''Goodbye, New York'' is a

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i-American

comedy drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple co ...

produced, directed and written by

Amos Kollek Amos Kollek ( he, עמוס קולק; born September 15, 1947) is an Israeli film director, writer and actor. Biography Amos Kollek was born in Jerusalem. He is the son of Teddy Kollek, the long-time mayor of Jerusalem. Kollek studied psychology a ...

, who also co-stars in his directorial debut.

Plot

A ditzy New Yorker (

Julie Hagerty Julie Beth Hagerty (born June 15, 1955) is an American actress. She starred as Elaine in the films ''Airplane!'' (1980) and '' Airplane II: The Sequel'' (1982). Her other film roles include ''A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy'' (1982), ''Lost in Am ...

) is devastated to learn that her husband has been unfaithful and impulsively decides to go to Paris to escape. When she consumes too many sedatives and oversleeps on the plane, missing her connection, she winds up in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

, penniless and with no luggage or friends. After connecting with a cabdriver and part-time soldier (

), she finds herself stranded on a

kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

near the

Golan Heights The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...

where she must learn to cope with a series of misadventures and a very unfamiliar lifestyle.

Cast

as Nancy Callaghan *

as David *

Shmuel Shilo Shmuel Shilo or Shmulik Shiloh ( he, שמואל שילה; 1 December 1929 – 4 October 2011) was an Israeli actor, director and producer, born in the Second Polish Republic, and best remembered for his role on the Israeli production of Rechov S ...

as Moishe *Aviva Ger as Illana *

Dudu Topaz Dudu Topaz ( he, דודו טופז; September 20, 1946 – August 20, 2009) (born David Goldenberg) was an Israeli TV personality, comedian, actor, screenwriter, playwright, author and radio and television host. In August 2009 he committed suicid ...

as Albert *Jennifer Prichard as Lisa *

Christopher Goutman Christopher Goutman (born December 19, 1952) is an American writer, producer, actor and director. He is most notable for his work on daytime soap operas. He was married from 1985–2016 to actress Marcia McCabe, whom he met while he was on ''Search ...

as Jack *

Hanan Goldblatt Hanan Goldblatt ( he, חנן גולדבלט; born October 10, 10 October 1941) is an Israeli actor, comedian and singer who appeared in plays, films, television programs, and who was most widely known for his part in the educational TV show "Bli S ...

as Avi *

Mosko Alkalai Mosko Alkalai ( he, מוסקו אלקלעי; March 10, 1931 – April 1, 2008) was an Israeli actor. ...

as Papalovski *

Joseph Kaplanian Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

as himself (Elderly Man turning round in close up shot by Church of the Holy Sepulchre) * Ron Rabinovich as man with afro in airport Sophie Haber as herself (white-haired pilgrim woman in Jerusalem)

Critical reception

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

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 ...

'' said the film possesses "an easygoing charm that, among Israeli films, is rare", presenting "witty impressions of Israeli life" and the clash of cultures. Candace Russell of the ''

South Florida Sun-Sentinel The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as well as surrounding Br ...

'' likened Kollek's "absurdist worldview and droll understatement" to that of

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

. While ''

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

'' thought the film "likable" and "genial", the reviewers noted its "uneven" script and direction, and a "sometimes contrived or just plain silly" plot. London's ''

Time Out Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to: Time * Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team * Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken * Timeout (computing), an enginee ...

'' was more unequivocal, dismissing the "thin and clichéd material", its "predictable plot and dismal propaganda about the values of kibbutz culture."GA (no date)
"''Goodbye, New York''"
''

'' (retrieved 14 November 2012).

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0089217, title=Goodbye, New York 1985 films 1985 directorial debut films English-language Israeli films Films about the kibbutz Films directed by Amos Kollek Films shot in Israel 1980s English-language films