# Just rewatched Being There **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 29, 2004, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-rewatched-being-there/262035 "2004-08-29T02:04:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-rewatched-being-there/262035/1 "2004-08-29T02:04:38Z")
In _[Being There](http://imdb.com/title/tt0078841/)_, a rather distinguished looking man with a nice wardrobe and a brain made, according to the woman who raised him, entirely of rice pudding, becomes the Republican Party’s choice for President due entirely to the influence of television on the pudding-headed public. Eerily prophetic, no? ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-rewatched-being-there/262035/2 "2004-08-29T02:06:01Z")
Why are you bringing this kind of post into CS? ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-rewatched-being-there/262035/3 "2004-08-29T02:11:40Z")
Oh, quit junior modding, **Octopus.** Quoting the woman who raised him later in the film, “This sure is white man’s America!!” ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-rewatched-being-there/262035/4 "2004-08-29T02:12:37Z")
Ok? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-rewatched-being-there/262035/5 "2004-08-29T02:24:35Z")
Question: when I saw it in the theater in 1979, there were outtakes under the final credits: Sellers cracking up, unable to do a scene. This old wore out VHS I just watched does not include those outtakes. Does anyone know if they’re available in any version? ---
**Author:** ![Moe\_Mentum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@Moe\_Mentum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe_Mentum)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-rewatched-being-there/262035/6 "2004-08-29T04:45:40Z")
We watched this movie a few weeks ago and the outtakes were there just like in the original. My wife brought it home from the library. I think it was the DVD, but I’m not 100% positive. I’d ask, but she’s out of town for a few days and even if she were here, I doubt she would remember. Either my tastes have changed quite a bit, or the movie hasn’t aged very well. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-rewatched-being-there/262035/7 "2004-08-29T04:56:55Z")
Dude, you’re so wrong. It was BRILLIANT. Especially of course in these retarded-president times. It’s one of the best political satires ever made, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![dry\_gear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@dry\_gear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dry_gear)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-rewatched-being-there/262035/8 "2004-08-29T05:12:15Z")
Sounds interesting, and I love Peter Sellers. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-rewatched-being-there/262035/9 "2004-08-29T05:18:02Z")
Watched an interview with Shirly MacLaine the other day (it was Shirley MacLaine day on TCM) and she said Sellers was completely insane. He told her that a numerologist had figured out that, numerologically, he and his wife of umpteen years were uncompatible. So he had to divorce her. Mind you, this was Shirley MacLaine calling him completely insane. One of her best performances too, in _Being There_. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-rewatched-being-there/262035/10 "2004-08-29T05:19:56Z")
In any case, this movie should be required viewing for any American voter this year. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-rewatched-being-there/262035/11 "2004-08-29T05:30:30Z")
Hey **Moe** > [@](#): > > Either my tastes have changed quite a bit, or the movie hasn’t aged very well. Like a lot of movies after you’ve seen then a couple of times the novelty kinda wears off. Still it’s pretty good IMHO because I’m really not a Sellers or a Shirley fan. IIRC the “bloopers” were run after the credits. After the final scene with Chauncey “walking on water” as he leaves. Do ya think GWB may have a little bit of messiah syndrome as well? ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-rewatched-being-there/262035/12 "2004-08-29T05:50:41Z")
But would Chauncey be a _good_ gardener? Btw, when it was made, there were a lot of comparisons to Reagan. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-rewatched-being-there/262035/13 "2004-08-29T05:50:45Z")
There’s this little website, you may have heard of it, called the IMDb. You can look at trivia and alternate versions there to find the answer to your query. 😛 Yes, _Being There_ is brilliant. One of my top 25 or so films. Note: in _Lolita_, right before Humbert blasts him by the staircase, Sellers asks “Do you like to watch?” This question was of course answered seventeen years later, by a staircase. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-rewatched-being-there/262035/14 "2004-08-29T06:07:43Z")
Great movie, marred only by Shirley MacLaine rolling around on the floor in the rug. The scene didn’t work then and it didn’t work when Nicole Kidman did it in _Moulin Rouge!_ ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-rewatched-being-there/262035/15 "2004-08-29T13:29:42Z")
[Moderator whistle] TWEEEEET! [/Moderator whistle] Look, there’s a fine line here. If you wanted to discuss the movie BEING THERE, that’s fine, and I would say that was appropriate for Cafe Society forum. However, if you want to discuss whether the fictional movie was “prophetic” and applies to several U.S. elections, I’ll say that’s part of Cafe Society. If you turn this thread into Bush-bashing, it will be moved to GREAT DEBATES. I think that was **lissener** ’s purpose in opening the thread, but others have taken it as a Cafe Society topic. So, I’m leaving it here. ---
**Author:** ![litost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@litost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/litost)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-rewatched-being-there/262035/16 "2004-08-29T14:51:06Z")
It was a good satire, but not just political in nature. Just recall the scenes with Shirley Mclaine. Also, I watched it a while back and don’t remember it as a satire on the Republican party as much as it was on the political system. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-rewatched-being-there/262035/17 "2004-08-29T19:42:13Z")
Yes. But it was very clear that the politics of the old white men in the movie is pretty far right. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-rewatched-being-there/262035/18 "2004-08-29T20:08:29Z")
The movie was from a novel by Jerzy Kosinski. I highly recommend it. The movie is pretty true to the novel. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-rewatched-being-there/262035/19 "2004-08-29T20:20:12Z")
Kosinski also wrote the screenplay. ---
**Author:** ![Made\_in\_Macau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-rewatched-being-there/262035/20 "2004-08-30T08:17:27Z")
I liked the movie - hated the out-takes, liked the book a lot and loaned it to a friend who (after reading it) said it was a right-wing political tract. Couldn’t see it myself. Back to the movie - really nicely shot dont you think? Looked like the Godfather. Back to numericists - a friend has recently demanded we stop calling her Tracy and start calling her Tracy-Jenny as her numericist says her life will be better balanced with 4 syllables in her name. Now I hardly ever use Smilies, but, :eek: :rolleyes: :dubious: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-rewatched-being-there/262035.md?page=2)