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The Projection Booth Podcast

Episode 743: Move (1970)

The Projection Booth Podcast

The Projection Booth

Film Reviews, Film Interviews, Film History, Tv & Film

4.8686 Ratings

🗓️ 26 May 2025

⏱️ 106 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mike White is joined by Mike Sullivan and Emily Intravia to take a long-overdue look at Move (1970), the surreal, seldom-seen New York comedy directed by Stuart Rosenberg. Fresh off his success in MASH Elliott Gould stars as Hiram Jaffe, a would-be playwright stuck writing porn and walking dogs while waiting for the movers who never arrive. As his mundane reality refuses to budge, Hiram plunges into a chaotic interior world filled with absurd fantasies, sexual misadventures, and psychological spirals.

Adapted from Joel Lieber’s novel (and screenplay), Move attempts to blend urban anxiety, dream logic, and dark comedy—resulting in a disjointed but oddly fascinating time capsule of early ’70s male neurosis. Paula Prentiss co-stars as Hiram’s patient wife, while Geneviève Waïte plays a mysterious blonde who may or may not exist. The film mixes scenes of everyday tedium with dreamlike sequences involving rogue movers, hallucinated frogs, and even a fantasy duel, never quite committing to whether it's satirizing New York life or the fragile male ego.

Our hosts dive into the film’s tonal shifts, its place in Gould’s post-MASH career arc, and why it remains overlooked despite its stacked cast and studio pedigree. The episode also features brand-new interviews with stars Elliott Gould and Paula Prentiss, who reflect on the film’s production, reception, and what it means to them in hindsight.



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Transcript

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0:00.0

Hold your ears, folks. It's showtime.

0:08.6

People pay good money to see this movie.

0:10.9

When they go out to a theater, they want cold sodas, hot popcorn, and no monsters in the projection booth.

0:17.3

Everyone pretend podcasting isn't boring.

0:20.2

Shut it off.

0:25.7

Turn it off.

0:27.6

Turn it off.

0:31.5

Hey, Jim. Hiram Jaffe's world is just like yours.

0:45.3

A little unreal.

0:51.9

Dolly!

0:53.7

You listen to that noise?

0:55.0

Move.

0:57.0

Some people think move is about moving.

1:01.0

Like I'm setting something into motion, Dolly, something I don't understand.

1:06.0

Some people think move is about the system.

1:10.0

Breaking down.

1:15.6

You lousy kids, no respect for anything.

1:17.6

Some people think move is about today's plastic culture.

1:22.6

What is that supposed to mean?

1:24.6

We believe in a philosophy of joy and laughter,

1:30.0

not in self-recrimination and rebuke.

1:31.2

No shit.

...

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