Broadway Bound ***½ (1992, Anne Bancroft, Hume Cronyn, Corey Parker, Jonathan Silverman) – Classic Movie Review 2007

Director Paul Bogart’s enthralling 1992 movie of the third part of Neil Simon’s delightful, famous Broadway stage trilogy stars Corey Parker, who takes over from Matthew Broderick in Biloxi Blues (1988) as the saga’s hero and Simon surrogate character Eugene Morris Jerome. The setting is described by Simon as ‘Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, NY. February, late 1940s.’

Simon’s semi-autobiographical tale of the mildly troubled youth of a Jewish lad in the 40s finds Eugene now trying to break free of the family home in Brooklyn and start his adult working life as a comedy writer on radio and Broadway.

The enormously warm and entertaining Broadway stage show keeps its virtues intact here as a movie – the funny one-liners, poignant observations and practised performances are all present and correct. Veteran actor Hume Cronyn is outstanding as the incontinent grandpa Ben and he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special.

This made for American TV movie was promoted to be released in British cinemas. It’s even more poignant now that the three senior stars Anne Bancroft (as Kate Jerome), Jerry Orbach (as Jack Jerome) and Cronyn have passed on. Confusingly, for those following the saga, Jonathan Silverman, who played Eugene in the movie of Brighton Beach Memoirs (1986), now plays Stanley Jerome.

Michele Lee, Pat McCormick, Marilyn Cooper and Jack Carter co-star.

The original 1986 Broadway cast included Silverman as Eugene and Jason Alexander as Stanley. Marilyn Cooper, who voiced the radio character Mrs Pitkin reprises her role. It opened at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York on 4 December 1986 and ran for 756 performances until 25 Sepember 1988. Directed by Gene Saks, it won 1987 Tony Awards for Best Featured Actor (John Randolph) and Best Actress (Linda Lavin).

Bancroft also stars in Simon’s The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975).

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 2007

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com/