Garbo Talks
| Garbo Talks | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Sidney Lumet |
| Produced by |
Burtt Harris Elliott Kastner |
| Written by | Larry Grusin |
| Starring |
Anne Bancroft Ron Silver Carrie Fisher Betty Comden (Uncredited) |
| Music by | Cy Coleman |
| Cinematography | Andrzej Bartkowiak |
| Editing by | Andrew Mondshein |
| Studio | United Artists |
| Distributed by | MGM/UA |
| Release dates | October 12, 1984 |
| Running time | 103 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1,493,782[1] |
Garbo Talks is a 1984 American comedy-drama film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Anne Bancroft, Ron Silver, Carrie Fisher, and Betty Comden as Greta Garbo.
The movie was written by Larry Grusin and also stars Catherine Hicks and Steven Hill. Bancroft was nominated for a Golden Globe.
Greta Garbo's low, husky voice and Swedish accent was first heard on screen in Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie (1930), which was publicized with the slogan "Garbo Talks."
Despite favorable reviews from critics, the film failed at the box office.
Plot
Estelle Rolfe (Anne Bancroft) is a one-person protest army: she goes to jail over grocery prices, shames construction workers for catcalls to passing women, and won't cross a picket line for her son's wedding. She also loves films starring Greta Garbo, the film actress whose transition from silent films to her first sound film was ballyhooed in advertisements with the slogan "GARBO TALKS."
When Estelle learns she has a brain tumor and six months to live, she decides she must meet Garbo. Her dutiful son, Gilbert (Ron Silver), a Manhattan accountant named for Garbo's co-star in several films, John Gilbert, intends to fulfill his mother's wish despite Garbo's known reclusiveness.
Gilbert hires a paparazzo (Howard Da Silva) to show him Garbo's apartment, stakes it out, gets a job delivering food there, seeks her on Fire Island, and tracks her to a Sixth Avenue flea market. As his obsession distances him from his wife (Carrie Fisher), he's drawn to a struggling actress (Catherine Hicks) he meets at work.
Cast
- Anne Bancroft as Estelle Rolfe
- Ron Silver as Gilbert Rolfe
- Carrie Fisher as Lisa Rolfe
- Betty Comden (uncredited) as Greta Garbo
- Catherine Hicks as Jane Mortimer
- Steven Hill as Walter Rolfe
- Howard Da Silva as Angelo Dokakis
- Dorothy Loudon as Sonya Apollinar
- Harvey Fierstein as Bernie Whitlock
- Hermione Gingold as Elizabeth Rennick
- Alice Spivak as Claire Rolfe
- Mary McDonnell as Lady Capulet
- Adolph Green as Himself
- Andrzej Bartkowiak (uncredited)
- Cy Coleman (uncredited) as Himself
- Greta Garbo (uncredited archive footage) as Herself
- Charles Pendleton (uncredited) as Construction worker
- George Plimpton (uncredited) as Himself
References
External links
- Garbo Talks at the Internet Movie Database
- Garbo Talks at Box Office Mojo
- Garbo Talks at Rotten Tomatoes
- Garbo Talks at allmovie