Mister Buddwing

Mister Buddwing
poster
Directed by	Delbert Mann
Produced by	Douglas Laurence Delbert Mann
Written by	Evan Hunter (novel) Dale Wasserman (screenplay)
Starring	James Garner Jean Simmons Suzanne Pleshette Angela Lansbury
Music by	Kenyon Hopkins
Cinematography	Ellsworth Fredericks
Editing by	Fredric Steinkamp
Studio	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Distributed by	MGM
Release dates	11 October 1966 (US)
Running time	100 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Mister Buddwing is a 1966 American film drama directed by Delbert Mann and starring James Garner .

The film depicts a well-dressed man who finds himself on a bench in Central Park with no idea who he is. He proceeds to wander around Manhattan meeting women (Jean Simmons, Suzanne Pleshette, Katharine Ross, Angela Lansbury) as he desperately tries to figure out his own identity.

Based on the 1964 novel Buddwing by Evan Hunter, the evocatively shot black-and-white drama with a lively jazz musical score was written by Dale Wasserman.

Plot

Waking up on a New York park bench, a man's mind is a total blank. He has no identification on him, just a slip of paper in his pocket with a phone number on it.

The number leads him to a woman, Gloria, who doesn't recognize the man but gives him some money out of pity. For the purpose of identifying himself, he invents a name out of thin air, spotting a Budweiser beer truck go by just as a jet plane passes overhead.

On the street, Buddwing spots a woman he thinks he knows and calls out "Grace!" to her. Her name is Janet, but a flashback of a romance with her from college days goes through Buddwing's mind. He experiences similar flashbacks after meeting Fiddle Corwin, an actress. They share a romantic fling, but images of her contemplating suicide flash through his mind.

The Blonde, a socialite, is on a scavenger hunt, just for kicks. Buddwing accompanies her to Harlem, where her goal is to get into a dice game. While there, a passing remark jogs Buddwing's memory. He recovers from the shock of an incident involving his wife and a pregnancy, ultimately remembering who and where he was before his blackout.

Cast

• James Garner as Mr. Buddwing
• Jean Simmons as The Blonde
• Suzanne Pleshette as Fiddle Corwin
• Katharine Ross as Janet
• Angela Lansbury as Gloria
• Jack Gilford as Mr. Schwartz
• Billy Halop as the 2nd cab driver

Awards and honors

The film was nominated for two Academy Awards; for Best Costume Design (Helen Rose) and Best Art Direction (George Davis, Paul Groesse, Henry Grace, Hugh Hunt).^[1]

Notes

External links

• Mister Buddwing at the Internet Movie Database
• Mister Buddwing at allmovie
• Mister Buddwing at the TCM Movie Database
• James Garner Interview on the Charlie Rose Show
• James Garner interview at Archive of American Television