User reviews

Bye Bye Braverman is yet another Sidney Lumet valentine to New York City as four friends react to the sudden passing of their friend Leslie Braverman at the tender age of 41. It's the kind of passing and the age and suddenness for the victim have left all four of them in a state of flux.

George Segal, Joseph Wiseman, Sorrell Booke, and Jack Warden are the four friends all hit hard with the news and all now feeling their mortality and are concerned. They all feel an obligation of some kind to see poor Braverman off on the big trip.

It helps to be of Jewish heritage and from New York to appreciate Bye Bye Braverman. Imagine four men squeezed into Sorrell Booke's little Volkswagen, one of them Joseph Wiseman makes no secret of his disdain for Booke in purchasing a German car.

They set out from Manhattan to the funeral parlor which is on Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn which is kind of like a residential Champs Elysees in the borough of homes and churches. On the way they have all kinds of adventures including a fender bender with a black driver who is well versed in Jewish idiom played nicely by Godfrey Cambridge. The day is topped off by a voluble rabbi Alan King who can't find enough words to give a proper eulogy to the deceased.

Bye Bye Braverman is funny and bittersweet and kind of sad in its own way. Sidney Lumet got some great performances out of his ensemble cast, most especially from Sorrell Booke who is not a fan of driving three back seat drivers. Nice film to see, especially if you live in New York.

I am not convinced that "Bye Bye Braverman" is much more than a stage play inside a red Volkswagon. This is all about the dialog, and quite frankly a lot of it is kind of boring. The characters, four Jewish intellectuals, are well developed, but seem very one dimensional. The movie is essentially one long misadventure on their way to a funeral. Godfrey Cambridge as a "Black Jewish cabdriver", and Alan King as a long winded Rabbi, are the most memorable scenes. George Segal is his usual droopy self, and Jack Warden his usual gruff self. Overall the film is a time capsule, that you may or may not want to open, depending on your tolerance for a lot of often times meaningless dialog. - MERK

This movie is about four friends searching for their friend's burial place. Not only do you experience the frustration of New York in the 1960's, but you can relate to how these aging friends are dealing with an ever-changing society. Sorrel Brooke, perhaps best known as Boss Hogg, steals the show. A true gem!

Although "Braverman" is a very dated movie, and a very hard-to understand and follow movie - due mainly to it's Yiddish/Jewish references - it none the less has it's moments to chuckle and giggle at. The back-and-forth banter between Brooke, Segal, Warden and Wiseman is very much on par with the Taylor/Burton interaction of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and entertaining in itself. There's a little something in this film for all whether it's the vaudevillian Sorrell Brooke/Godfrey Cambridge exchange, the Manhattan/Brooklyn bird's eye view or the in depth underlying message of death and remembrance, you'll be able to at least tolerate this movie.

SO much talking, in this guys-on-a-journey film. This was a couple years after George Segal had been nominated for Virginia Woolf. Jack Warden had done a lot of TV AND films, but his two nominations will come ten years later. Their friend has died, and they are on the way to the funeral. Sorrell Booke is in here (Boss Hogg, on Dukes of Hazard !) Rounding out the cast is Joseph Wiseman.. the only thing I know about him is that he was the very first James Bond villain in "Dr. No". a LONG conversation with a taxi driver when they get into a minor cruncher, and the taxi driver (also) turns out to be jewish. Godfrey Cambridge WAS set to film a tv series with Don Adams years later, but they did not get along. More on that in Cambridge's bio here on imdb. Died quite young, while filming the part of Idi Amin. Lots of flashbacks by Morroe Rieff (Segal).. pretty corny, but someone somewhere thought they were interesting. It's okay. Similar to the "thinker" films of the 1970s. A couple minor surprises. could put it in with Much ado about Nothing. or maybe an episode of Seinfeld.

Directed by Sydney Lumet ( FIVE nominations, not for this one.) had worked with J. Warden on Twelve Angry Men. Written by Wallace Markfield...had written several novels, but this seems to be the only one made into film.

It's too talky. I wish it were talky in that smart, thought- provoking way.

But it's not.

I wish it were talky in that clever word-play funny way.

But it's not.

It's just talky and inconsequential and messy in its storytelling.

The odyssey trope doesn't work here.

This feels like it borrows heavily from French whimsy comedies. Without enough whimsy.

Four friends get lost on the way to the funeral of their friend Leslie Braverman and get hit by a taxi. Leslie's widow Inez (Jessica Walter) had considered divorce before his death. The four friends are Morroe Rieff (George Segal), Barnet Weinstein (Jack Warden), Holly Levine (Sorrell Booke), and Felix Ottensteen (Joseph Wiseman) who are all New York Jews involving in writing of some sorts.

I'm not sure if I should treat this as a serious look at the New York City Jews and the literary world or should I look at this as overly broad crass caricatures. In the end, there are bits of both. I don't care that much about these characters. I'm missing half of their references. It is interesting to see old New York from different sides. It has its moments of comedy but also moments of weird awkwardness. It's a mixed bag.

The stage acting had been out of place in film for decades, but this stinker is full of it.

The only amusing part of this comedy was the incredible, hateful monster played by Wiseman.

The scene with the cabby was basically unwatchable garbage, especially the "fight".

I can't believe other reviewers are pretending this isn't idiotic.

The description of this movie fails to convey how totally hilarious it actually is, although it gives a partial idea of its bittersweet qualities. Throughout the movie, we see things through the eyes of one of the main characters who keeps imagining his own death. His own pessimistic fantasies contrasted with the absurd predicaments the four friends keep getting into are a riot, and at the same time, convey human frailties most poignantly. There are wonderful cameo performances by Jessica Walter, Alan King and Godfrey Cambridge and others that are worth the price of admission all by themselves. The movie has a distinctly ethnic Jewish sensibility and a real New York feeling as we follow the characters from Greenwich Village to Brooklyn as they look for the funeral parlor for the dead Braverman. Oh, how I wish I could buy this movie on DVD! It's just wonderful. If you ever get a chance to see it, run to the theater!

I'm not from New York, so I probably can't get exactly the right feel for what "Bye Bye Braverman" depicts, but you don't have to be from New York to enjoy it. Sidney Lumet's movie depicts four intellectuals having a series of wacky adventures on their way to a friend's funeral. The characters played by George Segal, Jack Warden, Joseph Wiseman and Sorrell Booke each have their own personalities and quirks, and they add plenty to the movie.

As with "Taxi Driver" and "Ghostbusters", we get to see a lot of the city in all its grit and oddity. It's the sort of movie that makes one glad that Lumet spent as long as he did in cinema. Definitely worth seeing. I doubt that it's available on any streaming service, so you'll probably have to check your neighborhood video store to find it.

Also starring Jessica Walter, Godfrey Cambridge and Alan King.

Every negative Jewish stereotype is on display here; Communist sympathizing (Norman Thomas for President rally at beginning), cheapness, slovenliness, non-stop whining from start to finish.

Kind of funny movie, actually; strictly for new Yorkers, ESPECIALLY Brooklynites. Can't see anyone outside the five boroughs making sense of this one.

Movie script could have been written by Josef Goebbels, for goodness sake!

One of the best off-beat movies I've ever seen. The eulogy by Alan King was one of the best that I've ever heard. It reminded me of so many sermons that I've heard on the high holidays: a lot of words in search of a theme.

to me this movie turns the biblical story of the Exodus on its head. Instead of leading His people into the Promised Land, Monroe(Segal)leads His people out of the Promised Land(Manhattan), and into the desert(Brooklyn), and they wander and wander. While there, each character comes to question his faith. The four main characters, assimilated Jews, have abandoned their traditions when we first meet them. Upon their return to their roots(Brooklyn),characters and situations confront them, that force them to look inward at themselves, and what they have become. Listen to the speeches carefully. King's, Cambridges'(brilliant cameo), and don't overlook Segal's at the cemetery addressing the headstones(just beautiful. Strange that this move as released in 1968,at the height of so much turmoil. BBB is an overlooked classic. This movie is so important to me, that when it finally is released on DVD, I will be the first on line to buy it. And, I don't even own A DVD player! But for this movie I might just buy one.

Segal, Wiseman, Booke and Warden: each actor's performance makes for a superb piece of a patchwork quilt. These old friends may rub roughly against each other, in a NY/ethnic kind of way, but we recognize the deep understanding they share from long familiarity. The story offers us a superb ensemble cast, with a wonderful cameo from King. It will never knock "Citizen Kane" off anyone's shelf, but makes a great candidate for the second tier of movie treasures.

I am not sure why the hate for this from so many quarters. It seems impossibly authentic, and while not for a funeral, like far too many trips I have taken with friends to get something done, and minor hijinks occur.

The death seems like a Macguffin at first, an excuse to get them rolling, but I think it really changed them, and as (deliberately) insufferable as some of the guys were, there were deep points, and some of them had (minor) revelations about life, death, and what their life means.

But, in the end, you feel nothing horrible or great will happen. It is the stereotypical slice of life story, and will change them all... a little. But tomorrow they will go do their writing, their tormenting their children and wives, and I suspect most of them will go see Randolph Scott and eat split pea soup on Thursday.

"Bye Bye Braverman" is one of the best things to come out of the 60s and to this date is still one of the best films around. Ostensibly it tells the story of 4 middle aged Jewish friends (George Segal, Jack Warden, Joseph Wiseman, and Sorrell Booke) who get together to attend the funeral of their friend, Leslie Braverman. In their journey to their friend's ultimate resting place, they consider life and death, egg rolls, marriage, upholstery, friendship, and auto repairs.

Along the way, they encounter a black Jewish cab driver (Godfrey Cambridge in one of his finest performances) and a rabbi who's got a twist (Alan King who manages to go for the funny instead of the self promotion). These two sequences are worth the price of admission alone. But the piece de resistance comes at the end as George Segal talks to thousands of deceased souls and fills them in on what's been happening since "we beat the Depression." More than half a century later his words still ring true, and I suspect will do so for another half century at least.

You don't need to be Jewish, or come from New York to enjoy this film, but it helps.

This is on my list of Ten Most Underrated Films of All Time. It is also both heart-rending and funny. Its heart-rending because it is a souvenir of a time and place gone by that captures the moment perfectly, in much the same way as Secaucus Seven did for a somewhat younger generation. Additionally, like Return of the Secaucus Seven, it is filled with marvelous performances--reminding people why George Segal was considered a very promising talent--and its script and pacing make it very, very funny. For people who have raised on Seinfeld, Bye Bye Braverman is a much more accurate depiction of how bright, normal people in New York can be funny, tragic, and a delight to watch. And all of this from a plot that consists of, "So, how do we get to the funeral from here?"

terrific film--fine acting and directing with a wonderful script.All the players are great.it is a fine adaptation of the novel and the actors ,because the director,got it. Alan King gives a funny, funny performance,and it is just one among many in the film.It is not available on vhs or dvd,which is a shame.

I haven't yet seen "Starting Out in the Evening", but it clearly lives in much the same territory as "Bye Bye Braverman". Is it too much to hope that the release of this new film will lead to some efforts to rescue this lovely older Lumet film from its undeserved obscurity? At the very least, a DVD should be available!

It looks odd that those who write reviews of Braverman here give it a 9 or 10 (which is what I would do), yet the over-all viewer rating is below 6. I guess that you have to have some feeling for the New York (or upper west side) milieu in order to appreciate this film; but if you do have it, then you're apt to love this film.

Speaking of under-appreciated New York films, the second on my list, after "Bye Bye Braverman", would be Bill Murray's "Quick Change".