The Goodbye GirlMarsha Mason is known as "The Goodbye Girl" because of all the live-in boyfriends who have said ta-ta to her in the past few years. A former Broadway chorus dancer, the divorced
Mason lives in the Manhattan apartment of her latest lost love with her daughter
Quinn Cummings. Enter arrogant actor
Richard Dreyfuss, who has subleased the apartment from
Mason's former boyfriend and moves in bag and baggage in the middle of the night.
Dreyfuss and
Mason spend the next few weeks getting in each other's way and fighting like cats and dogs. The wind is taken out of
Dreyfuss' sails when he opens in a production of Richard III, which has been sabotaged by the director (
Paul Benjamin), who insists that
Dreyfuss portrays Richard as a hip-swinging homosexual. The play closes after one performance, and the once-overconfident
Dreyfuss goes on a self-pitying drunken binge. Touched by his vulnerability,
Mason begins falling in love with
Dreyfuss despite her lousy track record with men.
Richard Dreyfuss became the youngest ever "Best Actor" Oscar winner as a result of his performance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
