One of the most gifted and brightest British comedians of international cinema, Peter Sellers has been known as a chameleon for playing quirky characters with the use of slapstick comedy. In the 1960s, Sellers rose to the international cinema circuit as he broke through in a small supporting role in Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Lolita. In 1964, he reteamed Kubrick again for Dr. Strangelove or How I Stopped Worrying and Love the Bomb where he played three characters including Dr. Strangelove. Often collaborating with Blake Edwards in the Pink Panther series as the clumsy French Inspector Clouseau as well as other films. In the late 60s/early 70s, Sellers was in a slump until he worked with Edwards again for a series of Pink Panther films. During the decade, Sellers was interested in a book by Jerzy Kosinski about a simpleton gardener with no past whose ideals are mistaken for political ideas called Being There. Finally, Sellers got the project going for a film as he teamed up with one of the finest directors of the decade in Hal Ashby.

Ashby by the late 1970s was becoming the quintessential American filmmaker of his hey day after debuting with the offbeat comedy The Landlord in 1970 that satirized race relations and upper class society. Since then, Ashby made classic films with unique subjects like the ageism love story of Harold & Maude, the behavior of military in The Last Detail, the cynicism of Shampoo, the biopic of Woody Guthrie in Bound for Glory, and 1978's Coming Home about Vietnam. For 1979's Being There, Ashby with the story’s author Kosinski adapting the script, they go for satire again but this time, through the mind of an innocent, childlike gardener played by Sellers named Chance. The film explores not just the cynicism of the 1970s politics and culture but how a man's simple ideas are mistaken for political rhetoric. With a cast that includes Shirley MacLaine, Jack Warden, Melvyn Douglas, Richard Dysart, and Richard Basehart. Being There is a subtle, funny, and witty film that would stand as the final mark of brilliance for Peter Sellers and Hal Ashby.

For all of his life, a simple-minded gardener named Chance (Peter Sellers) only knows the outside world first from radio until the arrival of television. With only a maid in Louise (Ruth Attaway) to be his caretaker, Chance has no past or anything around him. Then one day, his master dies as he and Louise await on what will happen next. Louise leaves as she tells Chance it's time to move on but being such a simpleton, Chance doesn't know what to do but stay home and work on the garden at the estate. The arrival of two estate agents in Sally Hayes (Fran Brill) and Thomas Franklin (David Clennon) arrives to tell Chance that the estate of the his master is up for sale and he has to leave. Chance takes his remote control of the TV, suits in a suitcase, an umbrella as he leaves for the outside world.

Walking into the ghettos of Washington D.C. and into downtown, he stops at a TV studio where he is accidentally struck by a car owned by a millionaire's wife in Eve Rand (Shirley MacLaine). She takes him to her house where after drinking, he coughs as she mistakes for the name Chauncey Gardiner. Upon their arrival, Eve brings in Dr. Robert Allenby (Richard Dysart) to look over Chance, who is fine but slightly injured. At the home of Eve, Allenby is also the caretaker for the ailing millionaire Benjamin Rand (Melvyn Douglas) whose influence is in political matters. Benjamin invites Chance to stay with him after the two have a conversation where Ben mistakes Chance's simple subjects of gardening for political rhetoric.

Though Chance does nothing but watch TV, he becomes a source of inspiration for Ben because of his optimistic, simple-mannered tone with Eve in awe of him as well. When Ben introduces Chance to President Bobby (Jack Warden), the President is impressed with Chance's simplistic ideas of gardening that he mistakes for more political rhetoric. Chance has become a political messiah as the President wants more information on him since he is known as Chauncey Gardiner. The press wants more information yet the government nor the press could find anything. Chance meanwhile, still likes to watch the TV as he is invited to appear on a talk show.

His appearance only causes more trouble as Thomas Franklin sees him and everyone wanting to know who this Chauncey Gardiner is becomes more problematic as the President finds himself impotent. With Ben continue to ail, Eve finds comfort in Chance where she accompanies him to a party where he meets with Russian premier Vladimir Skrapinov (Richard Basehart) who believes that Chance's political statements were influenced by Russian literature. Thomas Franklin meets up with Dr. Allenby as he talks about meeting Chance at the house of an estate he just bought. Eve falls for Chance as Ben continues to ail with the political powerhouses try to make their move with President Bobby's approval rating in decline as Dr. Allenby learns the truth about Chance.

While the film has a softness that a more hardline audience will find to be overly sentimental, Ashby delivers a solid direction in finding the humor and idiocy of politics and the media itself. Ashby is a master of satire but here, he chooses a simple protagonist whose lighthearted innocence and mild-mannered intelligence who looks into the world of our eyes. Yet, it's the kind of protagonist that most films would expect since he is a childlike man who doesn't know very much. In many ways, Ashby is Chance because he likes to watch. It's probably the most personal film of Ashby's career, especially since it's about a decade that he has watched all of these years fall into decline. It's really a film about a man watching a time, idealism, and a nation going into decline with the world itself not getting any better with no power or mind to do anything.

The strength of the film also goes to its script by its novelist Jerry Kosinski who brings in a mix of humor and melancholia. The film also attacks the cynicism of the 1970s after the fallout of Vietnam and Watergate with a hope for optimism. Yet the film's surreal and memorable ending shows a lot of things including the end of an American innocence to be replaced by something worse as a major character dies with the film's final line of "Life is a state of mind". In many ways, this story is years ahead of its time. Especially since the state of the nation that we live in is led by not just a soulless idiot but one who doesn’t have the honesty or heart that Chance the Gardner possesses. The script isn't just satire but an attack of everything that the 70s represented in the course of its behavior and political rhetoric which made the 80s to be a decade of mindless decadence. There, Ashby and Kosinski capture the future just before it was about to happen.

Helping Ashby in bringing is quirky yet melancholic vision is cinematographer Caleb Deschanel who brings a richness and elegance to many of the film's interior scenes that captures the world of upper-class society and its alien-like tone to the eyes of Chance. Production designer Michael Haller and art director James Schoppe help capture the film’s dark-colored look of wooden furniture and look that shows the upper class world with the wood being the only thing that Chance seems to know. Even the elegant costumes by May Routh shows that richness, notably on how well-dressed that Chance is since he's the only who seems to be comfortable in those close. The film's music score by Johnny Mandel has a sad, melancholia since it conveys the innocence of Chance but also the doom he is about to face when he is about to become something he's unaware of.

The casting in the film is awe inspiring with some nice performances from Fran Brill and David Clennon as the baffled estates people who are dumbfounded by a simpleton with Richard Basehart bringing in a slightly, humorous performance as the Russian premier. Ruth Attaway stands out as the maid Louise with her maternal presence for Chance and as she sees him, she displays the cynicism of how the media and culture acts towards Chance as a messiah. Richard Dysart is excellent in the role of Ben Rand’s ever-suspecting doctor who wants to know the truth but doesn’t want to harm anyone in a masterfully executed performance. Jack Warden brings humor to his role as the President in a performance that is expertly handled as a man of power with a lot of flaws that is handled realistically. Melvyn Douglas gives a fascinating performance as a dying man who finds hope in Chance while realizing about his own fate and regrets. Though Douglas won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor that year, it's a fine role but nowhere near the performance that Robert Duvall gave in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now.

Shirley MacLaine gives an understated and elegant performance as a woman who is about to become a widow while finding new hope in a man like Chance. MacLaine brings a sweetness to her performance while channeling one of her most hilarious moments in one of the film's funniest scenes. Then there's Peter Sellers in what is probably one of the best performances ever assembled on the screen. Sellers brings a restrained, subtle performance as a simpleton who isn't very smart but isn't a bad man either. He brings a childlike innocence and a well-mannered tone to a man who doesn't have much to offer or say anything profound but his kindness is so enchanting, you can't help but fall for a man like Chance. Sellers could've gone for slapstick for this role but instead, he shows a soul that is filled with sadness and heartbreak in each frame. Even in the film's final moments as he becomes unaware of what is laying ahead for him. It's one of the most spellbinding performances of the decade.

While Being There was a hit for both Peter Sellers and Hal Ashby, the film served as a final footnote for the two seminal film figures. Sellers would only make one more film before dying in July 24, 1980. Despite getting an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, Sellers didn’t win as it marked a final blow to his illustrious career. The same was the end for Hal Ashby after years of making hallmark films of the 1970s. He would only make three more features plus a concert film for the Rolling Stones before his death in 1988. Still, both figures are considered influential as Being There remains as a favorite among fans for both Ashby and Sellers. With a fine script and a great cast that included Shirley MacLaine, Jack Warden, and Melvyn Douglas, Being There is a fine film that showed the future while it's a fond farewell for Peter Sellers and Hal Ashby.

Hal Ashby Films: (The Landlord) - Harold and Maude - The Last Detail - (Shampoo) - (Bound for Glory) - (Coming Home)

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older