Where’s Poppa? 1970

Gordon Hocheiser is a successful criminal defense attorney in New York City who still lives with his sharp-tunged, 87-year-old mother, Mrs. Hocheiser, a formidable widow whose blunt remarks and cantankerous habits threaten to derail his social life and his career. The tension between them is thick enough to hum in the small spaces of his Upper West Side apartment, where he tries to keep his professional polish intact even as his personal life spirals with friction and resentment. He dreads the day his father’s memory might be used as ammunition in a fight for independence, especially since he has a deathbed promise to never place his mother in a rest home. That promise gnaws at him, fueling a storm of guilt, frustration, and a stubborn, stubborn need to keep control.

In his bid to regain a semblance of normalcy, Louise Callan enters as a potential nurse for his mother, a striking young caregiver who carries a troubling reputation for her patients’ abrupt and often fatal declines. Gordon, instantly drawn to her, hires her to be his mother’s companion, despite concerns about her qualifications. The arrangement seems to promise a fresh start: a chance at romance for Gordon and a more manageable routine for his mother. Yet the bond between Gordon and Louise is quickly tested by the delicate balance of care and control, and Gordon finds himself caught between protecting his own future and placating a mother who has her own opinions about every step he takes.

From the start, Gordon fears his mother will sabotage the budding relationship. He invites Louise to his apartment on the Upper West Side, and in a misguided attempt to keep the peace, he even contemplates isolating his mother in a room. The first meeting between Louise and Mrs. Hocheiser is chaotic and uncomfortable, leaving Gordon exasperated and anxious about whether this new pairing can survive the inevitable clashes. When Gordon crochets the situation into something more drastic, he phones his brother, Sidney Hocheiser, and makes a grim threat to remove his mother from his life if Sidney won’t step in. The plea is urgent and laced with fear, revealing how far Gordon has drifted from the steady, ethical professional he once hoped to be.

Sidney Hocheiser lives far uptown on the Upper East Side, yet his life intersects with Gordon’s in a crisis that veers toward farce and danger. In a nightmarish turn, Sidney, who has his own history of misfortune in Central Park, ends up stripped and vulnerable after being mugged—yet this time he arrives at Gordon’s door in the gorilla costume, offering to help, only to be drawn back into trouble by the unpredictable streets around him. On the return journey, a chain of comic disasters unfolds: Sidney, in his gorilla disguise, crosses paths with his mugging assailants again, and the chaos culminates in a tense confrontation in the park when those same attackers force him to assault a woman who is revealed to be an undercover male police officer. The sequence is dizzying and darkly comic, a signature blend that threads through the film as it skates along the edge of farce and file-worthy peril.

Meanwhile, the pressure cooker at Gordon’s doorstep intensifies. Mrs. Hocheiser shames Gordon during a dinner with Louise present, pulling down his pants and biting him in a moment of humiliation that leaves Louise horrified and quick to leave. The humiliation marks a turning point, not just for the romance, but for Gordon’s sense of dignity and responsibility. Louise’s departure leaves Gordon stranded and adrift, and the weight of his choices settles heavily on his shoulders.

The consequences ripple into Gordon’s professional life as well. On a day in court, he is distracted, tired, and unfocused, delivering a performance that is anything but competent. The trial continues without him until Louise’s unexpected presence in the courtroom’s rear area jolts him back to attention, and he bolts off to meet her, underscoring how personal instability bleeds into professional performance. The lines between personal desire and professional duty blur, revealing a man who is torn between loyalty to a difficult parent and the possibility of a healthier private life with the nurse who matters to him.

In a desperate bid to find a workable solution, Gordon decides to remove the source of his turmoil—his mother—from his life, even if that means a painful, logistical chase across multiple rest homes. He and Louise, increasingly united by a shared longing for normalcy, embark on a chaotic quest through a string of facilities, each with its own quirks and caretaking problems. They pull into the emotional rollercoaster of trying to locate a place that will accept [Mrs. Hocheiser], while the clock ticks on Gordon’s slowly fading sense of autonomy. The search culminates in a startling, almost absurd twist: Gordon finally arranges for his mother to join a rest home by presenting a random elderly man as her father figure, “Poppa,” and he and Louise drive away with a renewed, if fragile, sense of freedom and possibility.

As their escape finally feels within reach, the movie leaves us with a sense of unresolved tension and bleak humor about love, duty, and the slippery slope of caregiving. The two lovers depart the scene with a forward glance toward a life that could be quieter and more loving, a life that would finally let Louise Callan prove herself beyond question and grant Gordon the stability he’s long fought for. The tale ends on a note of liberated possibility, tempered by the recognition that the path to happiness is often paved with imperfect choices, uneasy compromises, and a stubborn, stubborn love that refuses to give up even when the odds are against it.

“Where’s Poppa?”

“Still dead.”