Reuben, Reuben

Reuben, Reuben is a 1983 comedy-drama film directed by Robert Ellis Miller and starring Tom Conti, Kelly McGillis (in her film debut), Roberts Blossom, Cynthia Harris, and Joel Fabiani.[1]

This article is about the 1983 film. For the opera by Marc Blitzstein, see Reuben, Reuben (opera). For the old song, see Reuben and Rachel.
Reuben, Reuben
Reuben, Reuben film poster
Directed byRobert Ellis Miller
Produced byJulius J. Epstein
Walter Shenson
Written byPeter De Vries (novel)
Julius J. Epstein
Herman Shumlin (Spofford play)
StarringTom Conti
Kelly McGillis
Music byBilly Goldenberg
CinematographyPeter Stein
Edited bySkip Lusk
Production
company
Saltair Productions
TAFT Entertainment Pictures
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • December 19, 1983 (1983-12-19) (U.S.)
Running time
101 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3.5 million

The film was adapted by Julius J. Epstein from the 1977 play Spofford by Herman Shumlin, which in turn was adapted from the 1964 novel Reuben, Reuben by Peter De Vries.[2]

The main character in DeVries's novel was based largely on the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, who was a compulsive womanizer and lifelong alcoholic, finally succumbing to the effects of alcohol poisoning in November 1953, while on a speaking tour in America.[3]

Plot

Gowan McGland (Tom Conti) is a creatively blocked Scottish poet who ekes out a day-to-day existence by exploiting the generosity of strangers in an affluent Connecticut suburb, where he recites his verse to various arts groups and women's clubs. Gowan is something of a leech, cadging expensive dinners from well-off patrons (usually stealing the tips afterward) while seducing their bored wives and affecting a superior attitude toward the smug bourgeois types he exploits.

Although a talented poet, he is a chronic drunk, indifferent to the wounds he can casually inflict with his wit. (When one of Gowan's middle-aged conquests undresses for him, he mutters, "Released from their support, her breasts dropped like hanged men," reducing her to tears.)

Gowan falls in love with a young college student, Geneva Spofford (Kelly McGillis), who has everything to lose from a relationship with a drunken deadbeat poet unable to hold a job. Gowan instigates two ugly incidents that eventually cause their breakup: first, a bar fight from which Geneva rescues him, and later, when he causes a scene in a fancy restaurant where the waiters know he has stolen their tips.

He also suffers an ironic comeuppance from Dr. Jack Haxby (Joel Fabiani). The dentist, after finding out about the poet's affair with his wife, uses the ruse of free dental care for ruining Gowan's smile and forcing him to wear dentures. When Gowan finds out, it is already too late, and the damage is irrevocable. (Gowan fears losing his teeth, equating it with death.)

Gowan prepares to hang himself, but while dictating his last thoughts into a tape recorder, he comes up with some good lines and regains his will to write. Unfortunately, his host's pet dog, an Old English sheepdog named Reuben, comes bounding into the room, causing Gowan to lose his balance before he can undo the noose, turning the aborted suicide into accidental asphyxiation. The film's title comprises Gowan's final words, an unsuccessful attempt to halt the dog.

Awards

References
  1. Galloway, Stephen (January 30, 2017). "Robert Ellis Miller, Director of 'Reuben, Reuben,' Dies at 89". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  2. "Reuben, Reuben". Variety. December 31, 1982. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  3. Champlin, Charles (May 25, 1986). "The Collected Letters of Dylan Thomas, edited by Paul Ferris (Macmillan: $39.95; 1,024 pp.)". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  4. Lambert, Victoria (September 12, 2015). "Tom Conti interview: 'Acting is a lousy job. It's a waste of a life'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
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