comes along, but mother has other ideas. This wonderful, creative, hilarious 1970 classic comedy directed by Carl Reiner with its gallows humor could not be made today. We have lost much of our artistic freedom to political correctness, commercial timidity and lack of creative talent. But don't take my word for it, ask Mel Brooks who has remarked that some of his movies could not be made today either. Fortunately we can get the video. The movie does require a somewhat offbeat taste to appreciate. Everything and everyone is in a kind of reality warp, the Hocheiser family, the Central Park muggers, the police, the nurse Louise (Patricia Van Devere). The movie is also comment on life in America in 1970, and on how family members manipulate each other with guilt. Finally, I like the ending the movie was released with, it really does work better artistically.

9/10

1970 87 minutes Rated:R CC.

Short of most John Waters films, today's cinema offers little by way of absurd comedy. Generally speaking, cinema has sold out to Nike, Madison avenue and all the rest of the greedy faces behind Hollywood who make sure their "clients" products are wagged in yor face and written into the script.(Think of "What Women Want" or "E.T." for instance) Well, here's a film that takes comedic chances and pays off big! This film is a equal opportunity offender and is in nobody's pocket! Segal and Gordon are in perfect pacing and timing thanks to Carl Riner's direction and no holds barred attack on everything. I can not recommend this film enough to the intelligent viewer who hungers for more than the banal "comedies" of today which are for the most part nothing more than padded 90 minute commercials.

"Where's Poppa" is a true cult classic of black comedy/absurdist humor. It pokes fun at things that we really shouldn't find funny, but manages to have us howling with laughter at nonetheless. Surprisingly, even though it's nearly 30 years old, it still has the power to shock and surprise an audience. An excellent cast and perfectly-timed direction by Carl Reiner (this is one of his very best) make this a comedy classic worth watching again and again.

No, he did get one thing right: the plot summary is fine. But, Wayne misses the point about "black humor": it's NOT supposed to have limits, by definition. Yes, the bits are meant to skewer what we consider "sacred" and, yes, it will offend those you can't ponder why certain societal taboos exist. As a whole the movie is far, far tamer than a lot of the crap that passes for "art" and comedy these days. Is the plot warped? Yes. Do you stare slack-jawed in disbelief at some bits? Yes. Is it funny? Totally, but not in a Jerry Lewis or Jerry Seinfeld way (though some of absurd parts do have a Seinfeldesque quality). That's why I give it an 8 out of 10. (He did get one other thing right: the courtroom scene is pretty priceless).

...and it produced some low budget, but VERY memorable films. The genre seems to have been based around New York City. Most of them owe more than a little bit to the '60s vintage British version of Cinema Verite expressed in films like A TASTE OF HONEY and THE L SHAPED ROOM... and further back yet to the French films like THE 400 BLOWS.

The Americans added humor to the mix.

LITTLE MURDERS, THE PRODUCERS, and THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS were some of the better known products. They were made by directors and actors who had huge amounts of enthusiasm, social commentary crying out to be expressed, and intelligence... but not a whole mountain of money to put their visions on film.

They spun off major studio products with big name actors and production values like A NEW LEAF, HAROLD AND MAUDE, and PETE 'N TILLIE.

Enter WHERE'S PAPPA?... one of the "transition" films, firmly between the "No budget" New York stuff, and the later "Low Budget" Hollywood productions that they spawned.

Like MOST of the genre, WHERE'S PAPPA? takes on a sacred cow... dealing with older, dependent relatives (in this case, the hero's mother), and saying the things about it that we ALL think but DON'T DARE say out loud for fear of being thought a monster. In this case, we wrestle with the decision to put Mama into a nursing home. A hard choice... but it has it's comic aspects, which get explored fully.

George Siegel does a GREAT job in the lead, the perfect foil for Ruth Gordon. Ron Liebman's a standout as Siegel's brother. As in his roles in UP THE ACADEMY and WON TON TON, THE DOG WHO SAVED Hollywood, Liebman shows off a deft skill in handling comedic material.

Incidentally... look for Garrett Morris from the original Saturday NIGHT LIVE crew as a mugger in Central Park!

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BTW... I'm editing this review after the fact, because I made an interesting discovery about the film.

There are at least TWO DIFFERENT VERSIONS of it out there.

Having watched the TV version for a long time, when I recently came up with a copy of the Laserdisc version I was startled to see that the ending on the disc is completely different, and somewhat longer!

In a totally unsettling and quite uncomfortable way, it completely reverses the commonly seen ending's decision and solution to the story's central problem... and today, it would probably earn an R rating... if it's implications didn't get the original ending CENSORED, that is! The Freudian hints left a bad taste for me... I can see exactly WHY the filmmakers changed it.

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If irreverence is your bag, you'll enjoy WHERE'S POPPA?

"Where's Poppa?" is the sort of movie that only Carl Reiner could direct and could probably only release around 1970. Casting George Segal as a lawyer still having to care for his demented, clingy mother (Ruth Gordon) - even though he's now found his dream-girl (Trish Van Devere) - the whole movie really goes all out. There are some scenes where, even though they set up what's about to happen, it's just a total hoot to watch it happen...especially everything that happens in the park! My point is, this is a true black comedy classic. But don't take my word for it; just watch the movie. Watch for some cast members in before-they-were-famous roles: Rob Reiner as Segal's courtroom defendant (in a role not far from Meathead on "All in the Family"), Penny Marshall as one of the courtroom spectators (though she doesn't have any lines), and future "Saturday Night Live" cast member Garrett Morris as one of the men in the park.

...but still worth a look-see. I, too, only saw it for the first time recently, based on a friend's glowing recommendation, and I have to say that, for the most part, it didn't live up to my friend's hype. George Segal is the best thing in the whole movie, a true master of the comedic slow-burn. Ruth Gordon, and I realize she has plenty of fans, is given little more to do than just spout "Where's Poppa?" all the time, which gets a bit annoying after awhile (although her best single scene is when she accosts her son--Segal--at the dinner table in front of his date).

I suppose my one real complaint is that the movie lacks heart, which may actually be a plus, depending on your comedic tastes--this is one mean-spirited movie, even for today's audiences. Certainly not for everybody, and DEFINITELY un-P.C., but it's got just enough laughs to warrant at least one viewing. I will admit, the best sequence of the whole film is the Rob Reiner/Bernard Hughes courtroom scene, which had me laughing out loud and is arguably the least politically correct bit in the movie (next to the black muggers in Central Park, of course).

One note: See if you can find a newer print, if it's available--the VHS copy that I saw had a HORRIBLE transfer.

This film is on my short list of best comedies. It is unbelievably funny while at the same time revelling is non-PC behaviour that will forever limit its appeal. This movie is not for the easily offended.

The plot concerns Gordon Hocheiser (played in pitch perfect fashion by the great George Segal) who after making a promise on his Father's deathbed finds himself caring for his Mother (Ruth Gordon) who is on the rocket sled of senility. Unfortunately she seems to ruin every relationship he has and when she begins to sabotage his courting of the lovely Louise Callen (Trish Van Devere) she finally pushes Gordon over the edge.

When the hero of the film is doing his best to give his Mother a heart attack it is clear that you are walking on shaky ground. It takes an actor as likable as Segal to make the audience root for his character and when you consider the dark ending this movie had before its first theatrical release (Seek it out if possible) the film finishes on a tragic note as Gordon finally admits defeat.

As if the 3 strong lead performances were not enough you also get Gordon's brother Sidney (played by Ron Leibman in a scene stealing turn) who doesn't want to take in Mother but finds himself rushing to her defense whenever she gets Gordon too wound up. His short cut which goes through the park finds him frequently mugged by the same gang and at one point being forced to rape a woman (who turns out to be a male, undercover cop who asks for his number afterward). Keep your eyes open for a great Rob Reiner sequence in court and try to remember the era that this film was made in while watching. This movie was made a time when the notion of being politically correct was just some fever dream that you would wake up screaming from. Everything was not being watered down to make sure that no one is ever bothered by anything they see. If you keep that in mind you will understand why this movie is held is such high regard by so many.

I nervously put my newly acquired DVD into the machine and sat down with my housemate who had never seen the film. Remember back during the Watergate hearings and witnesses with talk about limited or full hangouts? Well, this is a full hangout. No one goes away without being insulted. And all of this is done without someone vomiting, breaking wind at the dinner table, or scratching their crotch....the sine qua non's of modern 'comedy.'

There is something in the opening scene of Touch of Evil, the long setup toward scaring Mom to death with the gorilla suit, only to find she is immune to such tactics and simply wants her Fruit Loops in Pepsi.

We have the cabbie fly by an elderly black woman to pick up the naked Ron Liebman and the wonderful reference to the Cornel Wilde 'epic' by the boyz in the park. All is complete when the Mother from Hell makes sure Trish V sees her son's lovely tush at dinner.

Housemate ended by remarking 'now this is a funny movie.'

I have to give credit to someone like Carl Reiner who can reinforce powerful social issues with some of the blackest comedy I have ever seen (Dr. Strangelove has nothing on this one). In this movie Reiner manages to add in touches of humor to a movie loaded with statements on ageism, racism, the American military complex, and urban decay. There's also a scene where a man in a gorilla suit is… (begin SPOILERS) taken in by police after he is forced to rape a woman who he later finds out is a male police office but drops the charges when the officer sends the rapist flowers (end SPOILERS). Not even the Farrelly Brothers could come this close.

Where's Poppa? is essentially about a lawyer's (George Siegel) difficulty in caring for his own mother in his own house after he promises his dying father to never put her in a home. Ruth Gordon, as the mother, conveys to us that she is virtually ….no… absolutely impossible to live with. This is conveyed as the movie shows Siegel's descent into madness not only at work, but in his personal life as well. He becomes the very epitome of Grace under pressure since his whole life has become consumed with taking care of his mother's life, rather than his own. So when George Siegel informs Gordon to be nice under threats of personal violence (I'm gonna punch your f*ckin' heart out) we as the audience understand without considering elder abuse. Anyone who is a caregiver should immediately relate, anyone who has never had the opportunity to assist the aged would immediately cringe. This is the success of movie, appreciating the film's themes without devaluing it as bad taste. Personally, I was amazed at how Reiner could drive so many themes across, and do it so effectively. In another movie there would be some sort of reconciliation between the mother and the son. Personally, I was glad he not only took the easier route, but the more realistic one.

(Rating: 10/10)

George Segal lives with his elderly and senile mother. There are many jokes about her Alzheimer's-like dementia and most of them aren't funny, though there were a few funny moments sprinkled in here and there (such as the nude running through the park scene and the old folks home). At first, Segal tries to kill his mother because she's tough to live with and because he's a selfish guy. Making the film sort of like a Wiley Coyote versus the Roadrunner comedy where he tries again and again to kill this indestructible gal would have been a hoot--too bad this was NOT the overall tone of the film.

I do applaud Carl Reiner's attempt to make a tasteless film that is intended to offend everyone. I have a special place in my heart for films like ED AND HIS DEAD MOTHER, EATING RAOUL and HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS--all films about death that dare to offend. The problem here, though, is that WHERE'S POPPA? has some funny moments, but it also has a lot of flat ones and the overall product is amazingly bland. Plus topics such as homosexual rape, incest and the like are really difficult to make funny. I read in "THE ROUGH GUIDE TO CULT MOVIES" that it is considered a cult film, though I just can't see anyone wanting to see this more than once.

New York attorney plots to rid himself of his senile mother after meeting an attractive, available woman. Screenwriter Robert Klane, adapting his own novel (the kind of paperback kids would buy for the dirty parts), doesn't seem to have any knowledge of mental illness: to him, it's just an excuse for prurient comedy and scatological jokes, of which director Carl Reiner is apparently also a fan. George Segal--who, in the 1960s, starred mostly in war and espionage pictures--had by this time become one of America's greatest sad-sack comedians; his nutty reactions and batty responses rival only his mother's inscrutabilities. Segal is paired well with Trish Van Devere, and their moments of connection (though also played for laughs) are really the only sequences one can gravitate towards. Ruth Gordon, lovable as is she, is simply around too much--and more of her amounts to less. This is one of the worst-directed and edited films I have seen from so-called professionals. Promising scenes which ultimately don't play out for the full effect are then haphazardly disconnected from other moments which flail around endlessly, causing the crass, rickety movie to self-destruct long before it's actually over. *1/2 from ****

In the opening sequence of "Where's Poppa?", George Segal rises from his bed one morning, shaves, showers, puts on a gorilla suit and goes into his mother's bedroom, we realize later, to give her a massive heart attack that will kill her and get her out of his life forever. This is about the level of humor one can expect from most of this picture: insanity, blended with what might be taken as morbid daring.

Segal plays a New York attorney who lives with his supposedly senile mother (Ruth Gordon), whose life is further complicated when, while hiring a nurse to care for the old bag, meets the girl of his dreams, the pleasantly prim Trish Van Devere, decked out like Florence Nightingale. His dilemma: how to integrate the lovely nurse into his and his pesky mother's life.

Segal's performance is about the only thing holding the picture together. His frustrations, his reactions, his comic timing is almost peerless (whatever happened to that guy?); where the film fails is in other areas. Ruth Gordon's characterization is dreadful as the mother. At the beginning, you can't figure out if her character is senile or just being deliberately vague to keep her son from moving out. By the end, it's clear she's just nuts. When Segal brings Van Devere home to meet her, Gordon's eyebrows furrow and she gets a mean, sinister look. She wants the intruder in her son's life removed; she's calculating. This is not the mode of a senile person. You're not getting a consistent performance throughout the picture, which is probably the director's (Carl Reiner) fault as much as Gordon's. Ruth Gordon's old lady in "Rosemary Baby" is much more successful because with the kind of ingratiating, cloying person that Ruth Gordon generally plays, the audience responds to her as annoying. But when Mia Farrow is too timid to fight back, Gordon becomes more cloying, her fangs dig deeper and deeper and we're frightened for Farrow; this kind of imposition is genuinely terrifying. Here, we're being asked to laugh at what we'd normally find annoying, and if Gordon played it as helplessly nutty all the way, we might. But she's selfish and mean as well, and it dampens what little humor there is.

There are a few good laughs, though. A courtroom scene with Barnard Hughes as a military officer and Rob Reiner as a counterculture punk is fairly hilarious, and Vincent Gardenia does a nice turn as a Lombardiesque football coach. There's also an inspired bit where Segal's brother (Ron Liebman), having been stripped naked by muggers on his way to Segal's place, asks him for something for to wear home- and he gives him the gorilla suit.

But of a lot of the script is poorly conceived and simply doesn't make sense. Why is a New York lawyer with his own practice even living at home in the first place? Why does Segal, if his mother is senile, try to reason with her logically: "If you spoil this for me, I'll punch your f---ing heart out." Why does Liebman keep cutting through the park if he knows he's going to get mugged? Why does he take a taxi after leaving Segal's with gorilla suit? Why wasn't he taking taxis all along? A funnier bit would have been Liebman, as the gorilla, terrorizing the muggers. Why does Van Devere keep coming back- after her first husband was a kook, why does she want to get involved with this bunch? I suppose if I put this to Carl Reiner, he'd say, 'These are crazy people, they don't have to make sense.' Which is a convenient way to excuse a lousy script that's full of holes. The characters' moment-to-moment behavior may not have to make sense, but their motivations do, and that's where "Where's Poppa?" falls apart; the situations are created just to have the gag, and the gags are mostly one-shots, they don't build to anything.

Carl Reiner is the most guilty in this whole fiasco. How he has acquired this vaunted reputation as a pillar of comedy puzzles me; basically, his career has been to hold a microphone in front of Sid Caesar and Mel Brooks while they talk in funny voices. His son Rob has ten times the skill and intelligence as a director. In show-biz terms, Reiner pushes buttons; a monkey could do his job. And that is most apparent in his framing of the action. Why is all of New York shot in tight and in close-ups, but the scenes in the country are all distant and panoramic? That's the mentality of Carl Reiner's direction, claustrophobic for the city, spatial for the country. In the final lunatic scene at the old folks home, the camera is so far off, you can't even make out what's going on. The abrupt ending suggests a resolution that Segal could have easily arrived at ninety minutes ago; it also suggests Reiner couldn't figure out how to end the picture. So he just cut it, as another example of "craziness". Reiner seems to think dumbness equals craziness, and craziness without logic is always funny. It isn't, and the creators of "Where's Poppa" are as demented as Ruth Gordon putting Pepsi in her Fruit Loops.

Ruth Gordon is an acquired taste that I have not acquired. Her performances are all the same—affected and silly. George Segal is much the same—repetition of mannerisms is not necessarily effective acting.

The film is not creative, innovative, funny, or interesting. It seems locked in the time from which it emerged when almost anything out-of-the-ordinary counted as groundbreaking. This film is a holdover from the fifties. It reminds me of fifties television comedies.

The tone is corrosive, not ironic. The film does depict New York as a region of hell, which it was at the time. That part is on target.

The narrative wanders off course and never lands in any harbour. Watching it is a painful way to waste an afternoon.

When I read the review before viewing this video, it said that "it was one of the funniest movies" ever. It turned out to not be that funny at all. I hardly cracked a smile. The movie rambled on with seemingly no point. The mother (played by Gordon) was a completely "nutcase". The brother in the movie just seemed to have no personality whatsoever. The mugging/arrest scenes just seemed to not do anything for the movie. The Rob Reiner scene was "overboard" and didn't have anything really to do with the movie (except that Rob is Carl, the director's, son). However, I will give it at least a 5, for this reason. Seagal plays the kind of man who was disappearing in 1970. I think his character was Jewish, but even if he wasn't, it shows the kind of loyalty that immigrant families had towards the elderly. His character had a terrible life. Probably the best scene was when Seagal bring his Mom to the first "old people's home". Paul Sorvino steals the movie, in a brief role, as a "brass knuckle" independent caretaker of the elderly, who is overworked, but doesn't seem to care about the people he is taking care of. The movie, in the end, does show the dilemmas of caring for an elderly parent, but was not that great, otherwise.

George Segal plays Gordon hocheiser a young lawyer who promised his Father On his deathbed, that he wont put momma in a home, Unfortunately for Gordon momma is pushing 90 And is always in a state of dementia, asking 'where's poppa (hence the Title, her senile behavior is ruining everything for him His love-life,And career are getting nowhere, no thanks to her Eccentrcities, As this situation increasingly worsens Segal seeks help ,Which Arrives in the form of Louise, played by Trish Van Devere, who is a nurse, who helps segal with his difficult mother. The scene which Van Devere recounts her 'wedding night monolouge is shockingly funny!Carl Reiner directs an exceptional cast with Ruth Gordon, Who could be celluloid's number 1 movie mother! (Check her out as 'ma no less! in the Eastwood comedy's Every Which Way But Loose,& Sequel Any Which Way You Can. One of the funniest dark comedy's ever. Where's poppa? is a film you'll want to 'find again and again!

Gotta say I was disappointed by this flick. It was one of those films that somehow I'd never managed to see, so when I saw it was available on Netflix, I happily selected it.

Unfortunately it's just not very funny or even interesting.

I suspect that a lot of its notoriety at the time was simply because the film is rather lose with its language and there is even some mild nudity.

For better or worse a lot of the profanity in the movie is now common stuff on HBO & certainly in the movies.

For film buffs I guess it's an opportunity to see little seen Ruth Gordon and Trish Van Devere but once the novelty wears off of seeing these two again, the movie really does have little to offer contemporary viewers.

The performances are fine, that's not the problem. It's just that the script is so slow. Scenes that should take 2 minutes take 10 instead.

Again, I think everyone at the time must have thought they were involved in a very 'adult' project but the movie seen through modern eyes, just seems a bit contrived and kind of tiresome.

Oh there's an early brief performance by Rob Reiner and supposedly you can glimpse Penny Marshall in the background...if you care.

I was prepared to love "Where's Poppa", it features the nexus of Normal Lear sitcom character actors who, when I was growing up, felt like extended members of my raisenette-sized broken nuclear family. How fun it would be to see censor-free Barnard Hughes, Vincent Gardenia, Ron Liebman, Rob Reiner, and a pre-SNL Garret Morris.

But alas,"Where's Poppa" drags. It's claustrophobic and plodding, and breaks the cardinal rules of farce, lightness of mood and a fast pace.

The plot involves the efforts of a lawyer (George Segal) to rid himself of his overbearing Jewish mother, who lives in his gigantic New York apartment. Along the way we are exposed ridiculous characters and situations: a comedic group of muggers who repeatedly mug the brother of the main character, the rape of a policeman which involving a gorilla suit and subsequent gay love, Ruth Gorden pulling down Segal's pants and biting his ass as he serves her dinner. Why doesn't this work? Part of the explanation is the sense of doom engendered by the cramped, dark interiors and antique set-decoration. I absolutely eat up cinematography of New York during this era, but watching this movie felt like I was leafing through the Police Gazette in a dark bus terminal.

The main reason though is the slow pace. Modern MTV-style quick cuts have changed what moviegoers feel is a comfortable editing tempo, but, even taking this into consideration, camera shots are held for an excessively long time. Plot developments are also very slow. There is one situation in which this works: a weird love song George Segal sings to Trish Van Devere, softly, very close to her face, and for an excruciatingly long period of time. It reminded me of those cringeworthy extended shots in the British version of "The Office", where you find yourself mentally begging the camera to cut away, and at the same time you can't stop looking.

Sadly, most of the film is more "hurry up" than "can't look away". Which made me wonder if it's possible to have a black comedy that is also a farce. The dilemma is that the gravitas of the subject matter in a black comedy tends to weigh down lightness of the farce. Movies like Robert Altman's "M*A*S*H" and Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove" prove that it can be accomplished. They do this not only through speed but also through entertaining subplots, something "Where's Poppa" neglects.

Although the film features multiple, stereotypically-funny characters, almost all of them are directly involved in the central drama of how to deal with the recalcitrant mother. The scenes featuring Garret Morris and the Central Park muggers are as close as the viewer gets to a mental break. The muggers seemed almost Shakespearean, following the tradition of comic ne'er-d0-wells. If the rest of "Where's Poppa" had clung a little more closely to stage tradition it would have been a better film. Edgier isn't always better. It's as if all these talented actors and the director Carl Reiner, were taking a short before the creative maelstrom of the 70's .

Random notes: After strealing Ron Liebman's clothes, the muggers mention Cornel Wilde's "The Naked Prey" (1966), a great action movie that was a stylistic precursor to 1968's "Planet of the Apes".

As politically incorrect as he was, it's disquieting to learn about the death of an action hero as formidable as Charleton Heston. Linda Harrison, who played "Nova", Taylor's mute mate, said that James Fransicus, in the sequel seemed to be cute and tiny compared to Heston.

George Segal is aces as Gordon Hocheiser, a harried defence attorney who is forced to deal with the senility of his aged mother (a most amusing Ruth Gordon). He hires a young woman, Louise Callan (Trish Van Devere, in the role that introduced her), to look after the old bat, and promptly falls in love with Louise. As mom proceeds to make a shambles of Gordons' life, "Where's Poppa?" takes aim at a couple of elements in classic black-humour fashion: muggings, rape, inadequate nursing homes, life in NYC, etc. It's all outrageously done, with a hilariously profane script (by Robert Klane, based on his novel) and some memorable bits.

Carl Reiner directs with gusto, mining many laughs from the material with the help of this willing cast, which includes a number of familiar faces. (His meathead son Rob appears in a courtroom sequence as a kid with a very anti-military attitude.) In this very politically correct climate that we now live in, some people may find some of this stuff extremely offensive, but others will be delighted that Reiner and his cast & crew throw such caution to the winds. No matter your sensibilities, however, you have to admit that the "tushie" scene is hysterical. Kudos to Segal and Gordon for just going for it. The film was reissued as "Going Ape!", owing to the fact that a gorilla costume plays into the plot more than once. As the film opens, Gordon attempts to scare mom to death by dressing in the costume and surprising her in her bed.

Among the recognizable actors who turn up are Ron Leibman (as Gordon's oft-victimized brother Sidney), Barnard Hughes, Vincent Gardenia, Paul Sorvino (also making his film debut), Michael McGuire, Garrett Morris, Helen Martin, Tom Atkins, and Alice Drummond. Leibman is particularly funny as he must resign himself to being mugged by the same gang every time he runs through Central Park. Penny Marshall, Rob R.'s future wife, has an uncredited bit as a courtroom spectator.

While it's unfortunate that more daring comedies such as this couldn't be made today, at least "Where's Poppa?" still exists on DVD and Blu-ray for people to enjoy.

This originally came with an ending (available as a bonus feature on the aforementioned discs) that was seen as *too* potent, and subsequently got changed.

Eight out of 10.

Too dark and off-the-wall to be a mainstream hit Carl Reiner's comedy "Where's Poppa" has become something of a hard-to-see, (at least here in the UK), cult classic. George Segal is the long-suffering attorney whose biggest problem is his mother, (Ruth Gordon), who lives with him and who he'd be happy to see six feet under. However, his efforts to get her there all backfire so he hires sexy nurse Trish Van Dervere to take care of her.

The film unfolds like a series of extremely tasteless sketches, the kind of thing Mike Nichols and Elaine May might have done, and it's very funny. Segal and Gordon are superb though it is Ron Leibman who steals the movie as Gordon's other son and there are excellent cameos from the likes of Rae Allan and Barnard Hughes. The critics loved it but audiences didn't know what hit them. Now it feels like a key seventies movie and one of the great comedies.

I don't know very much about film rating history, but having just seen Where's Poppa? it is one of the strongest R-rated films for the time period. Considering that Midnight Cowboy was rated X in 1969 for its dark depiction of homosexual undertones, which were considered taboo at the time, Where's Poppa? could have been rated X in 1970 for some of the most vulgar language, racial stereotyping, and insensitivity toward the mentally ill that you will ever see in any film. Even by today's standards, this is a very strong R-rated movie that has some of the most anti-political correct situations that I have ever seen.

The story involves George Segal, who plays a stressed out defense attorney, driven to physical and emotional breakdown by his live-in senile mother. His character is forced to wait on his mother hand and foot with very little compassion or sensitivity reciprocated by her, or given to her by him for that matter. In fact, George can not stand her. We learn that "Mother" has driven away every caregiver who has tried to help her with her coldness, forgetfulness, and domineering personality.

Segal falls in love with a nurse with an interesting health-care twist. The previous patients for whom she has cared, all of them have previously died. George at his wits end believes that anyone would be suited to take care of his Mother just to get her out of his life. When George takes a romantic interest in the nurse, Mother interferes, George now believes that in order to get rid of his Mother's domination, he must plot to kill her.

Ruth Gordon plays Segal's Mother exceptionally well, and George makes an honest-effort as you can see the mood-swings in his face and body language, especially when he is in court, how much his Mother has made his life a living hell. Segal's personification of a broken man's decent into misery is well played. Ruth Gordon's constant interference as her memory fails, and she keeps wishing for her deceased husband, "Where's Poppa?" to come back to her is also very good.

The problem with Where's Poppa? is that there is no compassion or sensitivity to the very serious consequences of mental illness. There is no love or emotional depth to any of the characters, other than reacting to emotionally broken-down and physically exhausted Segal on-screen. The role of his brother seems totally wasted and disjointed.

Where's Poppa? wants so hard to be a comedy. This movie WILL make you laugh if you had a despised relative in your life for whom you were forced to take care of. However, an offset of very crude and tasteless language will leave viewers wondering is this comedy? Is it farce? Is it serious drama? The script cannot decide the type of movie we are viewing. I was hoping for a little more background into how Segal's Mother got crazy. The characters lack the historical depth to understand how they got to where they are.

I cannot stress enough that this movie is not for children, or for those easily offended. The language is EXTREMELY GRAPHIC and viewers who are sensitive to the needs of the elderly and mentally challenged will find the ending, (which I saw when the film was on Turner Classic Movies) very down and disturbing. I read that an even raunchier ending, implying incest with Mother and son was filmed in limited original release, but it was quickly cut being deemed too shocking. Offered as an alternate track, now only available on DVD, it only adds to the intense adult nature and cruel edge of this film, which pushes the envelope for bad taste.

Where's Poppa? is nowhere near the film that many make it out to be.

The first time we saw this movie, the audience was laughing so hard, we couldn't hear what was going on. We went to the drive in later in the week so we could hear it in our car without any outside noise.

Ruth Gordon is fantastic as is Paul Sorvino and Rob Reiner in cameo roles. The whole movie is a hoot from start to finish and is the funniest movie I have ever seen to this day.

As time goes by movies like Where's Papa can be appreciated in different ways than when it came out. Movies can be reflections of social things and Where's Papa is a very interesting reflection of society at the time. Enjoy it from a different view than other films.