One of the most celebrated and sometimes controversial American writers of his era, Philip Roth isn't a name you'll find on very many film adaptations -- but he started off with a bang studio-wise with Goodbye, Columbus, based on the novella from his 1959 book collection of the same title. Walking a tightrope common at the time, the film directed by Larry Peerce (in between The Incident and The Sporting Club) appealed to multiple generations of viewers with its hip soundtrack featuring the band The Association to the older urban intelligentsia. Most importantly for pop culture, it introduced two new lead actors who would become familiar faces throughout the '70s, Richard Benjamin (who would soon star in another Roth project, Portnoy's Complaint) and Ali MacGraw, who quickly shot to stardom the following year in Love Story for the same studio, Paramount. It also marked a major shift in the career of actor Jack Klugman, a busy character actor mainly on the stage and TV who became a household name on shows like The Odd Couple and Quincy, M.E. Often compared at the time to The Graduate for its portrayal of young Jewish romantic and sexual angst, it's a skillful blend of comedy and drama showcasing a number of talents about to define a generation.

At a private country club swimming pool, young Bronx library employee and recent military vet Neil Klugman (Benjamin) meets and is struck by Brenda Patimkin (MacGraw), who's home on summer break from Radcliffe to stay with her family including her parents (Klugman and Martin) and jock brother (Meyers). He calls her up for a date later, and soon a romance blossoms that leads to him staying with her family (who are new to the wealthy lifestyle themselves) for a two-week period. Familial tensions arise, and Neil and Brenda have to keep their sexual activity a secret from her judgmental parents which will also make their future together tricky to navigate.

Released early in the wave of studio-defining hits from the suddenly with-it Paramount (who had just been pushing boundaries with Rosemary's Baby among others), Goodbye, Columbus is a sharp and enjoyable snapshot of a time period marked by heated debates over issues like class differences and birth control. The latter is dealt with very frankly for the time here, to such an extent that the film was given an early R rating also due to some peek-a-boo nudity. That was understandably downgraded to a PG later without any cuts, with all of the chat about diaphragms and birth control pills left intact. In addition to the song contributions by The Association, the soundtrack features a beautiful pop-flavored score by Charles Fox who had just done salvage work rescoring Barbarella and had worked with Peerce on The Incident. Not surprisingly, the soundtrack LP became a record store staple for years and made the leap to other formats as well.

Following multiple minor theatrical reissues and TV airings in the wake of Love Story's success, Goodbye, Columbus made the jump early on to VHS from Paramount and got its first widescreen release from them on DVD (plus a brief DVD-R option from Warner Archive when it was handling the studio's catalog titles for a while). The HD master made for that DVD was available as a 1080p streaming option for purchase or rental years ago, but for the Blu-ray edition in early 2026, Fun City Editions, a label perfectly suited for this one, commissioned a fresh 4K scan from the camera negative. The presentation looks excellent with fine detail and accurate color timing, up there with their other faithful releases of titles from the same era. The DTS-HD MA English 2.0 mono track also sounds excellent and features optional English SDH subtitles. A new audio commentary by Bill Ackerman is an excellent and very well-researched listen covering the real-life inspiration for the literary source, the various New York locations, a connection to Immoral Tales(!), the soundtrack, the actors' backgrounds, and much more. In "Gone to Heaven" (14m56s), Fox looks back at his early musical inclinations, his move to working for film and TV, his experience with Paramount earlier on Barbarella, and the process of creating this score with an eye on the current hit music scene. Also included is a panel Q&A at the Academy Film Archive's screening of the film for a 2016 Peerce tribute (32m44s) with Benjamin, MacGraw, Peerce, Fox, producer Stanley Jaffe, screenwriter Arnold Schulman, and casting director Andrea Eastman, moderated by Peter Bart. It's a great reunion covering the whole process of putting the film together covering the challenges the studio was facing at the time, the takeaways from the Roth source they all had, and the rapport they shared on the set. A 5m16s gallery is also included, and the first pressing comes with an insert booklet featuring an essay by Jim Healy.

Reviewed on February 16, 2026