Product Details

• Actors: Al Pacino, Marthe Keller, Anny Duperey, Walter McGinn, Romolo Valli
• Directors: Sydney Pollack
• Writers: Alvin Sargent, Erich Maria Remarque
• Producers: Sydney Pollack, John Foreman
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English, French
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: April 1, 1992
• Run Time: 124 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302378702
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #281,119 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Al Pacino's character in the first two Godfather films was a man increasingly drawn into himself, pulling an entire family history and legacy along with him into a personal oblivion. Pacino's performance as the titular race car driver in Sydney Pollack's Bobby Deerfield also suggests a fellow adrift in his own company, his very profession underscoring isolation behind the wheel at top speeds. Living with his French lover (Anny Duperey), Deerfield's solipsism (perfectly captured in a dream sequences in which he appears almost autistic) begins to crack when he meets and falls for a dying woman (Marthe Keller). Emerging from his shell just as she is fading away, both the irony of the situation and Deerfield's first experience with real love wake our hero from his spiritual slumber. Pollack's attempt at a mainstream art-house movie didn't entirely work, and critics have been brutal on both its serious aspirations and Pacino's locked-down performance. But there is something in the film that convincingly suggests a yearning for passion and experience even at the great cost of loss, and Pacino's portrayal of a man who steps out of his car and onto the collective bus of ordinary sorrow is rather moving. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Forgive the flaws, and you will be moved, July 13, 2002

By 

Cameron Young (Orange County, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bobby Deerfield [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is one of my favorite films. For the haunting score. For the restrained direction. And for Pacino's understated, yet ulitmately moving performance. Watch him change from cold, efficient Formula 1 champion to confused lover to enlightened human being who finally understands that finding love is worth the "risk". It is a film a many small, yet revealing moments. This Pacino before the "hoo-haw" phase. His eyes speak volumes. And Marthe Keller is his equal. Only she could bring out the Mae West in him. See it.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Overlooked Classic in Pacino's Portfolio, April 6, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Bobby Deerfield [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This has got to be one of Pacino's best -- and deserves to stand alongside his more well-known classics. But if you're looking for the slow burn-to-rage formula Pacino mastered in "Serpico" and "Dog Day Afternoon," look elsewhere. This is an altogether different film. Silence is used to great effect. The viewer is left to ponder dialogue and action rather than having the characters explain.

As the rigid Formula One driver who has never considered death -- until a crash and a dying girl are suddenly thrust upon him -- we watch Pacino undergo a convincing change. Little by little we see a simple adage, 'everything is sweeter when you take a risk,' take hold and help him reclaim the reality of his life.

Deerfield's story -- and the power of that little phrase -- should be a motto for us all! And the irony of this movie is that the story upon which it is based, by Erich Maria Remarque, is called Heaven Has No Favorites.

Pacino once said that he felt closer in spirit to this character than any other he'd played, and it's not difficult to see why. The onscreen romance between Deerfield and Lillian Moretti also became an true-life love affair between Pacino and actress Marthe Keller, who gives a remarkably sympathetic peformance.

It doesn't hurt that the setting for this film is summer in late '70s Europe, with terrific scenes in Switzerland, Paris, Florence, and the Tuscan countryside. (Someday, this viewer will treat himself to Leukerbad to Milan drive a la Bobby). And it also doesn't hurt that the soundtrack was composed by the master of '70s movie music, Dave Grusin.

Now if the powers that be will only re-release "Bobby Deerfield" on DVD, concurrently with the soundtrack on CD, we'll all find a bit more happiness in our lives.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Europe that used to be....., March 24, 2005

By 

Capt. Freaky (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bobby Deerfield [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Watch this film if you are one of us "40 somethings" that used to frequent Europe in the 1970's, as teenagers...in search of new love (a.k.a SEX!) and finding oneself.

I agree with one of the reviews posted here that says this film is "a mood piece". And that it is! More than any "deep story" about a race driver etc...or the life and death of a young, eccentric woman....its simply a beautiful film.

I was not surprised to learn today that Sydney Pollack directed this fine cinematic artwork. He is a very capable director, just watch "Out of Africa" if you want to see some exceptional film making!

I gave this film 3 stars for the calm, romantic, almost "haunting style" the film projects onto the viewer....and Pacino's 1976 Alfa Romeo GTV sports car, driving around those old streets of Italy rated 2 stars all by itself!

If you loved the Europe of the 1970's...before it became "Americanized" and full of McDonald's etc....this is a throwback film classic for you. If you never visited Europe in the '70's....I don't recommend this film to you. Its for those of us "who know what it used to be like"...and wish it were still that way.

Finally...why on God's earth is this film not released onto DVD format? When you see all the crap that is available out there on DVD...how could this film be overlooked? Give me a break!