Actor Alan Arkin has an impressive film directorial debut with Little Murders, Jules Feiffer's bitter and moving satire (originally produced as an off-Broadway play). Elliot Gould (who also co-produced the film) plays Alfred Chamberlain -- a one time successful photographer who is now down on his luck because he began to eliminate people from his photographs. He also suffers from an inability to feel or to be passionate about anything. But then Alfred meets Patsy Newqvist (Marcia Rodd), who takes it upon herself to mold Alfred into "a strong, vital, self-assured man, that I can protect and take care of." As their relationship develops and Patsy takes Alfred to meet her parents, they suddenly bang up against the brick wall of urban violence and insensitivity. In this world of senseless killings and madness, Alfred realizes that the only way to get back into the world is to become as insane as everyone else


Little Murders is a 1971 black comedy film starring Elliott Gould and Marcia Rodd, directed by Alan Arkin. It is the story of a girl, Patsy (Rodd), who brings home her boyfriend, Alfred (Gould), to meet her severely dysfunctional family amidst a series of random shootings, garbage strikes and electrical outages ravaging the neighborhood.
The film originated as a play written by cartoonist Jules Feiffer which was staged on Broadway in 1967 but which lasted only seven performances. This failure was followed by a successful London production by the Royal Shakespeare Company, directed by Christopher Morahan at the Aldwych Theatre.
It was then revived Off-Broadway in 1969 by Circle in the Square in New York City, directed by Arkin with a cast that included Linda Lavin, Vincent Gardenia, and Fred Willard. That production ran for 400 performances, and won Feiffer an Obie Award. Lavin won the 1969 Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Performance.
Gould bought the film rights and co-produced the movie with Jack Brodsky, who received the producer credit. When Feiffer adapted the play for film he added new scenes, including new characters such as the parents of the character of Alfred Chamberlain (played by John Randolph and Doris Roberts).
The film opened to a lukewarm review by Roger Greenspan,[3] and a more positive one by Vincent Canby[4] in the New York Times. Roger Ebert's review in the Chicago Sun Times was more enthusiastic, saying, "One of the reasons it works, and is indeed a definitive reflection of America's darker moods, is that it breaks audiences down into isolated individuals, vulnerable and uncertain."


Release Date: February 9, 1971 @ The Beekman


Distrib: 20th Century Fox