Taking Off

Czech filmmaker Milos Forman's first American production stars Linnea Heacock as Jeannie Tyne, a runaway teenager. While she wanders aimlessly around New York, her suburban parents, Lynn (Lynn Carlin) and Larry (Buck Henry), desperately search for their "missing" daughter. Larry and his best friend, ...more

It feels unmistakable -- the cinematic eye of immigrant directors who journey to the U.S. and instantly establish a unique perspective on America with what is exclusively an outsider's gaze. Louis Malle did it with Atlantic City (1980), Wim Wenders did it with Paris, Texas (1984), and Milos Forman does it with this little-seen generation-gap comedy from 1971 (which, not coincidentally, was co-scripted by Atlantic City scenarist John Guare). From the opening sequence, when Forman spends almost 20 ...more