Rating: 
Summary: There's a fox loose in the chicken coop...Kill Him, Kill Him
Review: After WWII, about 1948 the British started churning out really good satires(Passport to Pimlico, Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Man in the White Suit and so on and so on)till about the early to mid sixties(Dr.Strangelove and Bedazzled). Then in America started an age of satirical movies that stretch from around 1965(The Loved One)to 1974(Dark Star). Some of the best comedies, especially satirical, black comedies, were made during this time. The Landlord, The President's Analyst, Cold Turkey, A New Leaf, A Boy and his Dog, Bananas and The Groove Tube are to name but a few. It's not that they weren't making them before 1965 but really good ones like Sullivan's Travels and The Senator Was Indiscreet were few and far between.
Little Murders, like the President's Analyst, is a landmark film from this era. It has so much to say about our mores and institutions. This one's so black, the sarced cow's been jerked.
This has been one of my favorites since it came out in 1971 and I've been judiciously lending out my VHS copy for years. So, when I punch the title into All Products and the DVD came up, I was jacked. I read a few reviews and if you haven't seen the movie I'd heed the warnings of those who have complained that chapter menu gives too much away and not to look before viewing the movie itself. You don't want to know anything about the plot before you watch it. Each new premise, and there are many, is a joy or depending on your sense of humor a shock to discover for the first time. So also watch which reviews you read. Be careful what details are revealed to you.
(I saw some reviews recently where the reviewer put as a header to some of his paragraphs where he had written sensitive details the word SPOILER in parenthesis. What a Great and Thoughtful Idea ! ! !)
One of the details I will speak about are the monologues, two by Elliott Gould(one about his work and one about college), one by Donald Sutherland, one by Lou Jacobi and one monumental one by Vincent Gardenia and Alfred's(Gould's)visit to his parents(John Randolph and Doris Roberts). These six scenes are priceless and are scripted with some of the best words you'll ever hear. Feelings you rarely ever feel or get from any other movie. They are very special. On top of this, there's a million quotable lines. Jules Feiffer's words are devastatingly funny and Alan Arkin's directoral debut is inspired. The flavor of New York comes through in the same way as it does in The Owl and the Pussycat, They Might Be Giants, Midnight Cowboy or Coogan's Bluff and the cast has the same feel. Like the best New York has to offer in comic, character actors. Truly, a deeply gifted ensemble. I love every character in this movie. Also, there is virtually no musical soundtrack except for a sequence at a resort and a wonderful section late in the movie in Central Park with music by the legendary Modern Jazz Quartet. Finally, this movie has the deepest, darkest, "happy ending" ever. Once again, don't go to chapters menu till you viewed the movie once, all the way through.
Amazon is offering some savings with a great package of Little Murders and The Day of the Locust, a great, but also dark, movie of Hollywood in the 1930's. That's over four hours of the best stuff ever made. In closing I must say as good as these movies are they are also quite jaded and in no way lightweight fare. They are though, if you can connect, extremely satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: Black Comedy at its Best
Review: Alan Arkin directs the Jules Feiffer play with a magnificent group of actors doing wonderful speeches. Where is the DVD?
Rating:
Summary: big performances, little murders
Review: Alan Arkin directs the Jules Feiffer play with a magnificent group of actors doing wonderful speeches. Where is the DVD?
Rating:
Summary: excellent--BLACK comedy
Review: also, in Gardenia's final, hilarious rant: "I'm talking about LOBOTOMIES for anyone who makes under 10,000 a year--I don't like it, but it's an EMERGENCY" Cast is uniformly excellent--Arkin himself has a small cameo.
Rating:
Summary: brilliant and weird, just like Mr. Feiffer himself
Review: As this movie is hard to find, I haven't seen it for years, but it made quite an impression on me when I first saw it. A great pre-Reagan view of pseudo-post-apocalyptic NY , I really enjoyed it, and have seen nothing like it since. I was lucky enough to meet Mr. Feiffer at a reading in Portland, Oregon, and he claimed he hated the movie, hated making it and hated the final version, that it was a bad experience all around. Too bad, I think it may be one of the best I've seen.check it out, if you can.
Rating:
Summary: Black Comedy at its Best
Review: Brilliant satire, excellent cast (especially Alan Arkin as Lt. Practice and Donald Sutherland as Rev. Dupas). If you liked "Harold and Maude," you're going to love this movie.
Rating:
Summary: A perfect pitch-black comedy
Review: By all means get this movie--it's a keeper. LITTLE MURDERS seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle of auteurist favorites of the 1970's, but it has always been a favorite of mine. This and SMILE (which is much sweeter and gentler)are the two best American social satires of the era. LITTLE MURDERS treads the fine line between the surreal, the prophetic, and the familiar with (mostly) stunning fluidity. The cast is wonderful--I have always wondered if Donald Sutherland was spoofing hippie guru Alan Watts in his performance of the minister....
Two minor complaints:
1.)DO NOT READ THE CHAPTER TITLES IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM BEFORE! They give too much away in a movie that is otherwise unpredictable.
2.)No commentary from director Alan Arkin.
Great to have on DVD, though. This film has aged surprisingly well.
Rating: 
Summary: Comedy Noir with Series of Bizarre Situations
Review: Elliot Gould is stunningly attractive, which is one of only a few reasons why I watched this insane film all the way through. Each of the characters introduced are in their own right neurotic or uniquely nuts. The only fairly sane person is the young woman who falls in love and marries Gould in order to "change him". The brief appearance of Donald Sutherland as a very progressive minister, who prides himself on the high failure rate of the ceremonies he performs is amusing, as he frankly insutls everyone gathered by pointing at their peculiarities, causing an eventual riot. It takes the film more than half of the running time to get a close up of the "little murders". The most shocking moment is when a blood-drenched Gould takes a subway ride, his visibly near-death appearance raising not a single eye-brow among the many commuters. A middle aged woman matter-of-factly announced that she was shot at, the bullet stopped by her her shopping bags. "Open up, I have leaking groceries". Bizarre! An irrate police detective investigating the random murder spree is one of the "bigger nuts" in the cast. WOW! If you enjoy "shock value", then this film is for you. To me, the entire cast was made up of zombies who wander about their existance and can't be bothered by anything. The final scene is the culmination of bizarre occurances. See for yourself, but for me, this was definitely a one-time-view.***
Rating:
Summary: all-time favorite
Review: Everyone shines in this flick and each line is a jem. Donald Sutherland has a terrific, albeit small role. Every character gives a monologue, and I like Gardenia's the best: "We need tv cameras everywhere. And if they catch you doing anything funny to yourself or anybody, they break the door down and beat the s--- out of you. It's freedom, I'm talking about! Freedom!" (How could Mr. Feiffer not like it? Did he lose his taste in the war? Oh well... there's no pleasing some people.)
Rating:
Summary: Little Murders deserves to be on DVD
Review: I absolutely loved this movie. Well acted. Very original film.
The film although made in 1971 still remains hilarious and fresh even with the passage of time. Definitely needs to be offered in DVD format.
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