I love this film. I love the play which I have never seen but can imagine. I love the scenes of NYC in the wonderful 60's, and I love remembering the CBS Saturday Night Movie announcer "Don Rickles" (?, not the comedian, tho) who I remember assuring me "will be back in a moment" altho I was far too young to care and was not even watching the film. Why I so clearly remember him announcing that is up for grabs. I think that was 1969 or so. I didn't even know who the "Fabulous, Furry Freak Brothers" were. I didn't know anything.

Now, I KNOW I don't know much. Then, I thot I knew.

Oh, the movie;

There are many ways to look at the movie, and I have enjoyed reading the other comments on it here.

A young, impressionable, trying-to-fit-in Sandra Markowitz has earned her PhD and landed a job. Did she meet Albert there at work or knew him in college? Herb Garder took the answer to his grave. Anyway, she falls "instantly" in love with Murry and stands up to Albert. Seems pretty unstable to me, but she's cute.

I never thot Murry was a "slacker" OR a hero. He's (to me) as his brother paints him; someone to feel sorry for because he can see how stupid and pointless the human race is (as it is) and all the potential it is missing and how misguided it is. And yet, for many lowbrows, that's all they really can be. So Murry is smart, but intolerant. He needs a good dose of being around nice, but stupid people. Yet there he is with a "genius" nephew and a sharp brother. Maybe if he hung around "Perrucio" and his junk a while...

Murry should watch "Barney" or "Boohbah" on PBS if he thinks Chuckles the Chipmunk is stupid (and is). Then he'd be proud to write for Leo.

"You don't WANT a job is the whole thing!"

"Maybe if you say 'be happy Chuckles' it'll get un-stuck!"

"This robe fits fine.."

"Hey, Mur, I'll be up in a sec! Don't JUMP!"

Yeah, Gene Saks deserved the Best Supporting Actor award; I can think of three times more quotes his character said than those of Arnold Burns. Was it just the character being more interesting? But Balsam was a bigger star so, you know, like the most popular kid automatically becomes Quarterback no matter how good he is at it, he gets it.

"Hey, Murry. This paper is three days old." "So what? Is it starting to rot or something? Just read me from the paper." "Most of these jobs have probably been filled. I'll just go get another paper" "We don't need another paper! Besides, all the really good jobs stay around."

Murry's nephew unintentionally starts the investigation by writing an essay entitled "The Benefits of Unemployment Insurance". Nick probably wrote that his uncle and he were having a good ol' time seeing sites in NYC and he was getting paid to do NOTHING! I hope he did not also mention the times he has to stay at the ol' lady's apt. when Murry has his "late work" to do.

"Your work left her gloves."

Yes, as another commentator mentions; Albert Amundson was NOT a villain. The way Murry was going, he might have been a hero.

SPOILER comments; I enjoy one other commenter's point that the movie indicates a bittersweet ending; Murry DOES get a job and save the lad, BUT he looses his creativity.

"Neighbors? I really feel I should... Now I really want to tell you that... I'm sorry. I can't think - of anything to say."

This means that Chuckles the Clown is doomed. Murry will write the same schlocky stuff Chuckles already has going. Yet perhaps it was Murry that got him the fame he reached. Then Murry went to that bar and said "Gosh and Golly, yes!" to an olive in his martini, and left the show's staff. And yet, to Leo Herman, Murry will seem to be writing Great Stuff.

"Minnie Mouse! You called her Minnie Mouse! I swear; my life's work must be feeding you straight lines.!" Leo thinks that is so creative and funny and glib.

What the hell kind of furnishings was that?! "I've been attacked by the Ladies Home Journal." I don't know about Murry, but I would NOT like that apartment after Sandra got thru with it. "So it doesn't really fit with the overall design."

"We all got a little carried away, there. Just tussle around with the kid and he'll be fine."

Leo knows kids as good as humor; "a cloudy wonderland, as clear as the blue, blue sky."

"Goodbye, Charlie! Have a wonderful trip!"

"Hey, stick around, Dr. Markowitz! You know; anything can happen above an 'abandoned Chinese restaurant'!"

And so it did.

I first saw it years ago as an idealistic college student who did not want to become one of the great gray working millions, saddled with a job I didn't like, a huge mortgage, etc.. At that time, I fell in love with the movie and the characters. That's the problem. The movie cast a spell over me and sprinkled some weird kind of fairy dust over me. I wanted to be Murray Burns: a nonconformist, a smart ass, a non-contributor, a guy who ALWAYS did ONLY what HE ALONE wanted to do. And so, for a few years, that's what I did.

Those years, I must admit, were not very happy ones for me. Self-indulgence is a dead-end. I needed to be working hard, towards a goal, with a family, for me to feel truly fulfilled. And I think that is the case with most of us.

Murray Burns and his world are totally unrealistic AND unhealthy. Do not try to emulate him. It is a trap and a prison. It's like smoking dope all the time: you lose your drive and you increase your cynicism.

But perhaps I'm being too serious. Murray does have the kid, and he seems to fall in love at the end, so maybe there is hope for him. The movie has some great lines and funny characters. The black and white scenes of NYNY in the 1960's are wonderful, Martin Balsam as Murray's brother is one of our greatest actors, Barbara Harris is great, William Daniels is great, Barry Gordon as Rafael Sabattini, etc., is great.

See it and enjoy it but don't take it to heart like I did.

Alexander Hamilton imitations???

The hero of `A Thousand Clowns' is Murray Burns (Jason Robards), one of the most original, most complex characters in movie history, and also one of the hardest to decipher. That fact alone – that the protagonist is hard to understand – is probably the main reason that this fabulous film is reduced to only a 7.3 rating on the IMDb scale, a scale which often underrates some spectacular movies, but that's a whole nother topic.

The story follows Murray Burns through about two days of his life, as he goes through a tremendous change. Murray is unemployed and living in a junky apartment with his nephew Nick (Barry Gordon), who urges him again and again to get a job because children's aid workers are on their way. Murray shrugs it off, until two workers – Albert (William Daniels) and Sandra (Barbara Gordon) – show up at his door. Murray spends most of the interview making jokes and bugging Albert, and we sense that it is his defense mechanism. He doesn't want to face his problems, and when he needs to shape up the most he romances Sandra and takes her on a daylong date.

But Sandra happens to be more than a one-night stand, and the two fall in love, which proves to be another distraction that's averting Murray from working to keep Nick. It's only after Albert shows up once again and warns Murray that he fully realizes his situation, and after a long bout he decides to work for Nick, and he goes to get a job.

There's a problem, though, it's that Murray doesn't want a job, because he's afraid of becoming a regular, a dead person whose entire life is planned before it happens. Murray sees the rest of the world as a circus, where everyone is a clown with a routine. Murray is a hero to himself, thinking he's brave to avoid this.

Only its revolutionary script matches the revolutionary plot of `A Thousand Clowns'. It knows exactly the right moment to switch from comedy and drama, to show when Murray is frightened about losing Nick or joking to hide his fear. The scriptwriter knew everything he needed to know about his characters before he wrote the script (and probably the play) and his expertise shows. The movie is very funny, and also very touching, and at all the right moments.

The film is obviously told in Murray's point of view. Example: when Gene Saks' character first enters Murray's apartment the camera follows him as if it were someone's eyes, watching Saks, and since Robards is off screen for the majority of the shot, we can assume who's eyes the camera represents. And we are horrified by the warped Saks, just as Murray is, but compromise along with him as Murray enters the shot and reluctantly joins Saks. The cinematography is great in capturing all of this, and more.

Another great aspect about the movie is how barely anyone understands Murray. Saks doesn't, he just sees a good writer for his show and has no idea why Murray is so `odd', inspiring a long, anger-filled speech about the oddness of Murray's household. Nick doesn't even understand him; he likes his uncle because he is fun but doesn't know why he is fun, and why he must cease being fun in order to keep Nick. Sandra doesn't seem to see the cynical parts of Murray and spends the movie trying to touch on his more compassionate, regular side.

The character that understands Murray the most is his brother Arnold – played by brilliant character actor Martin Balsam. Murray and Arnold, who is also his agent, are locked in an intense verbal combat in an abandoned restaurant. For the first half Arnold is silent as Murray belittles him, as one of the `dead people', upset that Arnold never gets angry anymore, that he no longer is any fun. Murray is about to leave when Arnold screams, and then Arnold opens up, and explains how wrong Murray is, and how wonderful Arnold's life is. `I am the best possible Arnold Burns,' he says, and we see that he is right, and how happy he is.

You see; the whole point of the movie is that Murray is wrong. Well, not entirely, his description of people who've lost their souls to the system is spot-on for Saks' character, but his mistake is that he thinks everyone but himself and maybe Sandra fits into this category (though he's teaching Nick not to be). But he's wrong, and since the film is in his perspective we are as stubborn as he is in accepting that. But listen to all the other characters, like Daniels' line `A person like me will always look foolish when talking to someone as creative as yourself.' This is all summed up in Arnold's speech, about how you can still live a fulfilling life being a regular working man.

The acting in this movie is terrific. I'd like to single out Robards and Balsam (who won a very well deserved Oscar for this), who are wonderful, but really all the actors are great here. Harris is delightfully flighty as Sandra, Gordon is charming as Nick and Saks is strange and warped in his part. This is an ensemble piece, really, with every actor playing his or her part enough to leave a lasting impression while avoiding being a ham.

I love this movie, it's funny, and it's brilliant, 8.5/10.