Ishtar

Digital Restoration
BAMPFA Student Committee Pick

featuring

Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, Isabelle Adjani, Charles Grodin,

Broke, untalented nightclub performers Lyle Rogers (Warren Beatty) and Chuck Clarke (Dustin Hoffman) accept a gig at a Moroccan hotel before becoming CIA pawns in May’s highly underrated romp. Shot on location in Morocco and New York City, the production ran into delays, cost overruns, and tensions on set between the principals and between May and studio executives. In recent years, Ishtar has been the subject of reevaluation by numerous critics, who feel that its merits and May’s achievements were dismissed at the time of the film’s initial release. “Filled with great physical comedy and songs that are so awful they’re great, Ishtar is a movie whose time is now” (Manohla Dargis, New York Times).

FILM DETAILS 
Screenwriter
  • Elaine May
Cinematographer
  • Vittorio Storaro
Print Info
  • Color
  • DCP
  • 107 mins
Source
  • Sony Pictures