Producer Josh on The Gala Show

JR: You are most welcome. Thanks to your friend for restoring the film. I’m hoping that you and he could perhaps persuade Bristol Myers-Squibb, since they are not in the movie business, to sell the film to Disney, assuming, of course, that they would want it. I do have doubts about that. You’re right about the film’s darker implications. It’s what gives the film its depth, so much better than the 2007 remake-in-name only.

I very much enjoyed this episode with Josh Richmond. I was especially pleased with the discussion of The Heartbreak Kid (1972). I would like to take this opportunity to discuss and share some aspects of this film. It certainly fits the topic of Modern Jewish Filmmaking. But it didn’t start out that way, in spite of its origins from short story writer Bruce Jay Friedman and screenwriter Neil Simon. In a 1979 Playboy interview, Simon mentioned that the central concept in his screenplay was a guy who marries an attractive woman, then abandons her for another attractive woman, the idea being he would never be happy with anyone. He mentioned that a young and very pretty Diane Keaton gave a great audition for the role of Lila. He also said that the parts of Lenny and Lila were not intended to be Jewish. The wedding sequence at the beginning simply said ‘a wedding’ with no intention of it being a Jewish wedding. That was added by director Elaine May. In Elaine May’s hands the film’s theme became a story of a Jewish man assimilating into WASP society. The part of Lila was wonderfully played by May’s daughter, Jeannie Berlin. Ms. Gala mentions that this film is hard to find. There are reasons for this and, no surprise, the reasons are labyrinthian. In 1972, the film was distributed by 20th Century Fox but was produced by Palomar Pictures International. According to a recent article in the Guardian, the film rights are currently owned by Bristol Myers Squibb, a pharmaceutical company. At present, they have no plans to do anything with the film. The Heartbreak Kid was released on VHS, first on Media Home Entertainment, later on Goodtimes Video at slow speed. At the dawn of the DVD era it was released on the Anchor Bay label. It was one of the first DVDs I purchased. It’s a fair quality print in full frame. I believe they later released a widescreen version. Either way, it’s long out of print. The irony to all of this is that Palomar Pictures was acquired by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), now owned by the Walt Disney Company and they now own 20th Century Fox. The rights should be fairly easy to get straightened out. According to the Guardian article, an advocacy group called Missing Movies has as its mission to ‘locate lost materials, clear rights and advocate for policies and laws to make the full range of our cinema history available to all.’ The Heartbreak Kid is on their list of missing movies. This is a film that needs to be brought back. Make no mistake, this is one of the great films of the 1970s.

Go Producer Josh!

That's me! Lotta fun to chat movies at length and have a meeting of the producer minds...thanks Gala for having me, and I love this crew that's already forming on the Patreon, it's exciting to have you with us for S2! -JR