Why Garfunkel?
I wonder why Art Garfunkel was chosen for the role instead of someone who was, you know, an actor? Mr. Garfunkel did a decent job in this film, but I think someone like Dustin Hoffman might have been a better choice.
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MovieChat Forums > Carnal Knowledge (1971) Discussion > Why Garfunkel?
I have to confess I was not very impressed with the film--it could have been great, but just missed the mark big time. That doesn't address your point, but gives background on why I feel the way I do about it. I think Garfunkel was a good choice for the part only because many others, including Hoffman, would have been hurt by taking it.
A friendship between college buddies and beyond, and the ongoing topic of relationships is a great idea for a story. This script sucked, in my opinion. Had Hoffman taken the part, we simply would have had a long-term dialogue between Randle P. McMurphy and Ben Braddock--Nicholson describing every way he had and will violate a woman, and Hoffman pondering the whys and wherefores. We already had that to some degree. Adding depth to that would have only made it ponderous, not more significant.
I'm a fan of both Nicholson and Hoffman, but this script would not only have not added chemistry, it would have made the film terminally toxic.
I think I could have seen Bruce Dern in the Sandy role, (he and Nicholson displayed wonderful chemistry together), but I think Garfunkel did well. This is, at the end of the day, Jack's show, with Art being very much in the rear during the second half. Plus, as already noted, he had a very natural approach that perfectly worked for the character.
shareI'm thinking that Sandy was the author, Jules Feiffer's alter ego. Since Art Garfunkel resembled Feiffer more than the other actors mentioned, it would have seemed natural to cast him in the role.
shareOff topic but a cool piece of trivia: Art Garkunkel was acting in Mike Nichols' Catch-22 and because of delays he got held up while Paul Simon was in the studio recording Bridge Over Trouble Waters. Paul Simon wrote the song Only Living Boy in New York as a response to this.
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