MovieChat Forums > The Sunshine Boys (1976) Discussion > Richard Benjamin

Richard Benjamin

posted 11 years ago by deforest-1
4 replies | jump to latest

I have to put a huge plug in for Richard Benjamin, who seems to have been under-used and under-appreciated in his career. Can't understand why he wasn't snapped up for a lot more roles but I think he was probably misused by MGM through the Sixties when they put him in unworthy dross produced at the nadir of the studio's existence. Wouldn't the Hawkeye Pierce role in M*A*S*H have been quite a bit better with him playing it? In The Sunshine Boys he's absolutely hilarious too in his varied but always-controlled reactions of exasperation to the two old men. Great naturalism, and even greater if it didn't come naturally.

[–] PatriciaVG 9 years ago

I completely agree.

[–] snelling 9 years ago

I always liked him but he was wasted in lesser films like "How to Beat the High Co$t of Living" and "Scavenger Hunt," both which I liked as a child.

"I will not go down in history as the greatest mass-murderer since Adolf Hitler!" - Merkin Muffley

[–] gosh717 9 years ago

But he was absolutely wonderful in "Diary of a Mad Housewife"

[–] franzkabuki 8 years ago

"Wouldn't the Hawkeye Pierce role in MASH have been quite a bit better with him playing it?"

Donald Sutherland's already perfect as Hawkeye and I don't see such a mischievious, deviously anarchic quality in Benjamin that the part requires. He was excellent as the "straight man" foil for Matthau in this film though.

"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan