Griffin and Phoenix (1976)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Excellent, smart action film.

Absolutely the worst movie.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Griffin and Phoenix is directed by Daryl Duke and is written by John Hill. The film stars Peter Falk and Jill Clayburgh.Geoffrey Griffin(Peter Falk)and Sarah Phoenix(Jill Clayburgh)meet at a lecture, they enjoy each others company; after getting talking they realise they want to spend more time together. Their friendship turns into love. Tragedy lies just around the corner though, because they are both dying.Neither wants to tell the other the truth, they just want to enjoy the time left to them. They are forced to face the truth when Phoenix discovers Griffin has a book about coping with terminal illness; she thinks he has been snooping around in her life and has found out about her illness, the book was actually for him to read for himself. During an emotional confrontation and argument on the beach, they confront and discuss the truth.We see how they deal with their illnesses and how they work on their relationship.This is one of the saddest films I have ever seen. Falk and Clayburgh are both excellent, their performances are so honest; you feel their pain and fear and you want both characters to be happy, even though we know that is only possible for a short time. The argument on the beach is a highlight for me, so powerfully acted. The scene where Falk takes his anger and grief out on his car really got me too. The hospital room sequence completely tore my heart out, beautifully acted by both Falk and Clayburgh.A moving film about love and loss. There is a remake, which is good but doesn't come close to this version.

Peter Falk and Jill Clayburgh certainly don't sound like the typical romantic couple. In fact, it's hard to envision them as being a couple at all…until you watch "Griffin and Phoenix: A Love Story". The story is the old "two dying people fall in love" one, but it's done with such grace and believability that the film is really irresistible.Griffin (Falk) is told by his doctor that his cancer has spread and he only has a short time to live, so he decides to take a college class instead of moping around at home. There he meets Phoenix (Clayburgh) a fun-loving, carefree woman to whom he is instantly attracted. The two naturally fall in love, sharing many emotional, sweet, and poignant scenes together. Griffin accidentally discovers Phoenix's secret, though: she too is dying of cancer, and also wants to live a little before the end comes. The two make an unbreakable agreement: when one knows it's the time to leave and face death, the other cannot follow, but must remain behind and not interfere. One day Griffin comes home to find a note from Phoenix stating that she has left, and reminding him of their agreement not to search for her. Griffin cannot say goodbye so easily, and frantically searches until he finds Phoenix in a hospital, on life support and clearly close to the end of her life. Although she is upset that he has found her like this, the two lovers embrace one last time before Phoenix passes away. Griffin then slowly walks down a street, staring blankly ahead while smashing car windows, as the film ends.I saw this film at its premiere over 32 years ago and I have often thought of its message. If you just review the film's plot and cast, you'd think that there's no way this film would be any good. Logic suggests that Falk should be badly miscast as the male lead in a poignant, romantic movie like this; however, he is absolutely excellent as Griffin. Clayburgh is wonderful as always as Phoenix, bringing a cheerful yet rational approach to her doomed character. The two lovers' final scene together is truly tearful and emotional, and makes you feel as though you are there sharing their love and pain. The two leads turn what could be a mawkish, maudlin story into one that is uplifting yet very sad at the same time. It's just a wonderful film with great acting—a stunningly superb TV movie.

In the 70s, I worked offshore in the North Sea and I got to run the projector when we viewed films after coming off shift.Of the many different films we watched, only two caused the men to linger behind and talk about them. One was 'Over the Cuckoo's Nest' and the other was 'Griffin and Phoenix'.'Cuckoo's Nest' had an obvious appeal to the mad, bad and sad men who lived and worked on an offshore construction site. It was essential to be mad to work there. We were Cajuns, Texans, Spanish, Lebanese and men from all over the world. We worked a minimum of 12 hrs a day for months at a time building platforms and somehow surviving each other as well as the job and the sea and the weather.'Griffin and Phoenix' touched us all for one reason: It was real. On one plane, it is a straightforward love story with moments of deep sadness and even humour. However, the Reality we were affected by was not the story itself or how it was filmed. The thing that got through to all of us, was Peter Falk's anguish. The very things that made the world warm to Columbo; the rumpledness, the ordinary-ness, the hidden cleverness - Were all there in this film.It made us really feel that it was ourselves up on that screen; That it was our agony; our dilemma; our fate.I don't know why it is not shown more often, although I suspect it may be that it would 'interfere' with the Columbo image.Whatever the reason, I recommend that you seek it out if you want to see acting that transcends acting and becomes universal truth. No bullshit: Some of us cried. We didn't cry when friends got killed in horrible accidents or even when a few of us got the worst news you can get from homeBut, some of us cried over this film.

When I first saw this film on TV I was going through a bad time because of an expanding personal catastrophe. Although in no way really similar to the situation in "Griffin and Phoenix," my own problems -- and my somewhat romantic nature -- made me sympathetic to the situation realistically and lovingly created by Peter Falk and Jill Clayburgh.It has become one of my favorite films of the kind. If it is in some respects not always happy, it is thus more true to life. Love is in some aspect always tragic, even when it ends happily in marriage; but love, if it is truly that, is unending and undying. I feel this motion picture should share that fate.