Themes: Eccentric Families, Misfits and Outsiders, Nothing Goes Right
Main Cast: Elliott Gould, Marcia Rodd, Vincent Gardenia, Elizabeth Wilson, Donald Sutherland
Release Year: 1971
Country: US
Run Time: 110 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Actor Alan Arkin has an impressive film directorial debut with Little Murders, Jules Feiffer's bitter and moving satire (originally produced as an off-Broadway play). Elliot Gould (who also co-produced the film) plays Alfred Chamberlain -- a one time successful photographer who is now down on his luck because he began to eliminate people from his photographs. He also suffers from an inability to feel or to be passionate about anything. But then Alfred meets Patsy Newqvist (Marcia Rodd), who takes it upon herself to mold Alfred into "a strong, vital, self-assured man, that I can protect and take care of." As their relationship develops and Patsy takes Alfred to meet her parents, they suddenly bang up against the brick wall of urban violence and insensitivity. In this world of senseless killings and madness, Alfred realizes that the only way to get back into the world is to become as insane as everyone else. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Review
Little Murders is not a movie that you can sit back and just let roll over you. An intensely black portrait of paranoid, unsettling urban life in the late '60s and early '70s, Murders is a cult film the sensibilities of which will definitely not appeal to everyone. It's a satire, but not a comfortable one; it doesn't give you many moments when you can let your breath out and relax, and even those few it does parcel out are tinged with the inevitable feeling of a bubble about to burst. This "deathly" approach will alienate a great number of people, and understandably so. But for those who are brave enough to immerse themselves in its world view, Murders' bleakness, cynicism, and brutality will be rewarding, provoking laughter out of situations that simply shouldn't be funny. Credit director Alan Arkin, who opens the play up beautifully for the screen and who is not afraid to let it breathe its own smog-infested air as it paints its picture of a society gone horribly wrong. Even those who cannot get into the film, however, should appreciate its excellent cast. Star Elliott Gould is dead-on perfect as the man who has embraced apathy, and Marcia Rodd is captivating as the indefatigable Patsy. Donald Sutherland is hilarious as the low-key, duplicitous "minister," and Vincent Gardenia and Elizabeth Wilson simply couldn't be better. Little Murders will leave many cold, but it will knock out those who appreciate its special qualities. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Vic Ramos - Casting, Albert Wolsky - Costume Designer, Peter R. Scoppa - First Assistant Director, Alan Arkin - Director, Howard Kuperman - Editor, Fred Kaz - Composer (Music Score), John Alese - Makeup, Gene Rudolf - Production Designer, Gordon Willis - Cinematographer, Elliott Gould - Producer, Burtt Harris - Producer, Jack Brodsky - Producer, Phil Smith - Set Designer, Jules Feiffer - Screenwriter
Little Murders (1967), a dark comedy by Jules Feiffer. [ Broadhurst Theatre, 7 perf.] The Newquists are a rather kooky Manhattan family trying to make the best of a bad deal. The father, Carol (Heywood Hale Broun), would like to have a less feminine name; the mother, Marjorie (Ruth White), would like to have a different family; and the son, Kenny (David Steinberg), would like to be of a different sex. Only the sweet but spunky daughter, Patsy (Barbara Cook), seems vaguely content, although she is in love with a thin‐skinned liberal, Alfred Chamberlain (Elliott Gould), who thinks the best way to deal with muggers is to let them beat you. The jangle and blare around them grows increasingly hectic and menacing until Patsy is killed in her living room by a stray bullet. At that point, the Newquists decide to shoot back. Although Alexander H. Cohen's Broadway mounting failed, it was produced with great success in England by the Royal Shakespeare Company, and this led to a 1969 Off‐Broadway revival at the Circle in the Square that ran four hundred performances. Jules [Ralph] FEIFFER (b. 1929) is a New Yorker best known for his incisive cartoons about the anguish of contemporary life. Among his other plays are Feiffer's People (1968), The White House Murder Case (1970), Knock Knock (1976), Grownups (1981), Eliot Loves (1990), and A Bad Friend (2003).
Little Murders is a 1971black comedy film starring Elliott Gould and Marcia Rodd about a girl (Rodd) who brings home her boyfriend (Gould) to meet her parents amidst a series of random shootings, garbage strikes and electrical outages ravaging the neighborhood and the family's severe dysfunction.
Elliott Gould bought the film rights and co-produced the movie with Jack Brodsky, who received the producer credit. When Jules Feiffer adapted the play for film he added new scenes, including the one with John Randolph and Doris Roberts as the Gould character's parents.
The film opened to a lukewarm review by Roger Greenspan[1], and a more positive one by Vincent Canby[2] in the New York Times. Roger Ebert's review in the Chicago Sun Times was more enthusiastic, saying, "One of the reasons it works, and is indeed a definitive reflection of America's darker moods, is that it breaks audiences down into isolated individuals, vulnerable and uncertain."[3].
^Canby, Vincent (February 21, 1971). "What's So Funny? 'Murders'". New York: New York Times. p. D1. ""Little Murders" succeeds, at times triumphantly, and it does everything more or less backwards."
