{"id":1478,"date":"2006-09-26T18:55:02","date_gmt":"2006-09-27T01:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1478"},"modified":"2023-09-24T20:30:49","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T03:30:49","slug":"reuben-reuben-1983","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1478","title":{"rendered":"Reuben, Reuben (1983)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;You have reduced me to that most contemptible of creatures &#8212; the love-sick swain!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Reuben-Reuben-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Reuben-Reuben-Poster-195x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"195\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-22940\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Reuben-Reuben-Poster-195x300.jpg 195w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Reuben-Reuben-Poster-83x128.jpg 83w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Reuben-Reuben-Poster.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 195px) 100vw, 195px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nGowan McGland (Tom Conti), a well-known but penniless Scottish poet, ekes by on the remnants of his fame, drinks excessively, beds middle-aged housewives, and falls in love with a woman (Kelly McGillis) much younger than himself.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Character Studies<\/li>\n<li>Comedy<\/li>\n<li>Lois Smith Films<\/li>\n<li>May-December Romance<\/li>\n<li>Nonconformists<\/li>\n<li>Writers<\/li>\n<li>Womanizers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nAs Peary points out, &#8220;many people will not like this film&#8221; &#8212; indeed, a reviewer for the Chicago Reader called it &#8220;the worst kind of screenwriters&#8217; cinema.&#8221; But those who enjoy character studies should appreciate <em>Reuben, Reuben<\/em> on some level, no matter how annoyed they eventually become by Conti&#8217;s constant drinking, stealing, womanizing, and self-pitying. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1983\/12\/19\/movies\/film-reuben-reuben-from-the-devires-book.html\">Vincent Canby of the NY Times<\/a>, McGland (what a name!) &#8220;looks like the human manifestation of a hangover,&#8221; someone &#8220;who&#8217;s great fun to watch but who&#8217;d be impossible to share even a county with.&#8221; Indeed, despite McGland&#8217;s constant dire straits, there&#8217;s plenty of humor in the film: McGland&#8217;s estranged wife happily exploiting his foibles in a tell-all biography; two middle-aged women making a play for McGland under the table at a fancy restaurant&#8230; Though the film&#8217;s ending is abrupt, I found it oddly fitting &#8212; and we <em>finally <\/em>find out why Reuben (a local sheepdog absent from most of the story) gets &#8220;top billing&#8221; in the film&#8217;s title.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Tom Conti&#8217;s fully realized (if not overly sympathetic) performance as Gowan McGland<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Reuben-Reuben-McConti.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Reuben-Reuben-McConti-1024x786.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"491\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-59909\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Reuben-Reuben-McConti-1024x786.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Reuben-Reuben-McConti-300x230.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Reuben-Reuben-McConti-128x98.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Reuben-Reuben-McConti-768x590.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Reuben-Reuben-McConti-352x270.png 352w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Reuben-Reuben-McConti.png 1205w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Kelly McGillis, &#8220;radiant&#8221; in her screen debut as McGland&#8217;s lover<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Reuben-Reuben-McGillis2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Reuben-Reuben-McGillis2-1024x777.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"486\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-59908\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Reuben-Reuben-McGillis2-1024x777.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Reuben-Reuben-McGillis2-300x228.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Reuben-Reuben-McGillis2-128x97.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Reuben-Reuben-McGillis2-768x583.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Reuben-Reuben-McGillis2-356x270.png 356w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Reuben-Reuben-McGillis2.png 1213w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, but it&#8217;s recommended.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0084591\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1983\/12\/19\/movies\/film-reuben-reuben-from-the-devires-book.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;You have reduced me to that most contemptible of creatures &#8212; the love-sick swain!&#8221; Synopsis: Gowan McGland (Tom Conti), a well-known but penniless Scottish poet, ekes by on the remnants of his fame, drinks excessively, beds middle-aged housewives, and falls in love with a woman (Kelly McGillis) much younger than himself. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Character Studies Comedy Lois Smith Films May-December Romance Nonconformists Writers Womanizers Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: As Peary points out, &#8220;many people will not like&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1478\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1478"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92007,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1478\/revisions\/92007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}