73 Little Murders

Discuss releases by Indicator and the films on them.

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Zumpano
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73 Little Murders

#1 Post by Zumpano » Sun Jan 14, 2007 4:20 pm

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LITTLE MURDERS
(Alan Arkin, 1971)
Release date: 22 APRIL 2018
Limited Blu-ray Edition (World Blu-ray premiere) - pre-order here

Adapted from the controversial stage play by Jules Feiffer (Carnal Knowledge), this savage, nihilistic black comedy was the startling directorial debut of actor Alan Arkin. When a severely depressed fashion photographer (Elliott Gould – M*A*S*H, The Long Goodbye, California Split) meets an optimistic young woman (Marcia Rodd – Citizens Band, Last Embrace), she is determined to save him amidst the series of random muggings, sniper shootings, garbage strikes and total blackouts that are ravaging the city of New York.

INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES:
• High Definition remaster
• Original mono audio
• Audio commentary with actor Elliott Gould and writer Jules Feiffer
• Audio commentary with journalist Samm Deighan
• Introductions to the film by Alan Arkin and Jules Feiffer (2018)
A Certain Amount of Black (2018, 18 mins): new interview with acclaimed actor-producer Elliott Gould
Beginner’s Luck (2018, 19 mins): new interview with celebrated actor-director Alan Arkin
Acts of Random Violence (2018, 32 mins): new interview with award-winning writer and satirist Jules Feiffer, author of the original stage play and screenplay adaptation of Little Murders
Speaking of Films: 'Little Murders' (1972, 30 mins): original promotional recording of Jules Feiffer in discussion with academics and critics Susan Rice, Robert Geller, Leonard Maltin and Sean Driscoll
• Radio interviews (1971, 32 mins): promotional recordings of Elliott Gould, Donald Sutherland and Alan Arkin, specially prepared for radio station syndication
• Original theatrical trailer
• Trailer commentary with Larry Karaszewski (2013, 4 mins): a short critical appreciation
• Original TV spots
• Original radio spots
• Image gallery: on-set and promotional photography
• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Limited edition exclusive 40-page booklet with an essay by Jim O’Rourke, cast and crew profiles, original promotional discussion guide, contemporary critical responses, and film credits
• World premiere on Blu-ray
• Limited Edition of 3,000 copies

#PHILTD073
BBFC cert: 15
REGION B
EAN: 5037899071427

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Fletch F. Fletch
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#2 Post by Fletch F. Fletch » Tue Jan 16, 2007 11:16 am

Zumpano wrote:Can anyone recommend Little Murders? I am a fan of Gould and Arkin as an actor. I have never seen his directorial work.

Additionally, can anyone tell me anything about Simon (198?), starring Arkin directed by Marshall Brickman (of Woody fame)?
It's a very odd film but I really dig it in a big way. It really follows its own skewed logic - a pitch black absurdist comedy as if written and directed by Salvador Dali. Any kind of convention is thrown out the window. For example, the typical couple bonding montage that is shown in most romantic movies is flipped on its head when we see Alfred and Patsy play tennis (badly), go bowling and finally dinner and dancing. One moment they are kissing during an intimate moment and the next they are having a conversation while riding horses.

The film begins with a woman stopping a gang of thugs from beating a man (Gould). He then walks away only for them to turn on the woman. She manages to escape, catches up to the man, and yells at him. He responds, "You shouldn't have done that. They were getting tired."

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#3 Post by putney » Tue Jan 16, 2007 12:15 pm

One of my ten favorite films of all time. I beyond reccomend it.

Putney

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sevenarts
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#4 Post by sevenarts » Tue Jan 16, 2007 1:59 pm

I'd be really curious to see it since I'm a big fan of writer Jules Feiffer's comics work. Is it out on a credible DVD anywhere?

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Fletch F. Fletch
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#5 Post by Fletch F. Fletch » Tue Jan 16, 2007 2:28 pm

sevenarts wrote:I'd be really curious to see it since I'm a big fan of writer Jules Feiffer's comics work. Is it out on a credible DVD anywhere?
Yep

The commentary with Jules Feiffer and Elliot Gould is quite good too.

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#6 Post by David Ehrenstein » Tue Jan 16, 2007 6:05 pm

I saw the orginal play on Broadway, with Barbara Cook in her first -- and last -- non-musical role. It was very funny.

Orginally Godard was approached to direct. Happily he turned it down.

Alan Arkin is a God!

Panda
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#7 Post by Panda » Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:27 pm

A highly uneven film, but with many pointed and funny moments.

If Alan Arkin is a God, than Donald Sutherland must be First Minister.
Defiantly over the top performance.

Panda

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pianocrash
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#8 Post by pianocrash » Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:59 am

Gould's finest moment? Why hasn't anyone mentioned the black comedy living side by side with incredibly bleak monologues, as well as the rest of the pitch-perfect cast? Please see this movie. Then make seven of your friends (or even strangers) watch it again with you. But don't forget to disregard anything anyone on this forum may say about it (you will thank me later?).

I will be first in line once Fire Sale comes out on Blu-Ray.

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Zumpano
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#9 Post by Zumpano » Thu Jan 18, 2007 2:00 pm

Thanks everyone for the information, especially Fletch. I thought this film would be right down your alley. I'm gonna order this and I'll post what I think after I get the chance to watch it.

Thanks again everyone!

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domino harvey
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#10 Post by domino harvey » Wed Jan 24, 2007 12:20 pm

Believe the hyperbole. I Netflixed this film thanks to the thread and I honestly can't remember the last film I saw that made me so happy that it even existed. The movie is so good in so many ways that it feels like it's somehow cheating. I made the mistake of reading the Netflix description, which basically gives away the last 15 minutes of the movie, so don't do that, but really, wow, what an amazing find and I agree with some of the other posters in this thread, time will tell but I could easily see this in my Top Ten as well. Get out there and see this.

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sevenarts
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The Films of Jules Feiffer

#11 Post by sevenarts » Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:40 pm

I figured Feiffer probably deserved his own thread, considering that I just saw and loved the Mike Nichols-directed Carnal Knowledge tonight. What a fantastic, bleakly humorous film. It's topped only by Feiffer's earlier Little Murders as far as blunt, brutal satire goes.

I'm a big admirer of Feiffer's comics work, as well, and the fact that I finally got around to watching Carnal Knowledge can probably be attributed to the big book of his Village Voice strips that came out not too long ago. He's an incredibly talented and varied creative voice, equally intelligent and witty when dealing with politics or personal relationships or, as in these two films, with both at once. Actually, Feiffer usually intertwined sex and politics, linking the ways we act in our private lives with the kind of policies and politicians we support or tolerate in our governments.

I know I'm in the minority, but I also love his pitch-perfect script for Altman's Popeye, which brings out the socialist undercurrents of the source material to hilarious effect.

Finally, browsing through his IMDB, I noticed this film directed by Alain Resnais. That seems like such an unusual pairing but I'm very curious. Anybody seen the film and know of any good DVDs?

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zedz
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Re: The Films of Jules Feiffer

#12 Post by zedz » Wed Jul 16, 2008 6:27 pm

sevenarts wrote:Finally, browsing through his IMDB, I noticed this film directed by Alain Resnais. That seems like such an unusual pairing but I'm very curious. Anybody seen the film and know of any good DVDs?
I've never seen the Resnais, but I believe the French release has English subs. Some of those releases have recently been ported to R1 (New Yorker? Kino?) but I don't know if this was among them.

Resnais, I understand, was a big comics fan, and had various collaborative projects (with Stan Lee and Jim Steranko, as I recall) go unfulfilled in the 60s.

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domino harvey
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#13 Post by domino harvey » Wed Jul 16, 2008 7:19 pm

It is one of the four Kino Resnais films. I intended to check it out, but the two other Resnais Kino titles were so bad that I never got around to it, though I didn't realize Feiffer was involved.

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Cronenfly
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#14 Post by Cronenfly » Wed Jul 16, 2008 9:01 pm

Anyone know why the R1 Fox DVD of this went OOP? Of course now that I'm all hyped up to see it it's unavailable...What does everybody think the chances of Criterion acquiring/re-releasing it are (doesn't seem likely to me, but stranger things have happened)?

WTF-there are two releases (2004 WS/2007 FS) of this from Fox and both are OOP?

A somewhat unrelated question to add on to this: is the UPC number a reliable way to differentiate between the two releases of the movie? There seems to be no other way from what I can tell, in this case. If someone who owns the widescreen DVD of the movie could post the UPC for it, I'd appreciate it (IMDB has the number listed for both releases, but I want to make absolutely sure I'm getting the WS version when I'm looking for it).

EDIT-Got the last copy in stock at Futureshop.ca (for $9), and, despite the listing's promise of FF, it was indeed WS (IMDB's UPC was trustworthy after all); most pleasing...

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sevenarts
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#15 Post by sevenarts » Wed Jul 16, 2008 10:06 pm

domino harvey wrote:It is one of the four Kino Resnais films. I intended to check it out, but the two other Resnais Kino titles were so bad that I never got around to it, though I didn't realize Feiffer was involved.
Bad as films, or bad as DVDs? I admit I'm not too familiar with Resnais beyond his earliest films, but it seems like such a strange pairing I could easily imagine it being dissatisfying. Still, it's gotta be at least interesting.

britcom68

Re: Jules Feiffer

#16 Post by britcom68 » Sun Aug 02, 2015 9:38 am

When I was reading last Sunday's NYTimes book review about Al Hirschfeld, it jogged my memory about Jules Feiffer. I glanced on IMDB to see if he was still semi-retired and noticed the following recent news for a "long lost" script of his that is coming via Kickstarter campaign with Robert Altman's grandson. I didn't see this reported anywhere else here in the Forum, hence posting on this old thread.

http://filmmakermagazine.com/94710-mini ... b4Xf_lViko

Kickstarter page:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/84 ... ei/updates

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swo17
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Re: Indicator

#17 Post by swo17 » Sat Feb 03, 2018 1:31 pm

mistakaninja wrote:Little Murders was the clue in the last newsletter
Oh wow, I didn't catch that at the time, but that's huge!

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dadaistnun
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Re: Indicator

#18 Post by dadaistnun » Wed Feb 07, 2018 3:39 pm

Wanted to see Little Murders for years & years - glad my first viewing will be what I'm sure is a top notch presentation.

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MichaelB
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Re: 73 Little Murders

#19 Post by MichaelB » Thu Apr 19, 2018 7:06 am


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oldsheperd
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Re: 73 Little Murders

#20 Post by oldsheperd » Thu Apr 19, 2018 4:47 pm

I'm glad to see it has three commentaries. I've always wanted to see more analysis of this film. It does, imo, start to fizzle a bit
SpoilerShow
after Marcia Rodd meets her demise but it still works pretty well for a film that goes completely dark after that

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domino harvey
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Re: 73 Little Murders

#21 Post by domino harvey » Thu Apr 19, 2018 5:41 pm

The above twist used to be spoiled in the official Netflix (disc) description, which taught me to never read descriptions before seeing the film first

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MichaelB
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Re: 73 Little Murders

#22 Post by MichaelB » Thu Apr 19, 2018 5:57 pm

It's only got two commentaries - Elliott Gould and Jules Feiffer share the same track. Although there's plenty of commentary in other forms elsewhere, notably the panel discussion.

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Apperson
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Re: 73 Little Murders

#23 Post by Apperson » Sat Apr 21, 2018 11:53 am


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MichaelB
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Re: 73 Little Murders

#24 Post by MichaelB » Mon Apr 30, 2018 3:39 am

Mondo Digital:
As potent as any horror film and one of the great undiscovered would-be cult films. (...) Definitely one of the finest Indicator releases to date and hopefully one that will end up on several of the year's top ten lists.

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rapta
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Re: 73 Little Murders

#25 Post by rapta » Mon Apr 30, 2018 1:01 pm

Got this today. Looks like a jam-packed release, glad I caught it. Loved Arkin's The In-Laws which I watched for the first time quite recently, and also really like Gould (particularly during his heyday).

More like this please, Indicator! Fingers crossed for The Gravy Train (aka The Dion Brothers)...

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