Bye Bye Braverman is yet another Sidney Lumet valentine to New York City as four friends react to the sudden passing of their friend Leslie Braverman at the tender age of 41. It's the kind of passing and the age and suddenness for the victim have left all four of them in a state of flux.
George Segal, Joseph Wiseman, Sorrell Booke, and Jack Warden are the four friends all hit hard with the news and all now feeling their mortality and are concerned. They all feel an obligation of some kind to see poor Braverman off on the big trip.
It helps to be of Jewish heritage and from New York to appreciate Bye Bye Braverman. Imagine four men squeezed into Sorrell Booke's little Volkswagen, one of them Joseph Wiseman makes no secret of his disdain for Booke in purchasing a German car.
They set out from Manhattan to the funeral parlor which is on Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn which is kind of like a residential Champs Elysees in the borough of homes and churches. On the way they have all kinds of adventures including a fender bender with a black driver who is well versed in Jewish idiom played nicely by Godfrey Cambridge. The day is topped off by a voluble rabbi Alan King who can't find enough words to give a proper eulogy to the deceased.
Bye Bye Braverman is funny and bittersweet and kind of sad in its own way. Sidney Lumet got some great performances out of his ensemble cast, most especially from Sorrell Booke who is not a fan of driving three back seat drivers. Nice film to see, especially if you live in New York.
