GREETINGS (1968)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
Three chums are trying to work out their resistance to fighting in the Vietnam War. In scenes that drag on for far too long, Paul, Jon and Lloyd act out the dialogue they will use to avoid the draft. They restlessly rehearse their act, and I could not take much more of it after ten minutes. Eventually, the trio go their separate ways and explore their own disillusionment in an era where young people tried to fit into society somehow. Jon Rubin (Robert De Niro) is curious about sex books and pornography and attempts to make a porn with an eager shoplifter (Rutanya Alda) who has tried to steal books (Jon pays for the books, amazed by her thievery). The talkative Lloyd (Gerrit Graham) works at the bookstore and believes there was a conspiracy in the murder of John F. Kennedy. He is so obsessed that he has his sleepy, naked girlfriend wear a shirt with marked entry and exiting bullet holes and explains, to us, how he is breaking the case wide open. Meanwhile, a demure Paul (Jonathan Warden) joins a computer dating service where he hopes to have sex on a string of first dates, and he just barely accomplishes that goal.
"Greetings" is not half as good as the amazingly powerful and richly humorous sequel, "Hi, Mom!" (also directed by De Palma) nor does it hit its satirical targets as deftly as say Robert Downey's "Putney Swope." Still, there are plenty of humorous gags (I love the composition of the woman in the apartment window as Jon explains to the shoplifter how he wants her to perform a striptease act in a window for a supposed art show), the various computer dates, and an early performance by De Niro who is frequently hilarious especially when he chooses to emulate a Republican and fight the good fight in Vietnam. "Greetings" is essential viewing as a very 1960's counter-cultural satire and it is a shame that De Palma, with the exception of "Hi, Mom!," never explored such political issues with potent humor and absurdity again.
