WHERE'S POPPA?

US, 1970, 82 minutes, Colour.
George Segal, Ruth Gordon, Trish Van Devere, Ron Leibman.
Directed by Carl Reiner.

Where's Poppa was not a popular film in its time, although the critics praised it very much. Written and directed by Carl Reiner, it is a satirical look at family relationships in America. Reiner is noted for his television work and he is also an actor. He has written such films as The Russians Are Coming and directed Enter Laughing and Oh God. Where's Poppa has many comic effects, but its main impact is in the exaggeration. George Segal, at home in many comic roles, gives one of his best performances here as the harassed son who has to cope with his mad family. The maddest of all is his mother, played by Ruth Gordon (Oscar for Rosemary's Baby), but she is quite difficult to manage and her chorus line is 'Where's Poppa?' There is a lot of hard-hitting satire, crudity, and a black picture of America. But it is done with a zest and punch which make it very worthwhile. Trish Van Devere was introduced in this film.

1. The significance and use of the title? As an entry into the style and themes?

2. What genre did the film belong to? The corresponding style? The kind of audience response?

3. The qualities of the film as a comedy, its zany approach to characters and situations and American society, the elements of satire, of parody? Its impact with its brevity and its episodes?

4. The film as particularly American? The picture of American and New York society? The influence of environment on individuals? The portrayal of family and family relationships, the Jewish family? American sanity?

5. The tone of the film: black comedy, the violence, sexuality, madness? How did the film make these ingredients acceptable for its purpose?

6. The use of colour, music. the initial song. the visual impressions of New York?

7. The initial focus on Gordon: the details of his getting up the ramshackle house, the gorilla disguise, trying to frighten his mother to death, his attitude towards his mother? His own sanity. exasperation? His imagination for his mother's death? His world of fantasy and reality? The effect of each on him?

8. What kind of person was Gordon? His strength of character, place in the family, the responsibility from Poppa to look after his mother? His professional work? His frustration at home and work? The interviews with the prospective nurses? His falling in love and imagining himself a knight in armour? His appeals to Sidney and his wife? Seeing him at work in the court case with the soldier. the football coach? How rounded a picture? A caricature?

9. The character of Gordon's mother? How mad was she? How sane? The initial response to Gordon as a gorilla? The Jewish overtones, the spoilt Mother. the detail of her life e.g. her meals head in the plate, mistaking people, sitting in front of television, dancing? The quality of her eccentricities? Her swearing. her attitude towards sexuality? Her attitude towards Gordon humiliating him, especially with the trousers and the bite? Did she deserve to be put away? Was the audience meant to have compassion on her?

10. The significance of the phrase 'Where's Poppa?' A lost world and its implications? The fantasy world in which the mother lived? Her mistaking people for her sister? The man mistaken for Poppa at the end?

11. The contribution of Sidney: as seen in his 11amily, avoiding responsibility? The world of his realism? The fantasy, especially walking through Central Park? His wanting to be mugged his relationship with the muggers? Being stripped, the rape sequence? His fight with Gordon? The jail sentence? The flowers? What point was being made through this character? The contrast with Gordon?

12. Louise as heroine? The contrast with the other nurses interviewed? Her incompetence, the romantic attitude she had towards Gordon and vice-versa? Sweetness and light, the song choreography? Her wanting to help Gordon's mother? The meal? The sweet way she acted, and then her running away? Her finally joining with Gordon? Was she to be a means of salvation for Gordon?

13. Audience response to the mother being put in a home? The satire and parody on homes?

14. The imaginative values of the film and of the parody elements, e.g. the dog eating the mother, Gordon as a knight, the couple singing 'Louise'?

15. The impact and value of the zany elements, especially the scenes with the mother, the meals, the trousers, the court, the ending?

16. The presentation of modern life. its hardships, effect on people, challenging of values? Was the film a success in its attitudes towards these themes and values?