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Business Stationary Mart - A Thousand Clowns
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List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $72.95
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Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Starring: Jason Robards, Barbara Harris, Martin Balsam, Gene Saks, William Daniels
Directed By: Fred Coe
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9780792838005
Format: Black & White
ISBN: 0792838009
Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Release Date: 1998-02-10
Running Time: 114
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Theatrical Release Date: 1965
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: They might put him in with a whole family of listmakers!
Comment: So many of the reviews already posted have begun with one of the one-liners of which this film is full. I think it is a fabulous film, though some might find it a little dated in some ways, but to me this has never mattered. For people who love Murray, as I do,to know how they feel about this film is to know something about them which is hard to put into words. I spent years trying to find it on video, particularly in a format I can watch in Britain, where i now live. I eventually came to the conclusion it must never have been released here. I now have a video player on which I can watch it, but hope the DVD which is coming will be in a format I can use.
Here's to you, Irving R. Feldman!
Customer Rating:
Summary: The classic of comedy
Comment: Not only funny - this movie can teach you the art of comedy! Classic and indispensable to the theater artist and student of comedy.
Customer Rating:
Summary: "Nick, you can't have too many eagles!"
Comment: Although I was born in '53, somehow I managed not to see this movie until '97. I was amazed by the quality of the acting and directing, as well as the humor and depth of the screenplay. It is simply one of the best movies I have ever seen. I agree with the other reviewers that it is a crime A Thousand Clowns is not available on DVD. It should be in the Criterion Collection, and given the full restoration treatment. Considering the garbage that has been transfered to DVD already, one can only hope that this gem will not remain forgotten.
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Summary: The First Hippie...
Comment: This film is lauded on so many levels, there's not a whole lot more to say. I saw this in its initial release (1965), and it was so powerful that I developed my own attitude toward life (at a mere 16 years old). There are really no bad guys; rather, it's the "system" that creates the problems (and things have only gotten worse). Since its merits have been well-examined, I think it's most interesting that, with the exception of "Lilies of the Field" (1963), 1965 was the year of the Indie. "Darling" and "1000 Clowns" were both surprise nominees for Best Picture. Both won acting awards. Unfortunately, Robards' performance was overlooked, and that is only another Oscar travesty. The film was nominated for Herb Gardner's adaptation of his play, and won Martin Balsam an Oscar, if only for one terrific scene in which he expresses his function and worth in the world at large. Barbara Harris and, especially, Barry Gordon, are excellent. With amazingly insightful direction from Fred Coe, there is no end of enjoyment and life-lessons, with Mr. Gardner's rapid-fire dialogue blowing one's mind. With "The Sound of Music", "Doctor Zhivago" and "Ship of Fools" all vying for an Oscar, the fact that the Academy included this on their short-list must make a statement. This is most highly recommended, and the film and its public are screaming for a DVD. I'm wondering, whatever happened to Fred Coe? He created a landmark, ground-breaking film achievement, and should be very proud.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Raising Hell
Comment: Murray Burns liked to holler -as did Jason Robards, who could bray and bellow with the best of them; like Burton and O'Toole. When Robards yelled at empty streets, shaded stoops and windows, and an indifferent sky midst the metropolis, we could hear a uniquely American timbre. He was used to emoting those magnificently tragic lines from his Broadway roles in Eugene O'Neills THE ICEMAN COMETH, MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN, and LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT. Robards was an original, who could lace his deep voice with pain, anger, and anguish as well as devilishness, sarcasm, and joy in equal measure. On top of being one of this country's best dramatic actors, the man could do comedy. As Murray Burns he played the true non-conformist, a recent drop-out from the "rat race" -long before Timothy Leary urged most of us to do so.
One day on the subway, while on his way to work as a script-writer for kiddy show host, "Chuckles the Chipmunk" -suddenly Murray could not remember what day it was, finding himself leaden-eyed and dead from the neck up. He promptly quit his job, and actively "owned each day" since then. He became a collector of useless knick-knacks, eagle symbols and statues ("A man never can own too many eagles") , a kite flyer, a cyclist, an unpaid tourist guide and recreation director for the masses, and a creator of holidays that no one else has ever heard of (Irving Feldman's Birthday) -a luxuriant loafer, a malcontent, wholly miscreant and yet still a philosopher -a boorish clown who would brook no insult from anyone, standing tall and ready to "tell off" the minions of morons, and the gaggle of bosses, constabulary, and ingrates that peopled NYC.
This extended period of unemployment began to baffle Nick, the live-in nephew who had been "dropped off" by his mother seven years earlier. Nick was very intelligent, a student enrolled in a school for the gifted, whose administrators had begun to realize that his "home environment was unorthodox". The school dispatched a duo of social workers from CPS to ferret out the truth. They found Nick and Murray living in a messy one-room bachelor apartment. They found Murray unrepentant and more ready to crack wise than to fully comprehend or appreciate the trouble he was in, and they found his present state of unemployment "unacceptable". Somehow in the midst of the interview, Murray charmed the young female psychologist, Sandra, who quit her job and decided to try and help the pair.
The Broadway play by Herb Gardner, a modest success, was adapted for the screen by Gardner, and the dialogue remained essentially intact. Fred Coe, who had directed the play, took over as producer and director of this film. He added several outdoor scenes to add texture and flavor to the urban story, but his strange choice of military marching music and 1920's ballads diminished the effectiveness of his "opening up" of the tale. Barry Gordon, who had been in the play with Robards, reprised his role as Nick; leaving intact his intelligence and sensitivity, his adolescent wisdom and charm. Gene Saks, a tick-ridden comedic actor also reprised his role from Broadway, playing Leo Herman -our man in chipmunk's ears. His twitchy rapid-fire delivery brought to mind both burlesque and Gene Wilder. A young Barbara Harris played Sandra, filling in for Sandy Dennis who had done the play. Her perkiness punctuated by constant weeping and vacuous vulnerability was quite a challenge -and she was more than up for it. Martin Balsam played Arnold, Murray's brother and business agent -earning a much deserved Oscar for his supporting role. His "I have a gift for surrender." Speech was inspired.
Like countless Neil Simon plays that have been adapted for the screen, A THOUSAND CLOWNS (1965), never really lost its "stagy" quality -and yet for most of us, to watch a good comedic play is always a treat, worth its weight in pastrami sandwiches. This film is clever, never pedantic, heart-warming, humorous yet not quite hilarious, and joyful. It was a welcome departure for Robards, who had specialized in tragic roles. His Murray was a man who came face to face with love and reality, who discovered that his feeling for others had to transcend his own depression and selfishness -that somehow he needed to suck it up and take a distasteful job for a man he did not respect to salve the wrong, the problems that had occurred secondary to his non-conformity, his one-man assault on the system -that his actions had cost those he loved much too high a price. A thousand cheers for Murray, and welcome to our world.
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