Don’t Be So Political: BEING THERE (1979)

Don’t Be So Political is a monthly film series that engages with films through a political lens. Each screening is preceded by an expert Q&A. Hosted by Zach Wortzman

“I admire your good, solid sense. That’s precisely what we lack on Capitol Hill.”

A simpleminded gardener rises through Washington, becoming an influential and unwitting power broker. 

Hal Ashby directs a never better Peter Sellers as Chance, who upon the death of his life long employer, wanders out of his garden for the first time armed only with the knowledge of what he’s learned from television. A look at how one man’s confusion confused the nation into endorsing him as a messianic political prophet, an everyman in a world so lacking in depth, it found profundity in the shallowest puddle. 

Peter Sellers and Melvyn Douglas were both nominated for Acting Oscars, with Douglas winning Best Supporting Actor. A fantastic Shirley MacLaine and Jack Warden round out the seller cast. The film has endured as a charming classic with heartfelt and restrained comedic performances all while tightroping as a pitch perfect political satire. Based on novel of the same name by National Book Award Winner, Jerzy Kosinski, the screenplay, also penned by Kosinski, won the WGA Award for Best Screenplay. (ZACH WORTZMAN) 

Part of the Don’t Be So Political series!

Cast/Crew Info
Director: Hal Ashby | Cast: Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden, Richard Dysart