California Suite

California Suite is a 1978 American comedy film directed by Herbert Ross. The screenplay by Neil Simon is based on his play of the same title. Similar to his earlier Plaza Suite, the film focuses on the dilemmas of guests staying in a suite in a luxury hotel.

In Visitors from New York, Hannah Warren is a Manhattan workaholic who flies to Los Angeles to retrieve her teenaged daughter Jenny after she leaves home to live with her successful screenwriter father Bill. The bickering divorced couple is forced to decide what living arrangements are best for the girl.

In Visitors from London, Diana Barrie is a British actress and a first-time nominee for the Academy Award for Best Actress, an honor that could jumpstart her faltering career, although she knows she doesn’t have a chance of winning. She is in deep denial about the true nature of her marriage of convenience to Sidney Cochran, a once-closeted antique dealer who has become increasingly indiscreet about his sexual preference. As she prepares for her moment in the spotlight, her mood fluctuates from hope to panic to despair.

In Visitors from Philadelphia, conservative middle-aged businessman Marvin Michaels awakens to discover a prostitute named Bunny – an unexpected gift from his brother Harry – unconscious in his bed. With his wife Millie on her way up to the suite, he must find a way to conceal all traces of his uncharacteristic indiscretion.

In Visitors from Chicago, Dr. Chauncey Gump and his wife Lola and Dr. Willis Panama and his wife Bettina are taking a much-needed vacation together. Things begin to unravel quickly when everything seems to go wrong and the two men decide to settle their differences by engaging in a very competitive mixed doubles tennis match.

Production

The film was shot on location at The Beverly Hills Hotel, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Los Angeles Music Center, and along Rodeo Drive.

The California-themed paintings seen in the opening credits are by pop artist David Hockney.

Cast

Jane Fonda ….. Hannah Warren
Alan Alda ….. Bill Warren
Maggie Smith ….. Diana Barrie (*Winner Academy Award)
Michael Caine ….. Sidney Cochran
Walter Matthau ….. Marvin Michaels
Elaine May ….. Millie Michaels
Herb Edelman ….. Harry Michaels
Denise Galik ….. Bunny
Richard Pryor ….. Dr. Chauncey Gump
Bill Cosby ….. Dr. Willis Panama
Gloria Gifford ….. Lola Gump
Sheila Frazier ….. Bettina Panama
Dana Plato ….. Jenny Warren

Awards and nominations

For her portrayal of an Oscar nominee, Maggie Smith won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, the Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress, the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress, and tied with Ellen Burstyn in Same Time, Next Year for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. She was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role but lost to Jane Fonda in The China Syndrome.

Neil Simon was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay but lost to Oliver Stone for Midnight Express. He also was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Albert Brenner and Marvin March were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction but lost to Paul Sylbert, Edwin O’Donovan, and George Gaines for Heaven Can Wait.

Jane Fonda received the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress in honor of her performances in California Suite, Comes a Horseman, and Coming Home.

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