Raetsonwe Redundant and unnecessary.

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

dataconflossmoor-1 The sixties were a radical time which left an indelible mark on American culture!! Underneath all the tumultuousness and counter culture extremism of the 1960's, was the rudimentary need to cogently clarify our nation's privileges which are pertinent to the freedom of individual expression!! The movie "Getting Straight" illustrates how a bunch of young students went to college to learn something, above all else, they should have learned the myriad of desirable prerogatives to a democracy!! Elliot Gould plays a disgruntled and maverick associate professor who is baffled by the college's late twentieth century version of totalitarianism! This film depicts how the polarization of prevailing opinions between the student body of the university, and the faculty, was ubiquitously alarming!! This movie articulates the element of non-cohesiveness with all of the major characters in this film!! The sixties were a time of change, hence, change meant uncertainty.. Why was there such a vehement protestation to the war in Vietnam? For the simple reason that most Americans felt that we did not belong there!! The rumination of concepts that Elliot Gould engaged in left him with a precarious pot luck stew of convoluted ideologies!! Alternative philosophies which had galvanized the American youth could no longer be swept under the rug!! Ultimately, Elliot Gould had to come to grips with the fact that in your life, it does not matter what you do, but, it matters who you are!! Candace Bergen plays his love interest, as well as his succor for comprehending social changes!! The two of them are constantly stalemated by perpetual revolutionary pontifications which they are barraged with on an ephemeral basis!! It stands to reason that a happy ending in a movie such as this would bring on a bevy of unresolved perplexities of rebellion!! Both of these characters don't know what they want in life, but, they know what they don't want in life!! Such a plight cultivated a pleasant solace for both of these free spirited societal malcontents (Candace Bergen and Elliot Gould). I liked this movie, and I felt that the basic concept to this film evoked an individualism which accommodated the era in which it was made!! Effective acting performances made this film an empathetic précis of entertainment for virtually everyone who watched it... I give it a 10!!

SWestDave Elliot Gould salvages what is otherwise a very mediocre movie. Candice Bergen's early reputation as a bad actress was molded in part by this film, where virtually the only thing she does in Getting Straight is whine, whine, & whine. I remember watching this film for the first time, and thinking to myself "Will somebody PLEASE slap her?" Her father's dummies, Charlie McCarthy & Mortimer Snerd, were better actors than her, and made better movies. Elliot Gould did M*A*S*H that same year, and built a well-deserved reputation as an excellent actor, even though he's had his cinematic ups-and-downs since then, like most actors. His work in Getting Straight is excellent, but unfortunately is balanced out by a typically bad performance by Candice Bergen.

jasonta A thinking and feeling individual should find value in this period romp through higher education. It won't save the world and you may not like it. But it has a message, some funny bits, and soul. Catch it on cable.

Marco Trevisiol 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.