| | | The best two-hour vacation in town.
Features: DVD, Pan and Scan (TV Format), Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 1.85:1, Dolby Surround Sound, English, Spanish, Subtitled, French, Dubbed
Four couples come to the Beverly Hills Hotel for diverse reasons in Neil Simon's hilarious comedy California Suite, and all must confront humor-tinged personal dilemmas. Sidney Cochran (Michael Caine) becomes the victim of wife Diana's (Maggie Smith) outrage when she just misses winning an Oscar (but Smith won a real Oscar as Best Supporting Actress in the film). Marvin Michael (Walter Matthau) must somehow explain to his wife (Elaine May) how a sexy blonde got in his bed. Wisecracking Hannah (Jane Fonda) is uneasy about her ex-husband's (Alan Alda) new California lifestyle. And Dr. Chauncy Gump (Richard Pryor) must contend with his friend's (Bill Cosby) increasingly imposing manner. Great fun!
"...one of Simon's most interesting efforts." The Motion Picture Guide
"Pleasant...with nice jazz score by Claude Bolling." Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
"Simonized dialogue is crisp and funny." VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever
Editor's Note
Neil Simon's bittersweet comedy, adapted from the Broadway hit, follows four separate stories of guests who've just checked into the swank Beverly Hills Hotel over the weekend of the Academy Awards gala. The four-part story line runs the gamut from touching introspection to outright slapstick. Bill and Hannah Warren (Alan Alda and Jane Fonda) are an angry divorced duo engaged in a nasty custody battle over their daughter. Marvin Michaels (Walter Matthau) is in town a day before his devoted wife (Elaine May) for his nephew's bar mitzvah when his brother sends him a present that is difficult to hide--a hooker. Diana Barrie (Maggie Smith) is an Oscar-nominated British actress in town for the Academy Awards with her husband, Sydney (Michael Caine), who happens to be gay. Competing doctors Willis Panama (Bill Cosby) and Chauncey Gump (Richard Pryor) have been busy containing calamities befalling them since they arrived and discovered they had to share a hotel room with their crestfallen wives. CALIFORNIA SUITE, in the capable hands of director Herbert Ross, is a simultaneously touching and hilarious vision of everyday people struggling to survive. (Smith, interestingly enough, won an Oscar for her role in the film.)
| Features | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Thai | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Access | | Digitally Mastered Audio & Anamorphic Video | | Widescreen & Full Screen Presentations | | Audio: English & French Mono |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Columbia Tri-Star |
| Release Date: 12/7/2004 |
| Running Time: 103 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1978 | | Catalog ID: 07727 | | UPC: 00043396077270 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English, French Dubbed | | Available Subtitles: English, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai, Chinese | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | 1.85:1/4:3 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Oscar (1979) |  | Maggie Smith, Winner, Best Supporting Actress | | | Albert Brenner, Marvin March, Nominee, Best Art Direction--Set Decoration | | | Neil Simon, Nominee, Best Screenplay Based On Material From Another Medium | |
British Academy Awards (1980) | | | Maggie Smith, Nominee, Best Actress | |
Golden Globe (1979) | | Maggie Smith, Winner, Best Performance By An Actress In A Motion Picture-Comedy/Musical |
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| | Professional Reviews | Variety
"...Fonda demonstrates yet another aspect of her amazing range, making her one of the most dynamic feminine screen stars in decades..." 12/13/1978New York Times
"...Simon in top form....The writer and the director have assembled a dream cast..." 12/22/1978 p.C12 New York Times
Included in the New York Times's "10 BEST FILMS OF 1978" 12/31/1978 p.II:1 |
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