In the quirky 1983 movie ‘Reuben Reuben’, Tom Conti plays Gowan McGland a well-known but penniless and past his prime Scottish poet, who gets by on the remnants of his fame, drinks excessively, beds middle-aged housewives, and falls in love with a woman (Kelly McGillis) much younger than himself.

This old classic has a lot going for it. Conti gives a tremendous performance in the lead. His Gowan McGland is such a rich, ripe character; incredibly charming…very romantic…cunning…a bit of a lost soul…a lot of a drunkard…a great wordsmith.

Gowen McGland falls in love with a beautiful young student named Geneva Spofford played by Kelly McGillis. It was McGillis’s first feature film role, she just looks stunning and gives a great performance as Reuben’s ‘later in life’ love interest. The love story is beautifully played out!

‘Reuben Reuben’ boosts a great comic scene. As is Reuben’s want he has affairs with married woman. Unfortunately his luck comes unstuck when he has to urgently seek a dentist and the dentist that he ends up seeing is the husband of one of his mistresses. Reuben sure does get a work-over (see picture above).

When it was released in 1983, the films’ main claim to fame was its very ‘left field’ ending, that whacks a fair old punch!

There is a lot more that the film has to offer which I don’t have the space to write about here. Here’s just a bit more…a lilting, poignant soundtrack…the film looks good…there are some great scenes and lines…one of them comes to mind,- Reuben saying, ‘I love writing, I just hate the paper work’! There’s a nice old country town feel to the film, and some quirky minor characters.

‘Reuben Reuben’ was directed by Robert Ellis Miller and adapted from the novel by Peter De Vries with a screenplay by Julius Epstein.