I want to be Elliott Gould (when he wasn't crap)

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Sorry to start a pretty gratuitous thread, but I don't get on here much these days and this is something that's really been on my mind. With a lot of time to spare at the moment, I helped myself to a double-dose of Altman/Gould classics yesterday in M*a*s*h* and The Long Goodbye, and I just can't belive how watchable and charismatic this man was. He even makes Donald Sutherland (a pretty decent actor, but no icon) look pretty cool by association. The mumbling, the general hairiness and don't-give-a-fuck-ness of his performances are just so important, special, and vital. I love Elliot Gould.

So what happened to him? Is it old age, the fate that awaits us all? Why has he become such a camp, ineffectual and strangely feline non-entity? Granted, he was funny in Ocean's Eleven for about two minutes.

Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Friday, 15 August 2003 20:23 (twenty years ago) link

My friend Rachel, who's never met my dad or seen pictures, said that she's always imagined him to look like Elliott Gould. I took it as a compliment. Wasn't he on Friends recently as someone's dad?

jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 15 August 2003 20:28 (twenty years ago) link

I love this movie:
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000JKT4.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 15 August 2003 20:28 (twenty years ago) link

He was the coolest guy. And SO WAS DONALD SUTHERLAND HATER!

s1utsky (slutsky), Friday, 15 August 2003 20:29 (twenty years ago) link

genevieve bujold rep!!!

s1utsky (slutsky), Friday, 15 August 2003 20:29 (twenty years ago) link

(never thought I'd write that)

s1utsky (slutsky), Friday, 15 August 2003 20:30 (twenty years ago) link

Don't forget Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice!

I join the Gouldlove.

Tep (ktepi), Friday, 15 August 2003 20:30 (twenty years ago) link

He's been fine in everything I've seen of his recently excepting _Friends_. To see him do the _Friends_ thing but well, check out _Playing Mona Lisa_. It's cute. (Heh - Marlo Thomas plays his wife!)

David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 15 August 2003 20:32 (twenty years ago) link

he did a beer ad a few years back, it was weird. haven't seen him in a film since Casino.

stevem (blueski), Friday, 15 August 2003 20:46 (twenty years ago) link

I wanted more of him in Ocean's Eleven. That wasn't crap.

Kenan Hebert (kenan), Friday, 15 August 2003 20:47 (twenty years ago) link

He wasn't in Casino. Maybe you're thinking Ocean's Eleven?

(xp)

s1utsky (slutsky), Friday, 15 August 2003 20:49 (twenty years ago) link

He used the word "casino" a lot in Ocean's Eleven. I understood.

Kenan Hebert (kenan), Friday, 15 August 2003 20:50 (twenty years ago) link

He was in The Big Hit, which was a fun movie but his role in it was just ... sad. Granted, it was probably about three days out of his life and he added a[n executive-produced-by] John Woo movie to his resume.

Tep (ktepi), Friday, 15 August 2003 20:52 (twenty years ago) link

Yeah, Donald Sutherland doesn't need Gould to look cool.

rosemary (rosemary), Friday, 15 August 2003 21:23 (twenty years ago) link

not Casino? was he in Goodfellas? i guess i'm thinking of someone else. but i was right about the beer ad.

stevem (blueski), Friday, 15 August 2003 21:25 (twenty years ago) link

Come on Tep, he was pretty hilarious in The Big Hit no?

s1utsky (slutsky), Friday, 15 August 2003 21:33 (twenty years ago) link

"oh mr ma-a-arlo-o-owe!!"

mark s (mark s), Friday, 15 August 2003 21:39 (twenty years ago) link

Cory brand cat food mumble mumble

s1utsky (slutsky), Friday, 15 August 2003 21:41 (twenty years ago) link

I HAVE TO WATCH THAT MOVIE NOW!!

*clicks out of ilx and hunts through giant untidy video pile*

mark s (mark s), Friday, 15 August 2003 21:43 (twenty years ago) link

Come on Tep, he was pretty hilarious in The Big Hit no?

It's not that he was bad, not at all (it does look like I meant that, doesn't it?) It's just ... well geez, this is Elliott Gould! Doing the drunken father-in-law thing? I felt bad for him.

Although not as bad as when he saw Chandler naked, I guess.

Tep (ktepi), Friday, 15 August 2003 21:59 (twenty years ago) link

genevieve bujold ... wtf? i only know her from "la guerre est finie" and "dead ringers"...

ts gould vs bogie vs mitchum

amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 15 August 2003 22:01 (twenty years ago) link

Who else here was completely obsessed with that traumatic episode of Who's the Boss? when Tony saw Angela naked and it was edited all weird?

s1utsky (slutsky), Friday, 15 August 2003 22:02 (twenty years ago) link

Bujold is a Quebec actress who showed up in a bunch of movies in the '70s. She's awesome in Brian DePalma's Obsession, where she plays a 20/30something AND a seven-year-old kid.

s1utsky (slutsky), Friday, 15 August 2003 22:02 (twenty years ago) link

how did she end up in a film by alain resnais then? was she in paris in the '60s?

she's terrifying in "dead ringers"

amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 15 August 2003 22:04 (twenty years ago) link

Bujold was great in House of Yes, even if you don't like the movie (I love it, but it seems to inspire hate in some people).

Who else here was completely obsessed with that traumatic episode of Who's the Boss? when Tony saw Angela naked and it was edited all weird?

Wow, I remember the episode -- hallmark of my childhood, without a doubt -- but I don't remember the editing. I'm not sure I've seen it since the show was still on (like, not in syndication).

Tep (ktepi), Friday, 15 August 2003 22:04 (twenty years ago) link

s1utsky went to the lev kushelov academy for grammar school, apparently.

amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 15 August 2003 22:05 (twenty years ago) link

yeah get the kuleshov effect mixed up with your sexual awakening and you can get into all sorts of trouble, trust me

s1utsky (slutsky), Friday, 15 August 2003 22:06 (twenty years ago) link

(ps in re bujold: make that '60s and '70s)

s1utsky (slutsky), Friday, 15 August 2003 22:07 (twenty years ago) link

yeah get the kuleshov effect mixed up with your sexual awakening and you can get into all sorts of trouble, trust me

would certainly make flirting confusing.

amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 15 August 2003 22:08 (twenty years ago) link

BTW this thread title would make an awesome song title.

amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 15 August 2003 22:10 (twenty years ago) link

would certainly make flirting confusing.

yeah for a while I'd just look blankly at people and then point to a bowl of soup

s1utsky (slutsky), Friday, 15 August 2003 22:20 (twenty years ago) link

The Long Goodbye was such a horrible movie! I mean, Gould was very good in it, but the dialogue doesn't make any sense! You can fast forward whenever someone opens their mouth and you won't miss a thing. Hollywood scriptwriters had far too much access to blow in the 70's.

Dan I., Friday, 15 August 2003 22:25 (twenty years ago) link

What? What doesn't make sense?

s1utsky (slutsky), Friday, 15 August 2003 22:27 (twenty years ago) link

it was written by a 60-yr-old woman!

amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 15 August 2003 22:29 (twenty years ago) link

woah i saw this thread title and i thought that i had started it when i was drunk and had forgotten

i love elliot gould. the long goodbye is fucking great

gareth (gareth), Friday, 15 August 2003 22:51 (twenty years ago) link

check out Little Murders, 1971. the best Gould movie ever (this is not a light statement). black, black, black, black comedy. directed by Alan Arkin and written by Jules Feiffer. if you like the stuff with altman, watch this movie tonight, I know it's friday.

milton (Jon L), Friday, 15 August 2003 23:14 (twenty years ago) link

I will watch it! I love Alan Arkin!

s1utsky (slutsky), Friday, 15 August 2003 23:20 (twenty years ago) link

arkin and sutherland both have excellent scenes. arkin plays a paranoid detective. sutherland plays the reverend of First Existential Church and performs a particularly savage wedding ceremony. but it's gould's film yup. hard to stress how good it is.

milton (Jon L), Friday, 15 August 2003 23:31 (twenty years ago) link

the long goodbye is the only altman film i actually really like (except secret honour which i haven't seen for 21 yrs) plus it has ARNIE in it!!

mark s (mark s), Friday, 15 August 2003 23:52 (twenty years ago) link

Okay but you know how movies sometimes have these scenes where two characters take turns staring off into the distance and philosiphizing while the other says all these banal bon mots and none of it has anything to do with the plot? That's The Long Goodbye! The whole thing! And what's with all the gangsters stripping naked in that one scene, huh!? It was totally pointless! WTF! DO YOU SEE!!!

Dan I., Saturday, 16 August 2003 00:16 (twenty years ago) link

it has a terrifically weird cast all round: henry gibson long-stride loping thru the flowerbed, sterling hayden as soused hemingway, icy gabbly nina van pallandt, mark rydell in his ugly tight trousers, the loungy guy who plays terry lennox, like a whole deliberate fusion-collision of unreconcilable acting techniques (non-acting, in NvP's case, but that sort of works pretty well somehow)

is the building that marlowe and the hippie lesbians live in famous?

mark s (mark s), Saturday, 16 August 2003 00:19 (twenty years ago) link

And the old guy with the beard was SO annoying! Sterling Hayden you say? A pox on him and his offspring!

Dan I., Saturday, 16 August 2003 00:20 (twenty years ago) link

(but if I watch it again and try to see the intent in the non-acting maybe I'll see what you're talking about. cause it was a pretty movie, I remember thinking that if I just turned the sound off completely I could maybe pretend that it was a good movie instead of bullshit at all times.)

Dan I., Saturday, 16 August 2003 00:22 (twenty years ago) link

i think the only relentlessly banal bon mot = "that's ok with me" which PM says abt 2348756891723465 times

roger wade is a veritable fount of pompous bullshit, but then he's a bad writer and a drunk, and that's what they're like (actually i've never met one)

otherwise the only bit of really spare business is the cat stuff at the start — which i like — and the malibu gatekeeper who does moviestar impressions — which i also like

mark s (mark s), Saturday, 16 August 2003 00:24 (twenty years ago) link

i think part of the point is that everyone marlowe encounters is a TOTAL fake — which is pretty true to the books, oddly enough, given that marlowe has become totally a non-chandler character, plus the plot is importantly changed (supposedly cz altman got bored and couldn't be bothered finishing the book THOUGH I COMPLETELY DON'T BELIEVE THIS)

mark s (mark s), Saturday, 16 August 2003 00:28 (twenty years ago) link

But the naked gangsters!

Dan I., Saturday, 16 August 2003 00:29 (twenty years ago) link

marty augustine likes capricious power-trips, they keep people guessing — hugh hefner as a pathological gangster-swinger, this is such a funny-terrifying idea — esp.with that poor girl in her nose-reconstruction bandage!!

mark s (mark s), Saturday, 16 August 2003 00:34 (twenty years ago) link

the half-mumbled, borderline-incomprehensible overlapping dialogue was altman's big innovation (aside from the sophisticated use of zooming and tracking in deep focus shots)..it sort of turns hawks (who also made a marlowe movie!) inside-out, instead of the dilogue overlapping in these sophisticated snappy rhythms with great clarity, it's submerged and arrrythmic. i'd say it only goes so far, and in other films the dialogue seems pointlessly empty and flat (almost like bad improvisations) as if just the gesture was enough. but i like it a lot in "the long goodbye."

amateurist (amateurist), Saturday, 16 August 2003 06:12 (twenty years ago) link

the thing about altman is that i find the revisionist quality of his plots in this period ultimately not v. rewarding...trite. it isn't as thoroughly conceived/achieved as the half-revisionist fantasies of ford, boetticher, hawks, etc. (his forebears) so seems a bit like an adolescent provocation. I usually don't realize this until after the picture is over, or as it's winding down. "McCabe & Mrs Miller" is the most obvious example. the surface attractions are so inventive that it keeps you sufficiently distracted.

the best parts of "Long Goodbye" for me are the multiple versions of the title tune, sung and performed in every manner imaginable (toward the end, by a mariachi band!). again, a facile thing--it isn't funny the second time, but it's awesome the first time.

amateurist (amateurist), Saturday, 16 August 2003 06:17 (twenty years ago) link

i woke up with this is in my head: "if you try your luck you could be donald DUUUUCK!! hooray for ho-ollywood"

mark s (mark s), Saturday, 16 August 2003 08:39 (twenty years ago) link

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/612/23165019631_96a4b1cd17_n.jpg

Οὖτις, Thursday, 19 November 2015 22:31 (eight years ago) link

I want that on a T-shirt

doug watson, Friday, 20 November 2015 01:37 (eight years ago) link

Well thats what i made it for

Οὖτις, Friday, 20 November 2015 02:20 (eight years ago) link

Outstanding

doug watson, Friday, 20 November 2015 12:35 (eight years ago) link

a+

doing my Objectives, handling some intense stuff (LocalGarda), Friday, 20 November 2015 12:38 (eight years ago) link

would buy

please don't shampoo your eyes (stevie), Friday, 20 November 2015 12:45 (eight years ago) link

get the shirt mill going for Christmas, i know a college freshman who wd buy

skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Friday, 20 November 2015 12:48 (eight years ago) link

the impetus for this was an offhand comment my wife made about wanting an Elliott Gould t-shirt so I was like sure that's easy and did up the design, but now I'm thinking maybe I should make a bunch. although I have no idea how to do that.

Οὖτις, Friday, 20 November 2015 18:26 (eight years ago) link

(I don't have a silkscreen print press or anything)

Οὖτις, Friday, 20 November 2015 18:27 (eight years ago) link

is that cafepress thing still around?

skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Friday, 20 November 2015 18:32 (eight years ago) link

two months pass...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CbduUCvUEAAVRYG.jpg:large

Οὖτις, Thursday, 18 February 2016 16:59 (eight years ago) link

u sellin these homie?

we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 18 February 2016 17:15 (eight years ago) link

it was so nice to see him in Ray Donovan. and he was awesome in it too.

scott seward, Thursday, 18 February 2016 17:16 (eight years ago) link

I'm thinkin about it, maybe make a small limited run but I haven't worked it out yet. this was just the first one.

xp

Οὖτις, Thursday, 18 February 2016 17:20 (eight years ago) link

I would buy the shit our of one

SCROTUS (stevie), Friday, 19 February 2016 13:23 (eight years ago) link

two

I guess I'm torn between figuring out how to fulfill individual orders one at a time vs. printing a bunch in various sizes and just hoping people buy them and I don't lose money

Οὖτις, Friday, 19 February 2016 16:29 (eight years ago) link

cool shirt!

μpright mammal (mh), Friday, 19 February 2016 19:07 (eight years ago) link

A thought: You could accept "pre-orders" for a specified period of time, then once you know what you're committed to delivering print them in batches. That way you could economize on the more popular sizes by ordering in bulk.

a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Friday, 19 February 2016 19:19 (eight years ago) link

I'm going to make at least one more for a friend, but all I did was buy a shirt (duh) and take my design to this place on Haight St that does custom shirt printing, which cost like $30. So that plus the cost of the shirt would be somewhere around $40 per, and who's going to pay $40 + shipping for a t-shirt? That seems crazy, but maybe idk the market here.

xp

Οὖτις, Friday, 19 February 2016 19:20 (eight years ago) link

two weeks pass...

well let's see if this works

http://www.zazzle.com/shakeyshirts/products

Οὖτις, Friday, 4 March 2016 21:31 (eight years ago) link

No shirts on sale!

pantsuit aficionado (stevie), Saturday, 5 March 2016 14:50 (eight years ago) link

does this work? this website is fucking garbage

http://www.zazzle.com/elliott_gould_tee_shirt-235817597516456131

Οὖτις, Monday, 7 March 2016 21:16 (eight years ago) link

I'd get one, but with postage and exchange, I'd be up around the budget for Whiffs. Looks great, though.

clemenza, Monday, 7 March 2016 21:20 (eight years ago) link

ten months pass...

dunno what yr spoiler sensitivity is re: the premise, so if there's any don't click, but this is one of my favorite thread titles/OPs: his head is a silver egg

difficult listening hour, Monday, 9 January 2017 18:16 (seven years ago) link

lol

Οὖτις, Monday, 9 January 2017 18:39 (seven years ago) link

I just watched The Long Goodbye the other day. EG is the best.

Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Monday, 9 January 2017 18:46 (seven years ago) link

OK wait I just saw the Solid Gould shirt. WANT.

Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Monday, 9 January 2017 18:46 (seven years ago) link

I was never able to get my stupid Zazzle profile to work but I can send you the artwork file if you want (I just took it to the local t-shirt print shop)

Οὖτις, Monday, 9 January 2017 18:56 (seven years ago) link

really? :D Ooh I might even get it on a tote bag or something. It's great.

Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Monday, 9 January 2017 18:59 (seven years ago) link

sure webmail me

Οὖτις, Monday, 9 January 2017 19:00 (seven years ago) link

looks like the Zazzle thing does work now? idk let me know if anybody orders (or tries to order) one!

Οὖτις, Monday, 9 January 2017 19:14 (seven years ago) link

I was about to but the color I want is all sold out.

The beaver is not the bad guy (El Tomboto), Monday, 9 January 2017 20:08 (seven years ago) link

Who? was not v good, unfortunately. Wacky robotman premise aside there's just tons of repetitive exposition, w Gould doing his best to be a suspicious FBI hardass, but the plot is generally inert.

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 17 January 2017 19:37 (seven years ago) link

ten months pass...

never knew about this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Glimpse_of_Tiger#Film

ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 12 December 2017 17:31 (six years ago) link

god, i love stories like this

"Taste's very strange!" (stevie), Tuesday, 12 December 2017 21:30 (six years ago) link

Warner Bros. reworked the film, changed the lead from a male to a female, cast Barbra Streisand ironically Gould's ex-wife and Ryan O'Neal and it became What's Up, Doc? Said director Peter Bogdanovich, "The only thing we took from “A Glimpse of Tiger”—and I don’t remember it very well—was the idea that the leading character had been to a lot of different colleges. He or she is very well-educated in a lot of different areas. And we put that into Barbra’s character."

WOW.

Never Learn To Mike Love (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 12 December 2017 22:25 (six years ago) link

really, that connection is tenuous at best

i mean WUD? is clearly more of an adaptation of Hawks screwball comedies

ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 12 December 2017 23:27 (six years ago) link

two years pass...

have never seen Busting and i can't afford/make this; it's on amaz0n tho

also Peter Hyams makes me wary

http://metrograph.com/film/film/2456/busting

brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 5 March 2020 15:18 (four years ago) link

It is interesting, sorta, but the politics of it are super-gross

Οὖτις, Thursday, 5 March 2020 15:32 (four years ago) link

Gould, Robert Blake and Allen Garfield might be the schlubbiest cast I've ever heard of.

Bougy! Bougie! Bougé! (Eliza D.), Thursday, 5 March 2020 15:54 (four years ago) link

In a one-to-one swap of Blake for Ned Beatty, Nashville wins that round.

clemenza, Thursday, 5 March 2020 16:04 (four years ago) link

the cast is great, but the premise (virtuous vice cops busting junkies, prostitutes, hippies etc.) is very reactionary/wtf

Οὖτις, Thursday, 5 March 2020 16:06 (four years ago) link

one year passes...

“Harry And Walter...” is a real folly but I enjoyed it. Exquisite production design, great cast and I belly laughed a few times so it gets love. Gould and Caan are fun together and on their own.

SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Sunday, 30 May 2021 08:21 (two years ago) link

Elliot Gould is on cameo and that makes me sad.

Daniel_Rf, Sunday, 30 May 2021 18:20 (two years ago) link

Oh wow that *is* sad. Ass-backwards time we’re living in.

SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Sunday, 30 May 2021 19:18 (two years ago) link

gould is a legend and v hottt

plax (ico), Sunday, 30 May 2021 19:31 (two years ago) link

i feel like this last point is under appreciated

plax (ico), Sunday, 30 May 2021 19:31 (two years ago) link

Not by me!

Notes on Scampo (tokyo rosemary), Sunday, 30 May 2021 19:49 (two years ago) link


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