The very essence of this wonderful 1976 film depicting life in the 1950s Village is fully realized by a wonderful cast.Lenny Baker, who died way too early, was simply wonderful as our Brooklyn College graduate, who leaves home to venture forth to Greenwich Village. It's the place of cafés, of wander and lust, the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg protest era, and all things associated with society at this time.Shelley Winters was fabulous as Baker's quintessential Jewish mother.The troupe that Larry (Baker) falls in with reminded me of a group by Hemingway in "The Sun Also Rises," as they leave for Mexico.There was also some wonderful support here by up and coming actors Chris Walken and Jeff Goldblum as well as Ellen Greene.This often comic film does have its moments when one of the group commits suicide. There is a truly magnificent supporting performance by Antonio Fargas, as the black Bernstein Chandler. He made up the story of his mother working as a maid for a Jewish family. Gay to the hilt, Fargas etched a believable, memorable character.The film turns quite poignant at the end when Larry wins a part in a Hollywood film and as he leaves, mama Winters reminds him never to forget who you are.A film to treasure for the ages.

I always try to see movies that aren't very well known. I do like to watch blockbusters as well, but I think that not every movie that didn't get too much attention isn't worth anything. Sometimes I discover some nice little gems. Sometimes, but not this time although it certainly isn't as bad as you might fear now...This movie starts with a young man who is about to leave his parents home so he can live on his own and become an actor. Of course this goes hand in hand with a lot of drama, as mom doesn't want to see her 'little boy' leave the house so soon. But his mind has been made up and Larry Lapinsky moves from Brooklyn to Greenwich Village. Here he meets new people and soon he has a lot of friends, all with their own problems and worries...This movie has some excellent moments to offer (for instance when mom shows up with a chicken, because she fears that her son doesn't get enough to eat), but sometimes it could have been a bit more subtle in my opinion. It was a bit too stereotypical to be a really great movie, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth a watch of course. I give it a 6.5/10.

When I think of this film, I think of my older brother's generation, graduating from high school about 1956, and from college about 1960. Mazursky catches the look of a certain kind of young people of that era, their fashions, their expressions, their masks and identities. There's a sense of confusion and discovery, or rejection of the restrictions of middle class culture and their embracing of a murkily-defined bohemian alternative, and the disruption that brings to their lives, culturally, socially, sexually.The film also reminds me of my years spent living near and wandering around Greenwich Village, 1966-70. Some of the kinds of people Mazursky shows were still there, ten years older, either mystified or amused or annoyed by the hippie hoards invading them. Honky-tonk, high rents, and mass culture bohemianism had arrived.Mazursky gets this right. I don't know how this picture would play to those not interested or affected by the sociology time capsule, but I think it still would play.And hats off to Shelly Winters, once again playing an impossible mother.

Possibly the most underrated movie of all time. It ranks with the best films of the greatest movie decade (70's). I think a lot of that can be blamed on the fact that it's both funny and autobiographical, which is fine for movie critics sitting in a movie theater for an 1 and 1/2, but does not hold up well when they set their pen to paper and try to come up with the most important, serious and influential movies of a year or decade. Most comic directors and writers suffer this fate, even Woody Allen, who is given false credit for his serious films (Manhattan, Hannah, Crimes) and less for his funniest (Sleeper, Annie Hall and Manhattan Murder Mystery). Mazursky deserves to be given the chance to put his personal movie making gifts out on the scene. He's one of the best.