The director Paul Mazursky, a master of the social satire and the topical movie, has died. He’s chiefly (and rightly) being remembered for his cinematic social landmarks: Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, An Unmarried Woman and Harry and Tonto.
But my favorite Mazursky film is the 1986 comedy Down and Out in Beverly Hills. Mazursky directed and co-adapted the screenplay. Richard Dreyfuss and Bette Midler play a rich and very unfulfilled couple. Through circumstance, they invite a homeless guy (Nick Nolte) to stay in their Beverly Hills mansion. This fish-out-of-water exposes the shallowness of their lifestyle, and he personally touches – and awakens – each member of the household. And there are PLENTY of LOL moments. It’s a 28-year-old movie that stands up very well today. Watch for the fine actress Elizabeth Pena as Carmen the maid in her first highly visible role. Down and Out in Beverly Hills is available streaming on Netflix Instant, iTunes, Amazon and Vudu.
My friend Steve also loves Mazursky’s most overlooked film, Moon Over Parador, in which Dreyfuss plays a down-on-his-luck actor who gets trapped into impersonating a dead Latin American dictator. It’s very funny. Moon Over Parador is available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu and Xbox Video.
Tidbit: Although his major contribution was as a director, Mazursky started out as an actor, amassing 76 screen credits through 2011. In one of his first roles, he played a hard case teen in the troubled urban school saga Blackboard Jungle.
