Little killers
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Little killers |
| Original title | Little Murders |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1971 |
| length | 108 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alan Arkin |
| script | Jules Feiffer |
| production | Jack Brodsky |
| music | Fred Katz |
| camera | Gordon Willis |
| cut | Howard Kupermann |
| occupation | |
| |
Little Murders (Original Title: Little Murders , Alternative Title: Kleine Morde ) is a black comedy that was produced by 20th Century Fox in 1971 . The film is Alan Arkin's directorial debut . Elliott Gould and Marcia Rodd play the leading roles . The cinema release was on February 9, 1971. The cinema version premiered on TV in 1977 and a new dubbed version in July 1989 on ZDF.
action
A young woman, Patsy Newquist, a 27-year-old New York interior designer lives in a city full of street crime, noise, obscene phone calls, power outages, and unsolved murders. When she sees a defenseless man being attacked by thugs on the street, she intervenes, but is surprised when the passive victim doesn't even bother to thank her. Eventually, she feels drawn to the man, Alfred Chamberlain, a photographer, but finds that he is emotionally empty and barely able to experience pain or pleasure. He says that he allows the muggers to beat him until they get tired and leave. His complete phlegm prevents him from getting upset about it.
Patsy is used to being the dominant in two-person relationships and shaping men according to their wishes. Alfred is different from other men. When she takes him home to his parents and brother, he hardly speaks, just says he doesn't care about family. He learns that Patsy had another brother who was murdered for no known reason. Patsy's eccentric family are surprised when they express their intention to marry Alfred. The wedding ceremony by the atheistic, nihilistic Rev. Dupas turns into a "free-for-all-happening".
Determined to find out why her new husband is who he is, Patsy wrests the stoic Alfred from agreeing to a trip to Chicago to visit his parents. He hasn't seen her since he was 17, but asks her to provide information about his childhood using a questionnaire designed by Patsy.
Ultimately, Alfred agrees to try to become a "real guy," the kind of man who doesn't put up with anything. At that moment, a sniper's bullet kills Patsy, again for no apparent reason. The blood-smeared Alfred goes to her parents' apartment, the New York passers-by hardly noticing his condition. At first he fell into catalepsy, and Patsy's father helped feed him.
The nagging police detective, Lt. Practice stops by and can't really help due to the number of unsolved murders in the city. After he leaves, Alfred goes for a walk in the park. He returns with a rifle that he doesn't know how to load. Patsy's father shows him. Then the two of them, together with Patsy's brother, take turns shooting people down in the street from the open window.
Remarks
The film is based on the 1967 Broadway play of the same name by cartoonist and later Pulitzer Prize winner Jules Feiffer . After this failed with only seven performances, the production was very successfully staged in London by the Royal Shakespeare Company under the direction of Christopher Morahan at the Aldwich Theater.
From 1969 the revival as an off-Broadway production under the direction of Alan Arkin with the actors Linda Lavin, Vincent Gardenia and Fred Willard was a great success with 400 performances. The author Feiffer received the Obie Award for his play, and Linda Lavin won the 1969 Outer Circle Award for best acting.
Elliott Gould bought the film rights and co-produced the film with Jack Brodsky, who is listed as producer in the credits. Feiffer adapted the play for the film and added new scenes and new characters (including Alfred Chamberlain's parents, played by John Randolph and Doris Roberts). Gardenia, Wilson and Korkes repeated their Broadway roles in the film.
reception
At first, the film only received a lukewarm review from film critic Roger Greenspan and a slightly more positive review from Vincent Canby (New York Times). Roger Ebert's review in the Chicago Sun Times was enthusiastic. He wrote: "One of the reasons this film works, and certainly accurately reflects America's darkest abyss, is because it breaks audiences down to isolated individuals, vulnerable and insecure."
The lexicon of international films judged: "An intelligent, viciously sarcastic satire on the American way of life."
On a budget of $ 1,340,000, the film grossed $ 1,500,000 in North America.
Trivia
- On the album Cowbirds and Cuckoos of Ryland Bouchard , there is a song "Little Murders," which refers to the film.
- Megan Draper auditioned for the original stage production in the popular AMC series Mad Men , set in the 1960s .
Web links
- Small killers in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Small murderer at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- Little Murders (1969 production) in the Lortel Archives
Individual evidence
- ↑ Roger Ebert : Little Murders. Movie Review & Film Summary. Chicago Sun-Times , January 1, 1971, accessed on November 10, 2014 (English): “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. "
- ↑ Little killers. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .