Powerful

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Walter Matthau has been living high on the hog and used to the extravagant life, due to his wealth left to him, but one day he finds it's all gone. It has come to his attention through his accountant that he is broke and that he has innumerable debts. He must liquidate. He must do something. That something, as he discusses and decides with his man, is to marry for money. Enter Elaine May, who is ideal, because she is eccentric, lonely, kind of naïve and unsuspecting, and plain but not too plain. Oh, and she's very, very rich. In his wooing her, they have adventures together, but mainly talking about her hobby of gardening and discovering new flowers. She loves flowers. He also finds that her staff has been taking advantage of her, because she is very gullible. People tend to take advantage of her sweet nature. Huh? It turns out that Walter has finally found some good use for himself in taking care of her and her financial business. He finally finds some self-worth in thinking of someone besides himself. Her sweet disposition, their chemistry together and the great ending really make the film. It is now my favorite "new film I've discovered." Elaine May wrote and directed this film and I loved all of it. The beginning is a bit confusing, but, if you can get past the first 5 minutes or so, I think you'll love it too. This really is a treasure ready to be unearthed. Find yourself "a new leaf" today and you'll have a new perspective on life.

Recently I've caught a number of Walter Matthau films on cable. Matthau was long a favorite of mine since I first really noticed him as more than a character actor (which was probably when my mother and I went to see "The Odd Couple", which doesn't seem quite so funny now, but had us in stitches back in 1968). Seeing some of Matthau's old films recently reminded me of just how good he was, after taking him for granted for so many years. He could do character roles (as most of his early career was; and many were impressive) or starring roles. He could do drama (such as "First Monday In October") or comedy.This particular film -- "A New Leaf" -- is one of Matthau's best. Certainly, as with almost any film, more than one actor could play the starring role. But Matthau had a certain persona which allowed him to make this role in this film his own. Had anyone else been the star, it would have been a VERY different film. What Matthau could do with dead pan was amazing. The early scenes in this movie, where Matthau's character learns that he is dead broke are just hilarious. Hilarious writing, to be sure, but also hilarious because of that Matthau persona. I can't think of another actor who could have handled those scenes in that way. Yes, Matthau was relatively unique...and that's why we liked him so much as to make him a major star in an everyday body.And that's true about this film, too. It's interesting to read the Wikipedia article about the film, which was Elaine May's creation. Thankfully, the big bosses at Paramount didn't allow her to have her way with the final film. Would we really want to sit through 3 hours of a film in which Matthau actually becomes a murderer? I don't think so...and neither did Matthau. May's version would have justified murder (which isn't usually very funny), while this version shows redemption (of both main characters, though mostly of Matthau's character). But what is good about this film is that it doesn't seem to be a rehash of a lot of other films. Like Matthau's performance, the film is relatively unique. Oddly enough, as widely respected as the film was at the time (in terms of reviewers), it was not very successful at the box office. Yet, I still see it as a gem.In addition to Walter Matthau, the movie also stars Elaine May in as good a role as she ever had on the big screen. I always saw May as a "niche" actress, and this is her niche. It was nice to see an actor -- James Coco -- who I had pretty much forgotten about; he's funny here. George Rose is excellent here as the butler. Jack Weston -- one of those character actors who usually played pretty much the same part -- is perfect here as the shady lawyer. And, it's interesting to see a relatively young Doris Roberts, although her part is not large.I'm quite enamored with this film, although it still only get's my "7" for being a very watchable and enjoyable film. But I highly recommend it.

Isn't it sad that after 40 years this film got only 45 reviews? That means one review per year...Sometimes it's very difficult to accept that the general taste of the masses disregards excellent films like this one in favor of awful productions. Why, we are tired of counting into the hundreds the countless reviews about silly (or worse) movies not even worthy of the effort that it takes to write a review.Today I saw "A New Leaf" again after many years, and to my surprise, I enjoyed it even more (is that possible?) than the first time around. It has lost nothing of its excellent humor (Black Humor) and everybody is terrific, even the smallest and briefest of all the characters (and characters they are...: The Cleanning Lady, somebody to take home with you, Henrietta (Elaine May) a classic and unclassifiable character so warm, so humane, so grandiose in her absentmindedness.On the other hand nobody will think that taking Henry (Walter Matthau)or his rich uncle home could be a good idea (Uncle Harry --James Coco-- what a sublime actor!). In Henry's case the turnabout of this character is very well portrayed and shows us that nobody is true black or white, but merely a shade of the so many gradations of gray.The direction is perfect and some of the scenes belong in an anthology of their own; a scene --among most of them, all so good-- that I found almost out of a "Monty Python" movie is the one when Harry is riding a horse in the country and a messenger comes at full gallop to deliver a message and while he delivers it, his horse slowly starts to fall down, like dying or something (an asthma attack maybe?) and ends up full length on the ground, after an exhausted final neigh while the man dismounts it and finishes his message standing while watching his horse in stupor. Superb humor.One of my most endearing films, maybe helped by the fact that Elaine May is one of my favorite personalities ever and, as Henrietta, her character in this movie, was --classic and unclassifiable-- one of a kind.

For some of us, the only recent recording of this film came from either TCM or PBS (can't remember which), wherein the sound sync was off kilter. Also, some images were fuzzy. The print shown on SHO(W)is crisp and in sync. That has to do for those of us who await a DVD with Ms. May's comments -- we hope.This is a drolly funny film with great location shots in New York City, parts of Long Island, NY as well as Maine. The line that will live forever for me is this: "And she has to be vacuumed every time she eats!" What a gem of a film.