I do believe that todays college campus is not as frenetic as the one in this college comedy drama.In 1970 many college campuses were in a turmoil, the events staged in this movie had some basic facts of other events, .Richard Rush who in 10 years) would make THE STUNT MAN directed Robert Kaufmans screenplay taken from Ken Kolbs novel. This movie was a laugh riot & also quite tense in the final riot scenes.Today it is still good & not dated as some similar films of that period are.Elliot Gould is superb in the lead, His performance was od award caliber, why he was not at least nominated is beyond me.Candace Bergen co-stars. Now Miss Bergen has never been know for her acting ability, she does try however to give a credible performance.In the cast are Jeff Corey,Cecil Kellaway (this fine actors last role)& in a bit role Harrison Ford (one of his first roles).I highly recommend this pick for all, those who have seen it before & for those too young to have seen it in 1970.Ratings: ***1/2 (out of 4) 95 points (out of 100) IMDb 9 (out of 10)

It's funny, the first 2 or 3 reviews use almost the same phrase that leaps to my mind "Candice Bergen at her most beautiful", and while the lovely Ms B certainly lights up the screen, Elliott Gould is the star, and his Trapper John persona from THE MOVIE M*A*S*H* was still strong in his acting memory. I came here after finding a smelly old copy of the paperback at a Goodwill. First I went to EBay, where some hoser has Getting Straight as BLAXPLOITATION (his caps), then I came here. I never knew it was filmed at Lane CC, but when I saw it at the Aurora Drive-In in Seattle, it was double-billed with Drive, He Said, another non-mainstream college flick which was filmed in Eugene. I enjoyed Getting Straight much more, & I'm looking forward to watching it again. And Cecil Kelloway's last role? Got to. I'll double bill it with They Might Be Giants

Too bad Richard Rush doesn't make more movies. He's got a fantastic style, as can be seen in the more recent "The Stunt Man" and this movie should have retained a "classic" status. Set in the campus riot era, Harry Bailey only seeks to fulfill his dream of becoming a teacher, molding another Salinger and making enough to live on. He can't be bothered with the idealistic ravings of his younger friends and fellow students until he see "it's not what you do that counts, it's what you are". Check out this totally superb performance of Elliot Gould's. Even if you find the movie dated and somewhat silly, Gould is extraordinary. Unfortunately Candy Bergen has about one decent scene, the rest of the time her acting is very trying. The rest of the actors are right on though, especially a very young Harrison Ford.

Considering what this film was about I was quite surprised how well the film and its ideology stand up today.There are several reasons why. Firstly, the film doesn't present the student establishment as 100% right and the establishment/teachers as 100% wrong. This is because the film's central character Harry Bailey is presented as belonging somewhere in the middle. On one hand he's dismayed by the establishment's inabilities to understand what the students actually want but on the other hand he's dispirited by the students protesting on frivolous issues as well as a hint of double standards within the movement.A good example of this is the character of Dr. Wilhunt who opposes Harry's move into teaching. While portrayed in the wrong, he's not a one-dimensional monster but someone who is realistic about how much a teacher can change students' morals while teaching english grammar.In fact it's Harry's friend, hippie Nick Philbert, who brings him down when after attempting to avoid the draft, he joins the Marines and turns into a moralistic, gung-ho youth. Only at the end of the film does Harry realise what an unworthy, crazy person he is. It could've been easy for the film to make Dr. Wilhunt as the one who brings Harry down but it avoids the easy path and shows us that there are untrustworthy people everywhere in society whether they be young, old, conservative or radical.Then there is the character of Harry Bailey who's in virtually every scene in the film. Again the film doesn't portray him as some flawless character who fights against the conservative establishment for noble causes. Instead we get someone who's intelligent, compassionate and idealistic but who also has traits of selfishness and foolishness. That he's a realistic, believeable, flawed but likeable person helps the film immesuarably. A lot of this credit must go to Elliott Gould who's excellent in the role.Special note must be of the direction and cinematography which make the film look both stylish and fluid.Particularly impressive is the use of focussing on more then one object or character in the same shot as it's cleverly used to make points about events or people in narrational terms instead of words.All in all a superb film and especially so when compared to another student film of the same era, the inept RPM.