“Dear Mr. Brody” Film Review
By: Joseph Perry (Twitter - Uphill Both Ways Podcast)
Michael Brody Jr. was a twenty-something heir to an oleomargarine fortune who, in the very early 1970s, made a sudden huge pop culture splash when he announced that he was giving his fortune away to those who needed money, in what he considered a gesture of spreading love. Appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show to sing and on the news almost nightly as reporters chronicled the massive response from people around the world, Brody Jr.’s philanthropic dream quickly became a nightmare for him and his wife.
Writer/director Keith Maitland presents the background of this unbelievable story in his documentary feature Dear Mr. Brody, but what drives the film emotionally is the fact that thousands of unopened letters written to Brody asking for financial help were recently found unopened — and what they contain is often heartbreaking stuff. Maitland interviews some of the letter writers or their relatives, and viewers see that the bridge between the early 1970s and today is not that long — people long for similar dreams and many are in similar desperate financial situations. Societal solutions to being one paycheck or unpaid bill away from homelessness hasn’t changed, but neither has the will to work hard and succeed to hold families together, even if the seed money isn’t there.
The story of Brody Jr. and his wife and young son is a heart-wrenching one, and his descent into darker days as those hoping to receive a piece of his fortune isn’t an easy watch. The paper time capsules that are the many unopened letters to Brody Jr. — many of them featuring hand-drawn art or photos that place them exactly in the time period during which they were written — are alternately sad and inspirational, and always poignant.
A combination of an incredible fleeting-fame tale and a touching human interest documentary, Dear Mr. Brody is recommended, and will give viewers who lived through the early 1970s a jolt back in time.
Dear Mr. Brody opens March 4 at the Quad in NYC and the Laemmle Monica in LA, and on VOD. It will be available on Discovery+ later this year.
Joseph Perry is one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast (whenitwascool.com/up-hill-both-ways-podcast/). He also writes for the film websites Diabolique Magazine (diaboliquemagazine.com), Gruesome Magazine (gruesomemagazine.com), The Scariest Things (scariesthings.com), Horror Fuel (horrorfuel.com), and B&S About Movies (bandsaboutmovies.com) and film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope (videoscopemag.com) and Drive-In Asylum (etsy.com/shop/GroovyDoom).
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