MovieChat Forums > Bullets Over Broadway (1995) Discussion > Jim Broadbent is adorable in this movie,...

Jim Broadbent is adorable in this movie, in a funny way.

posted 10 years ago by finalblood69
3 replies | jump to latest

(Slight spoiler)

When he's in the restaurant after Cheech threatens him, just ordering item after item and rocking back and forth in fear, he's so child-like and innocent. It kills me. He's like a puppy.

That's honestly like my favorite part of the movie. Him being such a jolly man, watching Broadbent bring out his anxiety and still keep to that jolly-fat man in there is so entertaining. He was probably my favorite character. Anybody else foster that affinity for his performance?

[–] mark-1589 10 years ago

I agree with you - also one of my favorite scenes in the film. What is so great is that there are so many super characters and Allen does an excellent job of revealing them to us through the plot. I love the part where Olive tries to make out with him after the opening in Boston, and he's saying, in a panic, "Stop. STOP!!" True to character, he comments, "I'm STARVING. Do you have a sticky bun or something?"

[–] NewtonFigg 8 years ago

Woody Allen asked Sid Caesar's permission to use the title Bullets over Broadway which had been the title of a skit about 1920s gangsters on Caesar's Hour in the 1950s. I wonder if Woody also asked permission to create Jim Broadbent's character of the compulsive eater taken bodily from Caesar's character in Dancing Towers. Just in case you don't know Dancing Towers (the title a takeoff on the story of Vernon and Irene Castle), Sid and his female dancing partner are the hit of Broadway. But Sid starts eating between meals. Compared to Sid, Jim Broadbent is observing Ramadan. Sid is tossed off Broadway. Eventually, he loses weight but still can't get a decent job. He winds up as the only male taxi dancer at a Times Square dance hall where he has to dance with a tough female sailor, played by Bea Arthur, who pushes him roughly around the dance floor.

Woody had great teachers.

[–] Towelie_Towel (1719) 5 years ago

Interesting story, thanks for sharing.