OVER THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE

US, 1983, 101 minutes, Colour.
Elliot Gould, Margaux Hemingway, Shelley Winters, Burt Young, Carol Kane, Sid Caesar.
Directed by Menahem Golan.

Over the Brooklyn Bridge is a cute, broad, sentimental Jewish New York comedy. It was directed by Menahem Golan, the Israeli director who worked successfully in Israel and then transferred to the United States with producer Yoram Globus. Their Cannon Film Group had many successful box office films - and many exploitation films. Golan had directed the successful Kazablan, The Magician of Lublin, Operation Thunderbolt. He had also directed poor films like The Apple, Enter the Ninja. His star cast perform their usual turns - with Carol Kane offering the cleverest role and Sid Caesar giving a very good performance, despite the over-emotionalism of the end. Commentators remarked that if the film were made by Gentiles it could be considered quite racist. On the other hand, it is a case of a Jewish group offering a comedy which laughs at Jewish foibles.

1. An entertaining Jewish comedy? American Jews? Romance? Farce?

2. The atmosphere of Brook1yn, Manhattan, luncheonettes, restaurants, the garment district? The landmarks of New York? An authentic feel?

3. The quality of the Jewish flavour: accents, dialogue, jokes, customs? The Jewish heritage? Jewish religion - liberal and orthodox? Jewish music?

4. The old American story of the poor man wanting to be a successful in the big city? An enjoyable variation on a perennial theme?

5. Elliott Gould as Alby - middle aged and fat, his work in the luncheonette, his relationship with his mother, his dead father? The affair with Elizabeth and his genuine love for her? The hope for the restaurant? The visit to his uncle, his eyeing the girls? His friendship with Paolo and advice about money (and about marriage - and Paolo's wife)? The money, proving the deal to his Uncle Benjamin, the Mafia connections for loans? His anguish? Uncle Benjamin's holding the power and wanting him to give up Elizabeth? Their clash? The wedding sequence and his enjoyment of it, Elizabeth arriving and his taking her away? The date with Cheryl, sleeping at the opera, his reaction to Cheryl's bizarre sex style? The clash with Benjamin at the engagement party? The confrontation, the straight talk, the mutual slapping of faces? The tears and the reconciliation? The cheque? Seeking out Elizabeth again - and a happy future?

6. Elizabeth: model, Philadelphia Irish, her love for Alby, shared life, wanting to go to the Orthodox wedding. the embarrassment, the clash in the subway, the break-up, reuniting?

7. Sid Caesar's comic style as Benjamin - and a more rounded character? At work, the garment district, his family. the Japanese and salesmanship, the jokes about sex shop commodities? Careful about money? Busy? His decision to lend the money to Alby? His bargaining with the restaurant owner? The wedding sequence? The pressure about Cheryl? Alby's visit to his home - his wife and plastic on the furniture. Leonard and his homosexuality? The engagement party, the fight, his being humiliated, the reconciliation? The glimpse of Leonard - and the jokes on his affectations? Benjamin's wife and her fussiness?

8. Cheryl and her looking after her father, as a teacher. at the opera, the humour of her gestalt theories and her sexual encounters - the cat, not to be touched? The break-up?

9. Shelley Winters as the Jewish mother - and her perennial style?

10. Benjamin's family - the satire on Jewish mothers with Benjamin's wife. the pampered Jewish son in Leonard. the wife and her wanting to be invited to engagements and weddings?

11. The contrast with Paolo and the Italian background. the Mafia, his wife?

12. Themes of love, marriage - with the Jewish touch?