This is a true gem. Written and directed by the fabulously talented Andrew Bergman (writer-director of Fletch, The Freshman, Honeymoon in Vegas, writer of The In-Laws, co-writer of Blazing Saddles), it is wild, literate and hilarious. Wonderfully written, cast and staged, it contains side-split-tingly insightful send-ups of provincial state college English departments (first-rate performance by Fred Gwynne as the pompous and pedantic head of the department, Chairman Lincoln), the garment business (one of Jack Warden's best performances as Jack Fine, the owner of a perennially struggling dress business, Fine Fashions), gangsters (Richard Kiel is hilarious as the monosyllabic Mr. Eddie), romantic entanglements (Ryan O'Neal as Bobby Fine, witless associate English professor at Chippenango State College (and son of Jack Fine) and the wonderful Mariangela Melato (Swept Away, Love and Anarchy) as Lira, Mr. Eddie's wife) and grand opera (an incredible climactic scene takes place during a performance of Verdi's Otello). Full of passionate humor, Bergman is audaciously funny; he has the nerve to have Warden, upset with his son Ryan O'Neal over his having become romantically involved with gangster Richard Kiel's wife, tell O'Neal, "You gotta leave the country! Israel! You can go to Israel! You got a cousin there." With a marvelous score by Ennio Morricone. I can't wait for a DVD of this masterpiece.
