A Thousand Clowns (1965)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Fred Coe

Writers:

Herb Gardner (play)
Herb Gardner (screenplay)

Release Date:

9 September 1966 (Finland)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

...IT'S LAUGHTER FOR EVERYONE!!

Plot:

A middle-aged iconoclast, doggedly avoiding the tedium of employment and conventional life, faces the prospect of losing custody of his young ward.

Plot Keywords:

Uncle | Social Worker | Rooftop | Hiding In Closet | Tandem Bicycle

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Jason Robards	...	Murray N. Burns
Barbara Harris	...	Dr. Sandra 'Sandy' Markowitz
Martin Balsam	...	Arnold Burns
Gene Saks	...	Leo Herman - 'Chuckles the Chipmunk'
William Daniels	...	Albert Amundsen
Philip Bruns	...	Jimmy Sloan - Producer in Restaurant
John McMartin	...	TV Producer in Office (as John MacMartin)
Barry Gordon	...	Nick

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA)

Certification:

USA:Approved | Finland:S | West Germany:12 (w)

Filming Locations:

Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Harell

Trivia:

This movie features a scene where Jason Robards walks in front of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts during its construction.

Goofs:

Continuity: After Leo leaves the apartment, two different cardboard cutouts of him are used, with different facial appearances.

Quotes:

Murray Burns: [answers phone] Hello, is this someone with good news or money? No? Goodbye!
[hangs up]

Movie Connections:

References The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Soundtrack:

A Thousand Clowns

Delightful and thought-provoking

I loved this movie passionately the first time I saw it, which was almost 30 years ago, and I love it every single time I watch it. Certainly aspects of it have gotten more meaningful as I've gotten older. The cast, full of people I had no idea of at the age of 10, turned out to be full of some of my all-time favorite actors (William Daniels, Barbara Harris, Jason Robards...how can you go wrong?)

I think some of the reviewers here (especially the ones giving it mixed reviews) are under the impression that the viewer is supposed to view Murray as a totally sympathetic character. He's not, and I don't think he's intended to be. Murray is really fun to be around for over half the movie; you're rooting for him all the way. As Sandy says, "No wonder Nick loves it here. I'd love to live here too if I were eleven years old!" When it's really time for Murray to settle down and do something to keep Nick, he can't bring himself to do it, and his free-spirited ways start looking, to the objective viewer, shallow and irresponsible. Murray needs to grow up, and do it fast, and growing up means compromising. That's the lesson; not that Murray was right all along, but that you can't be completely free if you do in fact have something left to lose, and Murray does. But life isn't a black and white choice between happiness and unhappiness, it's a continuum, and sometimes "doing the best you can" is enough.

I found it truly interesting that, throughout the movie, Nick was what Murray describes as "a middle-aged kid," seeming older than Murray himself. At the end, when Murray grows up, Nick seems to revert. He throws a full-scale tantrum, and that's the first time in the whole movie I remembered he was actually a child. I think that's a testament to Gordon's skill as an actor.

For anyone who read/saw the play: the director didn't seem to quite "get" the point of the play, and changed the end of the first and second (or is it second/third? I don't have it in front of me) to make the end of the movie more of a downer than the play. I never quite forgave him for that. The end of the play suggested that compromises have to be made, life goes on and it can even be good. The end of the movie seems to suggest that the last scene was unsubtly a "sell-out." I disagree. But I still loved the movie.

"Getting back to reality..." "I'll only go as a tourist!"