Movie review: ‘Bobby Deerfield’

FloridaGator80
A promotional “still” photo from the movie “Bobby Deerfield.”

I had reviewed more than 320 films for this blog when I originally posted this one and had been intrigued enough by memory to buy a few disks on eBay since I remembered the flicks in a positive fashion. Today? It’s a streaming world and since I’d only rent a film of which I have fond memories, I’ve gotten enjoyment out of little-remembered treasures such as “Gotcha!” with Anthony Edwards (click here to read my review) and especially “Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?” (click here to read my review). However, I am now forced to report a grave disappointment. I purchased a DVD copy of “Bobby Deerfield” with Al Pacino and, despite a fond memory, it just … stinks. It stinks … bad. It simply reeks. I had been looking for it for a while on the cable movie channels and finally decided to buy it. Bad move. Sometimes you need to allow fond memories remain just that – fond memories.

‘Bobby Deerfield’
(1977; 124 minutes; rated PG; directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Al Pacino, Marthe Keller and Anny Duperey)

A FOND MEMORY THAT LEAVES A BAD DREAM

(NOTE: I expanded this review with additional opinion and trivia as well as the updating of links on May 17, 2018. I again expanded this review on March 19, 2022. I again expanded it on May 13, 2025.)

Before they were called “chick flicks,” the films dealing with emotion (unless it was framed by a western town or World War II) and were favorites of women weren’t in the wheelhouse for many guys. However, I had a nice memory of one: “Bobby Deerfield” from 1977, but there was a cloud attached to that memory … I recall it was the only movie that I ever saw in a theater where a patron stood and booed loudly as the credits rolled (and it had Al Pacino in it, for gosh’s sake).

When I watched “Bobby Deerfield” again, I know why that person booed. The film is just horrible. I’d boo, too, if I was in a theater today and had paid money to watch it. However, booing at home isn’t satisfying. What I cannot remember is just what I thought was so good about “Bobby Deerfield” in the first place; maybe it was just because of Pacino and Formula One auto racing.

Further on the scale of “I cannot believe it,” Pacino was nominated for a Golden Globe for best actor. All I can evaluate is that the nominating committee must have dropped some LSD before making that nomination.

In watching it again I was disappointed in the production, writing, acting and, most of all, its direction. Director Sydney Pollack was much, much better than this – just take his magnificent “Three Days of the Condor” with Robert Redford (click here to read my review) or absolutely wonderful “Tootsie” with Dustin Hoffman. Pollack won a directing Oscar for “Out of Africa” (and added a second for Best Picture), but “Bobby Deerfield” is basically dreck that should have gone straight to video … but home video hadn’t arrived yet on the tide of technology.

I’d warn you with a SPOILER ALERT … but there’s no way I could ruin this one for you. The film will take of that for itself. Still, I tell the obvious in the paragraphs below, so, beware …

“Bobby Deerfield” is the story of an emotionless, distant American driver on the Formula One auto racing circuit. He’s top dog in his sport, but has little, if any emotional connection with other people. His brother arrives in Paris where Pacino lives and brings family mementos, but the driver shrugs off the effort at family ties. Soon, a crash that claims one driver’s life and injures his teammate. The fallout brings him to a rehab facility to visit the recovering driver. It is where he meets a woman unlike any he’d met before and the movie really begins.

Immediately, Pacino’s world is turned upside down and he’s pursuing her across Europe. Of course, she has a terminal disease (even most dense viewer will pick up on this immediately), brings him out of his shell and finally dies. The once emotionless driver is emotional in the end – and I guess that’s what brought the deserved boos in that movie theater so long ago — but I now boo it because of its cheesiness.

I’ll quickly run down the work of only a couple of actors. Very few from the film deserve or earned comment and most you wouldn’t recognize today. Here we go:

  • A promotional “still” photo from the movie “Bobby Deerfield.”

    An Oscar winner and eight-time nominee as well as a four-time winner and 15-time nominee for Golden Globes, Pacino is almost lackadaisical in his approach to his title character “Bobby Deerfield.” He has the distracted and isolated parts down pat, but he doesn’t manage to bring any energy to the role whether it is when he’s being distant or when he finally opens up to Keller. Since this is such a stinker in this remarkable actor’s career, I won’t remind you of any of his great roles (but I will remind you that he’s won an Oscar for “Scent of a Woman”). Click here to see his full awards list … or, click here to see his CV …

  • A Golden Globe nominee (not for this one), Keller plays “Lillian Morelli” and while there are sparks of inspiration with the doomed and free-thinking character, it is mostly a wasted effort on her part. Keller manages to convey some whimsy and carefree thoughts, but she doesn’t put two good moments together here. She was better in her nominated work in “Marathon Man” the year before with Dustin Hoffman and even much better the same year as the terrorist in “Black Sunday” (click here to read my review).
  • Anny Duperey plays “Lydia,” who is Pacino’s equally expressionless partner. Duperey does the best work of any actor here and her scene where she discloses to a disbelieving Pacino that Keller is dying is the best in the entire film. If Pollack had managed a bit more of that kind of emotion in other scenes, it would have been almost an acceptable film. I’d list some of her credits, but you’ve most likely not seen much, if any, and she remains active in her entertainment career.

Well, there you have it. Only three of the actors are worth mentioning here, but coming in a close fourth is …

  • A Primetime Emmy nominee, Walter McGinn plays “The Brother” and has an excellent scene with Pacino as he tries and fails to reconnect through family ties. McGinn, who was killed 40 in a road accident five months before the premiere of “Bobby Deerfield,” is the only actor other than Duperey who manages to elevate his or her character. McGinn, who was nominated for “Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years,” was also in “Three Days of the Condor.”
A promotional “still” photo from the movie “Bobby Deerfield.”

In the end, the film suffers from saccharine metaphors (both verbal and visual) and a complete lack of chemistry between the co-stars in what is called on the movie poster “A Love Story.” I’d tell you not to watch it, but, since you’ll most likely never run into it on cable and would have to make an effort to find it to buy it like I did, that’s not a big worry.

A promotional “still” photo from the movie “Bobby Deerfield.”

“Bobby Deerfield” is just as bad as Ron Howard’s “Rush” (or should it be “Rush” is just as bad as “Bobby Deerfield?”), which also is based in Formula One racing. The two films are different – the former a so-called love story and the latter a somewhat biopic about the drivers – but both grade out as rancid. I’m sorry that Formula One gets such a black eye from being associated with each (although seeing the totally cool six-wheel Tyrrell P34 car in “Bobby Deerfield” was a treat in and of itself – no CGI or replica car needed since it was filmed when the vehicle was actually racing).

It comes as absolutely no surprise that “Bobby Deerfield” didn’t crack the top 10 films of 1977. “Bobby Deerfield” made $9.3 million, according to Wiki. The No. 1 film of the year was no surprise – “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope” and it made a near-unbelievable $307.2 million (about 41 percent more than the No. 2 film “Smokey and the Bandit” with Burt Reynolds at $126.7 million – click here to read my review of that film). Here are the other films and a TV series from that year that I’ve reviewed on my blog:

Additional cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • Pacino’s birth name is Alfredo James Pacino and his nickname is “Sonny;” Duperey’s birth name is Annie Legras; and McGinn’s full birth name was Walter Vincent McGinn III.
  • Pacino and Keller were linked romantically at the time of the filming of “Bobby Deerfield” and the release of the movie.
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “Al Pacino didn’t know how to drive a car prior to this film. He had to take driving lessons before he was able to drive in the race car scenes.”
  • Future Oscar nominee Catherine Deneuve was reported to have “desperately” wanted to be the female lead in this one. Thank goodness she didn’t get it. At least that what I believe she’d say today. She was nominated for “Indochine.”
  • Likewise, the legendary Paul Newman was offered the title role and turned it down. Again … thank goodness for not taking it, Paul.
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “Real-life racing car driver José Carlos Pace doubled for Al Pacino in the car racing scenes. Billed as Carlos Pace in the credits, Pace is credited as being a Formula 1 car driver on this 1977 movie. Tragically, Pace was killed in a plane crash in Sao Paulo, just after the beginning of the 1977 season. Pace was 32. This film was dedicated to him.”
  • Click here for IMDb.com’s surprisingly extensive trivia page about the movie …

© Chuck Curry and A Gator in Naples,
©2015, ©2018, ©2022, ©2025
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without
express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner
is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that
full and clear credit is given to Chuck Curry and A Gator in Naples
with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Unknown's avatar

Published by FloridaGator80

Leave a Reply