Customer Reviews

Garbo Talks (Original CBS/Fox Home Video Release)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen and why it is not available on DVD in Region 1 is beyond me! For anyone who loves movies, the premise of a young man searching for Garbo so he can fulfil his ill mother's(Bancroft) last wish to meet her screen idol is sentimental and funny. The principal players Anne Bancroft, Ron Silver and Carrie Fisher are perfection! If you have the chance to see this film please do...you will laugh out loud! And one final note to MGM - get this out on DVD please!

This is my ALL TIME favorite movie! Beautiful performances by Ann Bancroft and Ron Silver. Sidney Lumet really gives viewers a treat by casting little seen actors in cameo roles. Dorothy Loudon as the money hungry agent, Harvey Fierstein as the friendly gay man on the Fire Island ferry, Hermoine Gingold as the borderline senile has-been actress. Each performance is a gem! Ann Bancroft makes me cry everytime I see it!

A wonderful and special movie wherein the point is discovering what is true about self. Ron Silver portrays a man stuck in his life doing what is expected and not making any waves. Then his mother has a wish, she is dying and wants to meet Garbo. Ron's character has to come far out of his comfort zone to find the strength within himself to find Garbo. It becomes a journey into self as well. He begins to see that what he has settled for is not worth having. He finds Garbo and he finds himself. It is about letting go and letting yourself have what you really want.

Anne Bancroft plays a feisty woman dying of a brain tumor whose last request to her son (Ron Silver) is to meet Greta Garbo. Most of the movie is Silver's attempt to get in contact with the elusive star, which, of course, he succeeds at doing. Bancroft is marvelous and the picture achieves a certain poignancy, despite some awful scenes: the ones with Silver and his wife and then his girlfriend after breaking up with his wife, and the kiss-off scene between Silver and his oily boss, are particularly corny and phony. The movie is effective, though, especially because of Bancroft: her monologue with the silent Garbo at the end is great. Worth a watch.

"Garbo Talks" has to be one of the finest yet unheralded films in the

Sidney Lumet movie canon. Ron Silver gives an extraordinary performance

as a dutiful son who, in attempting to find Greta Garbo to meet his dying

mother (Anne Bancroft) learns some life lessons about how compassion pays

off. Nice guys don't finish last! Great support by Carrie Fisher,

Catherine Hicks, Howard DaSilva, Hermione Gingold, Dorothy Loudon, and

Richard Schuul-all buoyed by the phenomenal performance by Bancroft as

a caring mother with a streak of raunchy humor. Both Silver and Bancroft

should have won Best Actor and Actress Oscars respectively!

This is a simple, endearing story of a son struggling to answer his dying Mom's last wish....to meet the illusive Garbo, her favorite celebrity. Anne Bancroft plays an opinionated, life force New Yorker to perfection. When she talks about Garbo, she is luminous. You find yourself urging her son, played flawlessly by Ron Silver, to find Garbo no matter what it takes before his Mom passes away. Silver's performance is my favorite of his career..so desperate to find Garbo, as his job and marriage fall apart in his quest, he is relentless in his search. Sidney Lumet directs this wonderful story with humor and touches of poinancy without being depressing. He makes you realize we are all each other have..that loyalty and doing whatever it takes for our loved ones is why we are here. I can't recommend it highly enough and am SO happy it is out on dvd. I am ordering several for my family.

There is hardly a difference in the approach that the estimable Anne Bancroft takes as the incorrigible Estelle Rolfe in this sentimental 1984 comedy versus what she did three years later as the equally feisty Helene Hanff in David Jones' 84 Charing Cross Road. Somehow, this fine actress can take what may appear to be a caricature on paper and infuse it with her special blend of warmth and moxie to make the characters come alive. Just as it was Helene's love of antiquarian books that drove the story of the later film, it is Esther's adoration of screen legend Greta Garbo that drives this movie. Perpetually jailed for her overzealous liberal activism, Esther discovers she has a malignant brain tumor and asks her son Gilbert to help her fulfill her last wish - to meet Garbo.

The movie focuses on Gilbert's relentless search for the reclusive actress, while confronting his marital problems and developing a burgeoning interest in a struggling actress. As a director hardly known for his deftness with comedy, Sidney Lumet guides this talky venture with a melancholy lugubriousness that makes it feel longer than its 103-minute running time. Written by TV-movie writer Larry Grusin, the story plods along with Gilbert meeting several eccentric characters along the way - a bedraggled paparazzo in pursuit of Garbo for years (Howard Da Silva in his final role), his lunatic cat-lady agent (Broadway veteran Dorothy Loudon), a senile actress who worked with Garbo once (Hermoine Gingold in her final role), and a lonely gay man on the Fire Island ferry (Harvey Fierstein who overplays the tear-jerking aspect of his cameo).

Garbo (who would have been nearly eighty at the time of filming) does finally show up in the story - sort of - from the back and is embodied by legendary Broadway songwriter Betty Comden. This gives rise to a nicely performed monologue scene with Bancroft. There is another good one with Steven Hill, who plays Estelle's frustrated ex-husband. It would have been absurd to expect the real Garbo to show up, but one can't help but have a glimmer of hope throughout that it could have happened. Ron Silver plays Gilbert sympathetically if rather too glumly to maintain interest in his character's plight. As the aspiring actress, Catherine Hicks (7th Heaven) pops in and out of the story to twinkle and inspire Gilbert. Just finished with the Star Wars trilogy, Carrie Fisher effectively plays an entirely different princess as Gilbert's wife Lisa, the Long Island variety by way of California. The 2004 DVD offers no extras.

I first saw this wonderful movie on cable, recorded it and have watched it many times over the years. Anne Bancroft is great, as always. My favorite scene is where she confronts a group of construction workers because they are catcalling the women who pass the construction site. Very funny. Highly recommended!

Mom knows she's dying, and asks son to find Greta Garbo, whom she worships, and bring her for a deathbed visit. Son turns NYC upside down to make mother's wish come true. You'll love this little-known film. Ron Silver is wonderful as the dutiful son. Anne Bancroft's dying mother couldn't be better. Don't miss this one!

This movie caught my eye at the video store, and I found it to be one of the most entertaining movies I have seen in a long time. I've rented it several times since and enjoy more with each viewing. I also love the score.