Being There starring Peter Sellers
Director: Hal Ashby

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Amazon.com
Jerzy Kosinski's satirical novel about the way we are influenced by media receives a deliciously low-key retelling in this smart, restrained film by Hal Ashby. Peter Sellers, in the role of his career, plays a sheltered innocent, a gardener whose only knowledge of the world comes from television. When his employer dies and he is set loose in Washington, D.C., for the first time, he unwittingly winds up befriending people in the highest places in government. They are captivated by his "wisdom" (actually, recycled advertising sayings from TV), mistaking his silence and reticence for a giant intellect. Before long, he is an adviser to the most powerful people in the country, who take his word as gospel. Biting social commentary is boosted by the amazing performances of Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, and Melvyn Douglas, who won an Oscar.
Synopsis
Adapted from Jerzy Kosinski's novel, a mentally deficient gardener, who knows the outside world only through television, rises to a position of considerable political power when his idle aphorisms are interpreted as philosophical wisdom by a wealthy industrialist -- and, soon after, swallowed whole by the American public.

Video Description
A classic comedy full of arch irony casts Sellers as a feeble-minded gardener whose simplicity is mistaken for depth by political kingmaker Douglas, as well as other powerful men. ITA winner based on the novel by Jerzy Kosinkski. Academy Award Nominations: 2, including Best Actor--Peter Sellers. Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor--Melvyn Douglas.

 

 

 

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