The Goodbye Girl

The Goodbye Girl
Theatrical release poster
Directed byHerbert Ross
Written byNeil Simon
Produced byRay Stark
StarringRichard Dreyfuss
Marsha Mason
Quinn Cummings
CinematographyDavid M. Walsh
Edited byJohn F. Burnett
Music byDave Grusin
Production
companies
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • November 30, 1977 (1977-11-30)
Running time
110 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$102 million[2]

The Goodbye Girl is a 1977 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross, written by Neil Simon and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Marsha Mason, Quinn Cummings and Paul Benedict. The film, produced by Ray Stark, centers on an odd trio of characters: a struggling actor who has sublet a Manhattan apartment from a friend, the current occupant (his friend's ex-girlfriend, who has just been abandoned), and her precocious young daughter.

Richard Dreyfuss won the 1977 Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Elliot Garfield. At the time, he became the youngest man (at age 30) to win an Oscar for Best Actor. Both Mason and Cummings were nominated for Oscars.

The film became the first romantic comedy to earn $100 million in box-office grosses.

  1. ^ "The Goodbye Girl (1977)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved August 7, 2022. A 19 May 1976 Var news item, which stated that the film's "tentative title" was Goodbye Girl, noted that the film marked the first collaboration between Warner Bros. and M-G-M; however, neither Melnick nor M-G-M is credited onscreen as a producer.
  2. ^ Box Office Information for The Goodbye Girl. Worldwide Box Office. September 13, 2013.