Bye Bye Braverman

Director: Sidney Lumet Sidney Lumet

Overview

Bye Bye Braverman is a bittersweet adaptation of Wallace Markfield's coldly cynical novel To an Early Grave. Braverman, an idealistic minor author, dies; his four best friends, writers who in one way or another have all sold out, decide to attend his funeral. The foursome includes a disenchanted magazine writer (George Segal), a poet (Jack Warden), a book reviewer (Sorrell Booke), and an embittered bellyacher (Joseph Wiseman). Taking a picaresque journey from Greenwich Village to Brooklyn, the quartet never quite gets to the funeral, but their odyssey unearths many a self-revelation and previously unspoken truth. Like its four leading characters, Bye Bye Braverman loses its way towards the end, bringing this otherwise insightful comedy/drama to a muddied conclusion.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/05/2009
UPC:	0883316174296
Original Release:	1968
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Archives
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:35:00
Sales rank:	47,751

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

George Segal	Morroe Rieff
Jack Warden	Barnet Weinstein
Sorrell Booke	Holly Levine
Joseph Wiseman	Felix Ottensteen
Jessica Walter	Inez Braverman
Phyllis Newman	Myra Mandelbaum
Godfrey Cambridge	Taxi Cab Driver
Zohra Lampert	Etta Rieff
Anthony Holland	Max Ottensteen
Susan Wyler	Pilar
Leib Lensky	Custodian
Alan King	Rabbi

Technical Credits

Sidney Lumet	Producer,Director
Dick Vorisek	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

In the talkative Bye Bye Braverman, a foursome of cynical Jewish New York writers drive to the funeral of their friend, a writer named Braverman. Adapted from To an Early Grave, a novel by Wallace Markfield, the film is a clever, fanciful, often morose exploration of success, self-realization, and friendship. The humor is heavily Jewish, drawing on the insular culture of the New York literary world. None of the friends is very happy with his life, and the film is full of complaint. The stars include George Segal and Jack Warden. The film is notable as a stepping stone in the unorthodox career of director Sidney Lumet. Lumet's father was a Yiddish stage actor, and Lumet's familiarity with the cultural territory infuses Bye Bye Braverman with a wry knowingness. This was Lumet's first important film after the acclaimed The Pawnbroker, and, like that film, it has the feel of a cinematic stage piece subtly enriched by Lumet's inquisitive camera.

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