Old Boyfriends (1979)

• Year: 1979
• Released: 13 Apr 1979
• Country: United States
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079660/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/old_boyfriends
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Drama
• Runtime: 103 min
• Writer: Paul Schrader, Leonard Schrader
• Director: Joan Tewkesbury
• Cast: Talia Shire, Richard Jordan, John Belushi
• Keywords: woman director, psychiatrist, ex-boyfriend, suicidal, failing marriage,

	5.8/10
	53% – Critics

Old Boyfriends Storyline

When her marriage falls apart, a psychiatrist seeks out those of her former boyfriends who left the biggest impact on her life, mostly in a bad way.

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Old Boyfriends Movie Reviews

Old Boyfriends is an underrated drama with a nice humorous turn by John Belushi

Continuing to review “SNL”er’s early work in movies, we’re now at 1979 with the release of Old Boyfriends which has John Belushi playing one of the title characters of lead Talia Shire. According to the book “Wired” by Bob Woodward, when this was released the year after Animal House became a smash hit, Avco Embassy did a dishonest ad campaign emphasizing both Ms. Shire and Belushi in newspapers. In fact, Belushi’s sequence was quite short. He played Shire’s former high school boyfriend who bragged to all his friends about her going all the way with him. She never forgot about that and so…but I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ll just now say that he was funny when the climatic moment came and also-in his character of being a singer-was quite good musically but that should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with his impersonation of Joe Cocker or “Joliet” Jake Blues role. Anyway, Ms. Shire is on a journey to find herself by exploring her past relationships having just divorced her husband. Other former flames she attempts to encounter include Richard Jordan as the one who proposed marriage three times, each of which she refused, and someone named Louis who we find out had died while in service of his country so we meet his younger brother-played by Keith Carradine-instead. That last one explores what might be considered a creepy kind of relationship though considering what Carradine’s character was previously going through, I didn’t think it was that bad. Other fine dramatic turns come from John Houseman as Carradine’s psychiatrist and Buck Henry-yes, Belushi’s usual partner in the Samurai sketches on “SNL”-as someone who helps Jordan’s character find out about Ms. Shire after she disappears without telling him. Screenplay by Leonard and Paul Schrader is touching and funny in the right places, aided immeasurably by Joan Tewkesbury’s direction and music score by David Shire (Talia’s husband at the time). So on that note, Old Boyfriends is worth a look. P.S. I found this on YouTube.

good acting for Talia Shire

I didn’t mind the story and the acting.

Personally movie didn’t bother me.

Adrian is P***ED OFF…

Psychiatrist Talia Shire goes nutzoid– she dopes herself up, slams herself into a concrete wall, ditches her husband, then hops into her firebird and hunts down her old boyfriends in a somewhat vague quest for vengeance. First up is Richard Jordan, who actually loved her. Second is John Belushi, who humiliated her in high school. And third is a boy who was killed in Vietnam, though his brother Keith Carradine bears a startling resemblance to him. In the end, though, she learns that life goes on and gets on with it.

“Old Boyfriends” is an underrated little curio. Talia Shire gives what is probably her best non-Adrian performance (and that’s a shame, because this movie is nearly lost). The rest of the cast isn’t quite so bad itself, particularly Richard Jordan as the one “good boyfriend”. John Belushi also shines as Shire’s senior-year boyfriend, using a lot of Bill Murray-isms and doing quite well in what is a serious role for him. John Housemann seems a bit hammy during his confrontation with Shire. It almost comes off as if he’s trying his best to take down the lead.

Director Joan Tewkesbury does an adequate job, but her work here is nothing special. Though, the set-up of a scene with Shire and Jordan in a bathroom is particularly clever and stylish. At 103 minutes, the film doesn’t seem long at all– it runs fairly smoothly as follow Shire from ex to ex. The only seemingly bad thing about the film is David Shire’s (then husband of Talia) score– it just seems rather limp and unimpressive and meanders about melodically.

Though it may not be for everyone, give “Old Boyfriends” a shot (if you can find it). It’s rather undeserving of its much maligned reputation.