NEXT STOP, GREENWICH VILLAGE

US, 1975, 111 minutes, Colour.
Lenny Baker, Shelley Winters, Ellen Greene, Lois Smith.
Directed by Paul Mazursky.

Writer-director Paul Mazursky (Bob & Carol, Blume in Love, Harry and Tonto) makes idiosyncratic films that appeal to critics and limited audiences. This is a semi-autobiographical film about a young ambitious Jewish actor in New York in the 50s and his struggle towards success. His main obstacle, emotional and psychological, is his dominating and possessive mother, Shelley Winters yet again frighteningly horrible in this kind of role. The film reflects the atmosphere of the times, the strange collection of young people in Greenwich Village, and the need for a man to stand on his own feet in a world that is tough and competitive. Wryly comic.

1. Audience interest in this film, its appeal? For whom was it made? Impact on American audiences, non Americans?

2. Its attempt to recapture the style and the atmosphere of the early 50s? How successful in its look, fashions, houses and streets, advertisements? The references to contemporary films, the style of talk? The significance of the detail? An atmosphere of nostalgia? A presentation of a period now as history?

3. How incomplete was the film in its plot and themes? The significance of the title, 'Next Stop'? The response to a partial piece of biography?

4. The importance of the film as the autobiography of the director? His knowledge of the world of theatre, films, work? The significance of Larry's acting on the railway station? The hopes of a young actor and the world before him? Was this a self-contained story or was it a parable about a man who would be an actor?

5. The nature of the narrative and structure: the episodic nature, the details and build-up of the various incidents, the role of fantasies? Did this provide a satisfying blend for audience response and understanding of character and themes?

6. The importance of the Jewish atmosphere of the film? Its hold on Larry: the influence of his mother and the presentation of the so-called typically Jewish mother, the weak father? The family traditions, Jewish beliefs, conventions, ways of behaviour? Moral issues? The strong feeling of guilt for the boy who does not live up to ideals? Its hold and effect on a person's life? How seriously was this presented and explored, how humorously? Is it more universal than Jewish?

7. The central role of Mrs. Lapinsky? Shelley Winters in that role, fat and hysteric, moody and erratic in talk and behaviour? Her hold, both physical and psychological, on her son? Her reaction to his moving away? Her continual visits, his imagining of her conversation and visits and her fulfilling this? How much did she love her son? Ambitious for him? Her relationship with her husband, her memories of having no choice, what she had made of the marriage? The nature of her happiness and unhappiness? Her timing for visits, her visit to the party, her dancing, her attitude towards sexuality, her conventional external morality? Her attitude towards food and Larzy's eating? Her sense of protection, her pride? The desperation of Larry's response to his mother? How much affection was there in his final farewell? As a casebook for oedipal complexes?

8. The contrast in the portrayal of the father? His weakness and dependence on his wife, his affection for his son? His non intervention?

9. How interesting and sympathetic a character was Larry? Seeing him leave home at the age of 22, his sense of guilt, his experiences in life so far? His relationship with Sarah? Attitudes towards sexuality? Setting up an apartment? His ambitions for acting, for example on the station? The significance of the group to which he belonged and their varying attitudes? The atmosphere of Greenwich Village at the time? How was Greenwich village a symbol for what he wanted? The contrast with his working at the delicatessen, the sympathy offered him there? The significance of his acting and the plays in which he acted (the fantasies including his mother)? The intellectual discussions? The encounter of suicide with Anita? The discussion of sexuality and his disappointment with Sarah and Robert? The humorous side of his character?

10. The central focus of the screen test? The build-up? The would-be actor and his melodramatics? The hopes for the future?

11. The significance of the stage sequences and Mrs. Lapinsky becoming involved? What did it reveal about Larry's imagination?

12. The character of Sarah, her relationship with Larry and her love? The bohemian style, the changing values, her liaison with Robert and its effect on Larry? A credible character from Greenwich Village?

13. Was Robert a credible Greenwich Village character with his poses, intellectualization, attitude toward sexuality?

14. The desperation of Greenwich Village in the character of Anita, her attempts at suicide, her calling her friends, the reality of her death and their reaction?

15. The details of Greenwich Village, the streets, the cafes, the delicatessen etc.?

16. The consequence of the screen test and the interviews? Larry's acquitting himself well in this regard, a future for him?

17. How interesting a film about the world of acting and theatre? Was it realistic as well as symbolic in its presentation of America in the 50s?