Mister Buddwing * (1966, James Garner, Jean Simmons, Suzanne Pleshette, Angela Lansbury, Katharine Ross) – Classic Movie Review 7435

The 1966 movie Mister Buddwing stars James Garner as a man who comes round on a park seat in New York’s Central Park and cannot remember who he is. Garner recalled: ‘Worst picture I ever made.’

Director Delbert Mann’s 1966 movie Mister Buddwing is a badly paced, boring, very tediously Sixties-style drama about Mister Buddwing (James Garner), a man who comes round on a park seat in New York’s Central Park and cannot remember who he is. But the amnesiac calls himself Buddwing as an amalgam of the first two things he sees – a Budweiser beer advert and a plane.

Wandering round the streets of Manhattan, Mister Buddwing meets actress Fiddle (Suzanne Pleshette), student Janet (Katharine Ross), a blonde heiress (Jean Simmons) and Gloria (Angela Lansbury), who help to jog his memory.

Not even a true professional like Garner, with all his easy-going charisma, and a very good cast can stop interest flagging virtually totally. Dale Wasserman’s screenplay is based on the novel Buddwing by Evan Hunter. Garner is the uncredited executive producer, making it for his own company Cherokee.

Garner recalls in his memoir book The Garner Files: ‘Worst picture I ever made. I’d summarize the plot but, to this day, I have no clue what it is. What were they thinking? What was I thinking?’ The poster tries to summarize the plot as ‘The Story of a Man Who Had to Live Twelve Years in One Day with Four Women!’ Sounds good, doesn’t it? No it doesn’t!

Ellsworth Fredericks shoots it in black and white, surprisingly for this kind of film in 1966.

Also in the cast are Raymond St Jacques, Joe Mantell, Jack Gilford, George Voskovec, Ken Lynch, Billy Halop, Bart Conrad, Wesley Addy, Beeson Carroll, Michael Hadge, Charles Seel, John Tracy, Kam Tong, Romo Vincent, James O’Rear, Nichelle Nichols, Rafael Campos, John Dennis, Pat Li, Rikki Stevens and Paul Andor.

Mister Buddwing was nominated for two Oscars: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White (George W Davis, Paul Groesse, Henry Grace, Hugh Hunt) and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (Helen Rose).

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7435

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