Bye Bye Braverman (1968): Sidney Lumet’s Bittersweet Satire, Starring George Segal, Jack Warden, Joseph Wiseman, Jessica Walter, Phyllis Newman

Based on “To an Early Grave,” Wallace Markfield’s humorous and cynical novel, Bye Bye Braverman is a fuzzy bittersweet satire.

Bye Bye Braverman
Original poster

The tale centers on four Jewish intellectuals who, on their way to a friend’s funeral, reminisce about their dear dead friend Leslie Braverman, an idealistic but minor avant-garde writer.

He is contrasted with his friends, writers who have compromised their integrity and sold out.  George Segal plays the disenchanted magazine writer; Jack Warden, a poet; Sorrell Booke a book reviewer; and Joseph Wiseman a bitter bellyacher.

As usual with most of Lumet work, the film was shot in New York City–the journey goes from Greenwich Village to Brooklyn–and the foursome never get to the funeral, though each member discloses some revelations about his past or present.

Somehow, the film doesn’t have the director’s assured touch–it may be too cynical–and the ending is not satisfying.

Lumet has called it “the most personal picture I’ve ever made.” Asked to explain why, he said: “These four post-Depression Jewish intellectuals are everyone I grew up with. They’re all in me, in fact.”

The cast is uniformly good: George Segal, Jack Warden, Joseph Wiseman, Sorrell Booke, Jessica Walter, Phyllis Newman, Zohra Lampert, Godfrey Cambridge.

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