''California Suite'' is a 1978 American comedy film directed by

Herbert Ross Herbert David Ross (May 13, 1927 – October 9, 2001) was an American actor, choreographer, director and producer who worked predominantly in theater and film. He was nominated for two Academy Awards and a Tony Award. He is known for directing ...

. The screenplay by

Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...

is based on his 1976

play of the same name Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

. Similar to his earlier ''

Plaza Suite ''Plaza Suite'' is a comedy play by Neil Simon. Plot The play is composed of three acts, each involving different characters but all set in Suite 719 of New York City's Plaza Hotel. The first act, ''Visitor From Mamaroneck'', introduces the au ...

'', the film focuses on the dilemmas of guests staying in a suite in a luxury hotel.

Maggie Smith Dame Margaret Natalie Smith (born 28 December 1934) is an English actress. With an extensive career on screen and stage beginning in the mid-1950s, Smith has appeared in more than sixty films and seventy plays. She is one of the few performer ...

won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film.

Plot

In "Visitors from New York", Hannah Warren (Jane Fonda) is a Manhattan workaholic who flies to Los Angeles to retrieve her teenage daughter Jenny (

Dana Plato Dana Michelle Plato (née Strain; November 7, 1964 – May 8, 1999) was an American actress. An influential "teen idol" of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Plato was recognized for her television work, for which she was included on VH1's list o ...

) after she leaves home to live with her successful screenwriter father Bill (Alan Alda). The bickering, divorced couple are forced to decide what living arrangements are best for the girl. In "Visitors from London", Diana Barrie (Maggie Smith) is a British actress and a first-time nominee for the

Academy Award for Best Actress The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. ...

in an independent British film, an honor that could revive her faltering career, but she knows she has no chance of winning. She is in deep denial about the true nature of her

marriage of convenience A marriage of convenience is a marriage contracted for reasons other than that of love and commitment. Instead, such a marriage is entered into for personal gain, or some other sort of strategic purpose, such as a political marriage. There are ...

to Sidney Cochran (Michael Caine), a once-

closeted ''Closeted'' and ''in the closet'' are metaphors for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and other (LGBTQ+) people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and human ...

gay antique dealer who has become increasingly indiscreet about his sexuality. As she prepares for her moment in the spotlight, her mood fluctuates from hope to panic to despair. In "Visitors from Philadelphia", conservative, middle-aged businessman Marvin Michaels (Walter Matthau) awakens to discover a prostitute (Denise Galik) named Bunny - an unexpected gift from his brother Harry (Herb Edelman) - unconscious in his bed. With his wife Millie (Elaine May) on her way up to the suite, he must find a way to conceal all traces of his uncharacteristic indiscretion. In "Visitors from Chicago", Dr. Chauncey Gump (Richard Pryor) and his wife Lola (Gloria Gifford) and Dr. Willis Panama (Bill Cosby) and his wife Bettina (Sheila Frazier) are taking a much-needed vacation together. Things begin to unravel quickly when everything seems to go wrong, and the two men decide to settle their differences by engaging in a very competitive tennis match.

Cast

Alan Alda Alan Alda (; born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; January 28, 1936) is an American actor, screenwriter, and director. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he is best known for playing Captain Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce in the war co ...

as Bill Warren *

Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film ico ...

as Sidney Cochran *

Bill Cosby William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and media personality. He made significant contributions to American and African-American culture, and is well known in the United States for his eccentric ...

as Dr. Willis Panama *

Jane Fonda Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress, activist, and former fashion model. Recognized as a film icon, Fonda is the recipient of various accolades including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, sev ...

as Hannah Warren *

Walter Matthau Walter Matthau (; born Walter John Matthow; October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor, comedian and film director. He is best known for his film roles in '' A Face in the Crowd'' (1957), ''King Creole'' (1958) and as a coach of a ...

as Marvin Michaels *

Elaine May Elaine Iva May (née Berlin; born April 21, 1932) is an American comedian, filmmaker, playwright, and actress. She has received numerous awards including an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Grammy, and a Tony. She made her initial impact in the 1950s with her ...

as Millie Michaels *

Richard Pryor Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, and is widely regarded as on ...

as Dr. Chauncey Gump *

as Diana Barrie *

Herb Edelman Herbert Edelman (November 5, 1933 – July 21, 1996) was an American actor of stage, film and television. He was twice nominated for an Emmy Award for his television work. One of his best-known roles was as Stanley Zbornak, the ex-husband of ...

as Harry Michaels *

Sheila Frazier Sheila Elaine Frazier (born November 13, 1948) is an American actress, producer, and model. Frazier is known for her co-starring role as Georgia in the 1972 crime/drama film '' Super Fly''. Frazier later reprised her role in the 1973 sequel, '' ...

as Bettina Panama *

Denise Galik Denise Galik-Furey (born December 4, 1950) is an American actress who has starred on television and in film. Career Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Galik has starred on television series and soap operas. Her first soap opera role was in the 1980s CBS ...

as Bunny * Gloria Gifford as Lola Gump *

as Jenny Warren

Production

The film was shot on location at

The Beverly Hills Hotel The Beverly Hills Hotel, also called the Beverly Hills Hotel and Bungalows, is located on Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California. One of the world's best-known hotels, it is closely associated with Hollywood film stars, rock stars, and cel ...

, the

Dorothy Chandler Pavilion The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is one of the halls in the Los Angeles Music Center, which is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. The Music Center's other halls include the Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre, and Walt ...

at the

Los Angeles Music Center The Music Center (officially named the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County) is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. Located in downtown Los Angeles, The Music Center is composed of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion ...

, and along

Rodeo Drive Rodeo Drive is a street in Beverly Hills, California, with its southern segment in the City of Los Angeles. Its southern terminus is at Beverwil Drive, and its northern terminus is at its intersection with Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills. The ...

. Diana and Sidney's arrival at the Academy Awards was actually shot during the arrivals for the

50th Academy Awards The 50th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released in 1977 and took place on April 3, 1978, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles beginning at 7:00 p.m. PST ...

in April, 1978. This may explain the muted response from a real-life crowd unfamiliar with the names Diana Barrie and Sidney Cochran. The California-themed paintings seen in the opening credits are by pop artist

David Hockney David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists o ...

. While the play featured two actors and two actresses each playing several roles, the film features a different actor for each role.

Critical reception

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called ''California Suite'' "the most agreeably realised Simon film in years" and added "Here is Mr. Simon in top form, under the direction of Herbert Ross, one of the few directors...who can cope with the particular demands of material that simultaneously means to be touching and so nonstop clever one sometimes wants to gag him. It all works in ''California Suite'', not only because the material is superior Simon, but also because the writer and the director have assembled a dream cast." ''Variety'' observed "Neil Simon and Herbert Ross have gambled in radically altering the successful format of ''California Suite'' as it appeared on stage. Instead of four separate playlets, there is now one semi-cohesive narrative revolving around visitors to the Beverly Hills Hotel...The technique is less than successful, veering from poignant emotionalism to broad slapstick in sudden shifts." ''Time Out New York'' described the film as "quick and varied comedy, highly suited to Neil Simon's machine-gun gag-writing" and added "Fonda provides the film with its centre, giving another performance of unnerving sureness. Also on the credit side is a bedroom farce of epic proportions from Matthau and May. The other vignettes are a bit glum."

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

stated "It's an expertly crafted slick movie that sets up each of its coconuts and knocks them over with a sure eye, but ultimately it's emotional sushi rather than satisfying catharsis." ''The New York Times'' placed the film on its ''Best 1000 Movies Ever'' list.The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made.
''

'' via

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

. Published April 29, 2003. Retrieved June 12, 2008.

Awards and nominations

Home media

The film was released on DVD on Region 1 DVD on January 2, 2002. It is in

anamorphic widescreen Anamorphic widescreen (also called Full height anamorphic or FHA) is a process by which a comparatively wide widescreen image is horizontally compressed to fit into a storage medium (photographic film or MPEG-2 standard-definition frame, for exam ...

format with audio tracks in English and French and subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai.

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{Neil Simon 1978 films 1978 comedy films 1978 LGBT-related films American anthology films American comedy films American films based on plays American LGBT-related films Columbia Pictures films 1970s English-language films Films about actors Films about prostitution in the United States Films based on works by Neil Simon Films directed by Herbert Ross Films featuring a Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe winning performance Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award-winning performance Films set in hotels Films set in Los Angeles Films shot in California Films shot in Los Angeles Films with screenplays by Neil Simon LGBT-related comedy films Films scored by Claude Bolling Films about divorce Films about screenwriters 1970s American films