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Yet it placed only 26th this month in the American Film Institute's list of America's 100 Funniest Movies. Some 500 films were nominated.
Some Like it Hot, the 1959 picture starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe, was deemed No. 1 by more than l,500 leaders of the American movie community.
Long considered a cult favorite, whatever that means, Being There is a dark comedy about Chance the gardener--a displaced mentally retarded man whose horticultural homilies bedazzle Washington D.C.'s shakers and movers.
Even the President of the United States is smitten with "Chauncy Gardiner's" green-thumb euphemisms for economic enlightenment and success.
Chance takes directions from television's game shows, soap operas, exercise gurus and cartoons. He "likes to watch," but can't read a word.
Irony is Being There's long suit, along with the hilarious gullibility of political and social mavens. Compared to Al Gore and George W. Bush, Chance is still the best candidate for America's highest public office.(18 JUNE 2000)
