Hoffman (1970)

Goon Pod

"Who would have suspected him? I mean, nobody ever noticed him. I never did."

In 1969 Canadian director Alvin Rakoff directed a big screen version of his successful television play Call Me Daddy, which had starred Donald Pleasance and Judy 'Keeping Up Appearances' Cornwell. Now renamed Hoffman, the film starred Peter Sellers and newcomer Sinead Cusack. Benjamin Hoffman, a manager at a cigarette company, blackmails one of the office girls into staying with him at his flat for a week. His intentions are never wholly made explicit but Janet Smith (Cusack) has a pretty good idea and very reluctantly agrees. As the days go by very gradually the power dynamic shifts and we come to recognise Hoffman for what he really is: a rather sad, pathetic figure.

Sellers famously hated this film, or didn't hate this film, depending on who you spoke to - but in any case he saw in the character of Hoffman too many traits which sat uncomfortably close to home. Some good did come out of it, in a way - he enjoyed a brief romance with Cusack which ended almost as soon as it began. And the film is quite absorbing, even if some of the content and themes are problematic when viewed from a 21st century perspective.

It is pretty much a two-hander (the supporting cast, including Jeremy Bulloch and David Lodge, don't get much to do) and hardly full of belly laughs but is amusing enough in its own way.

Joining Tyler to talk about it is actor Patrick Strain and among the many questions raised is "Could you make it today?"

Patrick was introduced to Sellers' film work via three relatively cosy black & white British comedies and then this film - QUITE the gear change! As he explains, it's a film he's fond of as much for the history and background of its production as for the finished product.

The film was recently released on blu-ray with oodles of extra features including an essay by former Goon Pod guest and host of Smersh Pod John Rain.