Little Murders

Synopsis: A girl brings home her latest boyfriend to meet her parents. This is done against the background of random shootings that had just begun in NYC at the time the play was written. How the family's failings are magnified by the social confusion of the times is the crux of the plot.
Genre: Comedy
Director(s): Alan Arkin
Production: 20th Century Fox Film Corporation
  1 nomination.
 
IMDB:
7.2
Rotten Tomatoes:
63%
PG
Year:
1971
110 min
1,294 Views


- [Woman Humming]

- [Man Outside] Hey.

[People Chattering Outside]

[Motor Rewing Outside]

[Man]

What you doing in the street?

- [Man Shouts, Indistinct]

- [Man #2] I can't hear you. What?

[Man #3]

He's taking pictures. Did you hear that?

[Man]

What do you want a picture for? Huh?

- [Man #4] I'm a photographer.

- [Man #2] Aphotographer?

[Loud Marching Band

On Radio]

[Stops]

[Man #3] Hey, he looks like a big photographer.

[Man #2] Wipe that smile off your face.

[Ringing]

[Chattering Continues]

[Man #2]

Hey, you think you're a tough guy, right?

[Ringing Continues]

[Heavy Breathing On Phone]

Creep.

[Chattering Continues]

- [Man #2] For what?

- [Man #4] My camera.

Your camera. Why?

[Man #3]

You have a lot of fun with it.

[Man] Take our picture.

[Man #3]

Be careful with his camera.

[Ringing]

[Man #2] Hey. Take my picture, will you, man?

[Ringing Continues]

- Hello.

- Patsy, this is Lester.

- Hello, Lester.

- I thought it only fair to tell you...

I'm getting married.

I think that's

a very good idea, Lester.

I won't do it if you don't think

I should.

I want you very much

to get married, Lester.

Can I come over tonight

and talk to you about it?

- No, Lester.

- Tomorrow night?

I have to get off now, Lester.

[Man]

Come on! Do something!

- [Man #2] How about your camera now?

- Stand there like a lump!

- [Man #3]Jesus Christ. What a fruit.

- [Man] He's a fruit, man.

- [Man #3] F*ggot.

- [Man] F*ggot.

[Man] Look at that son of a b*tch!

Look at him!

Look at him! He's a big fag! Get him!

Fag! Go on! Get him, man!

- Come on, faggy. Come on. Do something.

- How about you camera now?

Grab his camera. What is it, baby?

Come on! Do something!

[Men Yelling Outside]

[Man Cackling]

Get him! Oh! Oh!

[Man #2]

What are you laughing at?

- What are you laughing at?

- You think that's funny? Come on.

- You want more?

- Come on. Do something.

You're gonna get worked over.

[Man] Come on, pal.

We're gonna hurt your camera.

- We're gonna take your camera.

- Come on! [Laughs]

- Yeah! Come on!

- [Man #2] Talk to us, man. Talk!

- Hey, you guys. Stop it down there.

- Come on!

Hey. I'm gonna call the police.

Stop it. Hey!

Hey! Come on.

Stand up and fight.

[Yelling]

- Get him.

- You're a big fag!

- You fruit!

- Come on!

- Pick him up! Pick him up!

- [Dial Tone Humming]

[Busy Signal Beeping]

[Line Ringing]

You're not a man, you're a f*ggot!

[Yelling Continues]

Police emergency. Sergeant Kershner.

One moment.

[Yelling Continues]

[Loud Whirring]

[Yelling Continues]

- [Yelling]

- Hey! Hey!

Who do you think you are?

You're beating up on innocent people!

How do you expect anybody to sleep?

[All Yelling]

- Let go of my purse! Come on! Ow!

- [Humming]

Stop it! Hey!

Give that back to me!

Stop it! Now, listen!

Stop! Ow!

[Continues]

[Patsy] No!

You... You degenerates!

Stop! That's not funny!

No!

Ow! Stop that! Ow! No!

Let go! Stop it!

Give me back my purse!

- [Continues]

- Come on.

Who do you think you are?

What kind of a man are you? [Huffing]

L... I should have let them

break your neck.

Now, look at me.

Look at me. Listen.

What do you think...

Are you a man or...

That was absolutely

the most spineless...

A-Are you a man?

I don't know what you are.

I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know.

You shouldn't have done that.

They were getting tired. You got them mad.

- You shouldn't have.

- Listen.

They were killing you!

You wa...

Why didn't you help me?

You could have defended me. I defended you.

Don't you think you should have at least tried?

People help each other all the time.

Isn't that what life is all about?

I don't know why you want

to make a big thing out of it.

Those guys in the park, they said,

"Hey, fat-face, what are you staring at?"

If I told them I wasn't staring at them,

they would have beat me up for being a liar.

If I told them I was staring at them

because I wanted to take their picture...

then they'd beat me up

for being a cop.

So I told them I was staring at them

because they looked familiar...

and they beat me up

for being a fag!

There's no way of talking someone out of

beating you up if that's what he wants to do.

And you-you just let them?

I want to do what I want to do, lady,

not what they want me to do.

Listen, no... no one behaves

like that. That... l...

l... l... I ought to

break your neck.

You should be

ashamed of yourself. Listen.

Are you really so down on people,

or are you just being fashionable?

[Humming]

These are beautiful.

Really. Just beautiful.

It's sort of a collage effect,

isn't it?

And they're all...

They're all...

- Hmm. What do you do for pleasure?

- This.

Oh, I don't mean work.

I mean, this is important...

but, uh, I mean, if all you ever do

is take pictures of...

you know,

this sort of picture...

I mean, isn't that awfully limited?

For example, I do interiors.

Now, I like it. I even love it.

But I'd go bats if I had to

go home and do interiors...

and go on my vacation

and do interiors...

and interiors was all

that was ever on my mind.

I mean, that's death.

No wonder you're depressed.

I'm not depressed.

Hmm.

So...

this is it.

This is all that you do.

You don't ski?

Ski?

You don't play tennis?

Golf?

- Ping-Pong?

- [Scoffs]

Checkers?

[Chuckles]

Oh, you must have some fun.

[Chuckles]

Fun.

[Clears Throat]

Hello there.

Hello there.

Testing. One, two, three. Testing.

Talk to me. Sing. Do something.

- [Snores]

- [Chuckles]

- You want to drive for a while?

- I hate cars.

You don't have to do anything

you don't want to do.

- Except have fun.

- You'll get used to it.

[Man Singing In Spanish]

[Continues]

Okay.

[Continues]

[Continues]

What do you mean you don't dance?

You dance very well.

I didn't know this was dancing.

Admit it. You're having fun.

You're a terrific girl, Patsy.

I don't know if you know that.

I think you were fantastic...

on the tennis court this afternoon.

Admit it. You're having fun.

You're having the time of your life.

- Tonight.

- Well, that's something.

This must be the first time in your life

you're having the time of your life.

[Sighs]

- Why not?

- I don't feel like it.

Well, I didn't mean to

force myself on you.

You're a terrific girl.

I really mean that.

I'll tell you when I feel like it.

[Continues]

Do you know how I wake up every morning

of my life? With a smile on my face.

And for the rest of the day I come up

against an unending series of...

of challenges to wipe

that smile off my face.

The breather calls. Ex-boyfriends

call to tell me they're getting married.

Someone tries to break into the

apartment while I'm getting dressed.

There's a drunk asleep

in the elevator.

Three minutes after I'm out

in the street, my camel coat turns brown.

The subway stalls. A man standing next

to me presses his body against mine.

The up elevator jams.

Rumors start buzzing around the office

that we're about to be automated.

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Jules Feiffer

Jules Ralph Feiffer (born January 26, 1929) is an American syndicated cartoonist and author, who was considered the most widely read satirist in the country. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 as America's leading editorial cartoonist, and in 2004 he was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame. He wrote the animated short Munro, which won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1961. The Library of Congress has recognized his "remarkable legacy", from 1946 to the present, as a cartoonist, playwright, screenwriter, adult and children's book author, illustrator, and art instructor.When Feiffer was 17 (in the mid-1940s) he became assistant to cartoonist Will Eisner. There he helped Eisner write and illustrate his comic strips, including The Spirit. He then became a staff cartoonist at The Village Voice beginning in 1956, where he produced the weekly comic strip titled Feiffer until 1997. His cartoons became nationally syndicated in 1959 and then appeared regularly in publications including the Los Angeles Times, the London Observer, The New Yorker, Playboy, Esquire, and The Nation. In 1997 he created the first op-ed page comic strip for the New York Times, which ran monthly until 2000. He has written more than 35 books, plays and screenplays. His first of many collections of satirical cartoons, Sick, Sick, Sick, was published in 1958, and his first novel, Harry, the Rat With Women, in 1963. He wrote The Great Comic Book Heroes in 1965: the first history of the comic-book superheroes of the late 1930s and early 1940s and a tribute to their creators. In 1979 Feiffer created his first graphic novel, Tantrum. By 1993 he began writing and illustrating books aimed at young readers, with several of them winning awards. Feiffer began writing for the theater and film in 1961, with plays including Little Murders (1967), Feiffer's People (1969), and Knock Knock (1976). He wrote the screenplay for Carnal Knowledge (1971), directed by Mike Nichols, and Popeye (1980), directed by Robert Altman. Besides writing, he is currently an instructor with the MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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