OVP: Who is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?

Film: Who is Harry Kellerman and Why is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971)

Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Dom DeLuise, Barbara Harris, Jack Warden

Director: Ulu Grosbard

Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Supporting Actress-Barbara Harris)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 1/5 stars

Each month, as part of our 2021 Saturdays with the Stars series, we highlight a different one Alfred Hitchcock's Leading Ladies.  This month, our focus is on Barbara Harris-click here to learn more about Ms. Harris (and why I picked her), and click here for other Saturdays with the Stars articles.

By the time Barbara Harris had made her film debut in 1965's A Thousand Clowns, she was already a pretty big name, at least in the industry.  Harris had founded the now-legendary Chicago improvisational Second City by this time, getting a Tony nomination for her work.  Just before A Thousand Clowns would be released, she opened in the (then critically-mixed) Richard Rodgers musical On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, which earned her a second Tony nomination.  While A Thousand Clowns won Harris a Golden Globe nomination, it didn't turn into major film stardom, though with Harris (who took frequent self-imposed breaks from acting) it was always hard to tell how much of that was the actress & how much of that was Hollywood.  She returned to the stage, finally winning a Tony for what would be considered her most significant stage work in The Apple Tree, but while she appeared in films (including Neil Simon's Plaza Suite), she wouldn't be back into awards conversations until 1971, when she won her sole Oscar nomination for the bonkers-monikered Who is Harry Kellerman and Why is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me (the longest titled film ever cited for an acting Oscar).

(Spoilers Ahead) The story of Harry Kellerman is not about Barbara Harris, and in fact it's not really about Harry Kellerman, but instead about Georgie Solloway (Hoffman), a successful rock composer going through a moment-of-crisis because a man named Harry Kellerman keeps calling his lovers (past & present) and confessing lies about him.  He struggles to understand who Harry is, and through both moments of quiet introspection and conversations with his therapist (Warden), which frequently turn into elaborate fantasy sequences with Warden taking on different accents & personas, he rehashes his life.  We see the women that Georgie has loved, but because of his inability to commit or take responsibility, has lost as a result.  One of these women, Allison (Harris) is a woman that he's recently met at an audition, and whom he feels a connection for but you also get the sense that he will once again blow it.  In the last sequence, which it's difficult to tell at this point if it's reality or what is actually happening, it's revealed that Georgie is in fact Harry Kellerman, and has been calling these women to confess the worst parts of himself...right before he crashes into a mountain side.

This crash is part of the most interesting part of Harry Kellerman, as it's one of many moments in the film that Georgie kills himself, or watches others kill themselves.  As a result, it's hard to tell if he does, in fact, kill himself over the close of the film by crashing his plane into the Manhattan skyline, or if this is yet another indulgent fantasy of Georgie's.  This would be more interesting if it felt like it was part of a cogent storyline, but the problem with Harry Kellerman is that it's a total mess.  Even if you grant some leeway for the 1970's & the experimental nature of this type of filmmaking, Harry makes no sense.  There is no grounding in reality, and the film isn't strong enough on its merits to simply be a series of vignettes.  Hoffman, a fine actor & good at playing a narcissist, doesn't give us enough humanity for Georgie, who comes off as a jackass (honestly-Harry Kellerman is saying these terrible things about you because you're a terrible person), and there's not enough catharsis in the final moments to change that opinion.

That being said, if you can make it through 80 minutes of dreck, Harris is very good in this movie and while I'm shocked that the Academy noticed such a performance (Maureen Stapleton in Plaza Suite, which also starred Harris, or Eileen Brennan in The Last Picture Show would've been more traditional nominations), it's nice that they did considering she'd never be cited again.  Her Allison gets two big scenes in the movie, and Harris nails them both, giving us far beyond what's on the page (a struggling woman, attempting to understand her life).  There's a speech where she talks about the trouble of being 34 ("not old, but never again young") that literally any person in their thirties has thought countless times before.  Harris stands out, which is what she tended to do in her brief career, and is a lantern in a dreadful storm throughout Harry Kellerman, a movie not remotely as interesting as its title.