Thank you Neil Simon for making me write about ‘70s movies… again
We are so back.
After nearly two years, I have returned to Against the ‘70s to bring you opinionated overviews of 1970s films, plus some tabletop roleplaying game material derived from said films. Barring any unforeseen calamities (reads newspaper), you’ll be getting a new one of these from me every two weeks, until you don’t anymore.
Today, I present to you the film you’ve all been waiting for me to cover… The Goodbye Girl (1977, Herbert Ross). You’d think that getting some game material out of this would be hard, but I think I did okay — included here is a new Cypher System focus, Always On, and a new character arc, Romantic Comedy. Enjoy!
So, anyway, The Goodbye Girl. The Goodbye Girl made over one hundred million dollars at the box office (the first for a romantic comedy), generated 19 award nominations, five of which were Academy Awards, and an Oscar win for Richard Dreyfuss, at the time the youngest Best Actor winner. Oh, and a theme song that made it into the Billboard Top 20. It was, without a doubt, a sensation.
It's also one of the most annoying movies ever made.
The majority of blame can be placed at Simon's feet. The screenplay began as a completely different project, Bogart Slept Here, starring Robert De Niro and directed by Mike Nichols. Reportedly, this scenario was different (Simon described The Goodbye Girl as Bogart's prequel) and decidedly darker. When Nichols and De Niro left the production and the film was scrapped, Simon came up with The Goodbye Girl as a replacement in just six weeks. This, in my opinion, explains a lot.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
If you liked the new Focus I just made for The Goodbye Girl, a reminder that I wrote two new Foci for the Cypher System and they’re both free downloads. Owns the Road is for playing a character that just happens to be a car. (Here’s the announcement page, or go straight to the pdf.) Struts is for playing a hero or heroine who uses disco-based dancing powers to defeat enemies. (Here’s the announcement page, or go straight to the pdf.)
LINC’S LINKS
This is incredible: Survive the Tyrant, an “RPG-style guide for surviving an authoritarian and oppressive regime.” Just download it and read it.
Every Saturday for the year, Lewis Beer is posting an essay on some part of Antonioni’s Red Desert. Red Desert is from 1964, but it’s the most ‘70s 1964 movie I know.
Over at Gnome Stew, Phil Vecchione writes about how to coach yourself into being a better GM while GMing. I’m gonna try this.
This one’s a long read, but if the topic interests you, i.e. a complete nerd like me, it’s so worth it. Loot the Room has a 7000 word article, Form and Structure: the DNA of Adventure Modules, that looks in depth at how adventures have been formatted, over decades of fantasy adventure adventure products.
Not sure how long this will be on the web, so read it while you can: On Downtime, A.A. Down writes about William Friedkin’s Sorcerer, a great film that will show up here on Against the ‘70s sooner than later. (I hope.) [Downtime is a now-defunct? page of film crit hosted by Jambys, a manufacturer of soft t-shirts, hoodies, and shirts. I’m genuinely unsure if Jambys management even knows Downtime exists.]
NEXT TIME, ON AGAINST THE ‘70S:
