Simon

Director: Marshall Brickman Marshall Brickman

Overview

In this far-out comedy that slams it to academia, television, and the military, Simon (Alan Arkin) is a puffed-up professor who is boondoggled by a group of geniuses in a think tank. Becker (Austin Pendleton) leads the wacked-out thinkers as they invent off-the-wall games to keep themselves amused instead of solving global problems in ecology or whatever. They manage to convince Simon he is really a space alien, but then Simon gets away from them and takes refuge in a strange commune headed up by a former television executive (Adolph Green) whose bible is TV Guide. Simon's life does not get any easier since he is being hunted by the army with orders to shoot on sight.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/16/2012
UPC:	0883316448854
Original Release:	1980
Rating:	PG
Source:	Warner Archives
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[monaural]
Language:	English
Time:	1:37:00
Sales rank:	48,505

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Alan Arkin	Prof. Simon Mendelssohn
Madeline Kahn	Dr. Cynthia Mallory
Austin Pendleton	Dr. Carl Becker
Judy Graubart	Lisa
William Finley	Fichandler
Jayant	Barundi
Wallace Shawn	Van Dongen
Max Wright	Hundertwasser
Fred Gwynne	Korey
Adolph Green	Commune Leader
Keith Szarabajka	Josh
Ann Risley	Pam
Pierre Epstein	Military Aide at Map
Roy Cooper	General's Aide
Rex Robbins	Army Doctor
David Warrilow	Blades
David Gideon	Security Guard
Hetty Galen	Mother
David Susskind	Himself
Dick Cavett	Himself
Remak Ramsay	TV Newscaster
Hansford Rowe	TV Priest
Yusef Bulos	TV Philosopher
Jerry Mayer	TV Scientist
Sol Frieder	TV Rabbi
William Griffis	TV Senator
Tom Kubiak	Roach reaction patient
Al Cerullo	Helicopter pilot
James Dukas	Narration
Ed Karvoski	Commune Member
Rick Murray	Commune Member
Stephanie Segal	Commune Member
Lisa Maurer	Commune Member

Technical Credits

Martin Bregman	Producer
Marshall Brickman	Director
Ed Drohan	Special Effects
Louis A. Stroller	Executive Producer

Editorial Reviews

After co-writing Sleeper, Annie Hall, and Manhattan with Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman struck out on his own -- as both writer and director -- with the uneven but often hilarious Simon. A peculiar comedy with a style all its own, it features moments of strange comedic genius, such as Alan Arkin's re-enactment of the evolution of man in the space of five minutes, as well as the bizarre but terribly funny sight of Austin Pendleton getting heavily "involved" with a computer. The dialogue, like all of the film, has its ups and downs, but features a number of funny lines that echo Brickman's earlier work; for example, during a debate about the existence of God, a rabbi states, "There is clear proof there is a God -- and He doesn't know what he's doing." Brickman's timing is generally good, but the pacing of the film overall suffers, possibly because the film doesn't really have a plot and just bounces from situation to situation; it also doesn't really have a focus, taking on any number of satirical targets but not following through completely on any of them. Arkin's performance suffers somewhat because of these flaws, but on the whole he's delightful and fully committed to the material. Pendleton creates another of his strangely appealing characters, and Madeline Kahn and Judy Graubart also turn in strong support. Brickman would follow this with the more conventional Lovesick.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler