Comedy and film legend Elaine May first achieved fame as a comedic duo with future The Graduate director Mike Nichols. Later, she was one of Hollywood’s most sought-after script doctors. She has also directed four feature films to date, writing three of those. One of those films completely astonished me, and it sure as hell wasn’t Ishtar.
That would be 1971’s A New Leaf, her directorial debut. It is believed to be the first time a woman wrote, directed and co-starred in a film for a major studio. It is amazing anybody could so thoroughly knock it out of the park with the first film, let alone serve in three capacities on it, let alone one as singularly distinctive as this one. This black comedy feels like the wheels could come off at any minute, but I was as spellbound and hopeful May would pull it off as I was that lead Walter Matthau would achieve his nefarious goals.
Matthau is a New York City playboy who has completely squandered a substantial trust fund. His lawyer (William Redfield), has been informing his client for years of his inevitable, impending penury. In a great scene, Redfield seems to channel the mannerisms of May’s former comedic partner as he becomes increasingly exasperated in his attempts to explain this. All Matthau is concerned about is a check he wrote for $6000 that has bounced. Redfield tries to explain not only are there no funds to cover that check, but the lawyer even covered a bounced check for $550 with his own money.
As just one small example of the brilliant dialogue in this script, I submit the following:
“I have you given you $550 of my own money for only one reason: disliking you as intensely as I do, I wanted to be certain that when I looked back upon your financial downfall, I could absolve myself completely of any responsibility for it.” This doesn’t result in any gratitude from his client: “I don’t suppose you’d care to give me an additional $6000 and ensure yourself against guilt permanently?”
Now that the penny has dropped that Matthau has no more pennies to drop, he confides his crisis to his loyal butler, played by George Rose. This is an excellent small part in a film overflowing with them. Rose proposes his employer marry into wealth, not just for Matthau’s continued financial security, but his own, as well. As Rose explains it, so few felt is necessary to retain a gentleman’s gentleman. Rose champions his boss as somebody who upholds traditions long since ended even before the man was born. Matthau agrees to this plan, but does not reveal an additional twist he has in mind, and that is to murder his new bride once inheritance is secured.
We only see one of Matthau’s aborted attempts at wooing, and that is of a needy, middle-aged woman played by Renée Taylor. Her dialogue seems to be lifted entirely from self-help books of the era. Professing her need to be loved, she is about to undo her bikini top when her suitor bolts. In what I like to think was an improvised line, he barks, “No! Don’t let them out!”
A better target presents itself to him at a tea party. When we first see May, she is only the in background, with nothing done to single her out. And yet, she is still somebody the eye gravitates to as Matthau and Graham Jarvis have a conversation in the foreground. Completely lost in thought, she seems to be facially reacting to whatever is on her mind. It is already fascinating to watch her.
May will drop her teacup, with the host accepting the first occurrence, but weirdly going into a tizzy when it happens a second time. May becomes intrigued by Matthau when he intervenes, dumping the contents of his own cup onto the rug, and delivering this speech to their host: “I have seen many examples of perversion in my time, but your erotic obsession with your carpet is probably the most grotesque and, certainly, the most boring I have ever encountered.”
Desperate for financial rescue, Matthau reels in this fish, even if he is repulsed and confused by her. He finds himself cutting price tags off the clothes she’s wearing. He expresses despair at the messiness of her eating, telling Rose she has to be vacuumed after every meal. He finds her interests dull, as they seem to consist entirely of the study of ferns and her desire to find a previously undiscovered variety. Her taste in wine is unique, as she fails to convince Matthau of the appeal of her favorite alcoholic beverage, Mogen-David extra-heavy malaga wine with soda water and lime juice. Every part of that concoction cracks me up, but I seemed to laugh consistently at the “extra-heavy”.
Matthau will make some sacrifices in marrying her. The moment of proposal is quite painful, as he accidentally drives a knee into broken glass while doing so. Even in this moment, he retains composure, rejecting her concerns for his well-being: “Kneeling on glass is my favorite pastime. Keeps me from slouching.”
It’s also goodbye to his bachelor pad. He and Rose move into her family mansion. They proceed to throw out the corrupt and shifty house staff which was installed there by her equally corrupt lawyer, played by Jack Weston.
In a surprise development, Matthau develops a series of skills of which he was hitherto unaware. He brings in competent staff, manages the house and even investigates her tax returns. In the course of plotting to murder a wealthy woman he marries, he accidentally becomes a better and more thoroughly realized person. Could he possibly experience a change of heart by the time the end credits roll?
Admittedly, those credits seem to be a bit long in arriving, with the runtime coming in around 15 minutes shy of two hours. What I find baffling is May’s original cut was much longer, at three hours. No comedy should be three hours long, and It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World only confirms that. Although the excised footage has long since disappeared, we know some excised subplots would have taken the film into far darker territory, which feels like a betrayal of what remains for us to see today, a return to the screwball greats of the 1930’s and 40’s.
Similar to those classics, there are a great many bit parts in this picture. In addition to the actors I have already singled out, there are some great turns by James Coco and Doris Roberts. I never thought I would ever say Coco was underused in anything, but he is pitch-perfect as Matthau’s wealthy uncle. When we first see him, he is laughing hysterically, the camera close on his wide-open mouth as it seems to be ready be chomp down on Matthau’s head that is far in the background.
I have seen A New Leaf twice, finding it enjoyable the first time and falling completely in love with it the second. It is a very smart and deeply funny film, but still one with a weirdly lumbering structure that may bewilder viewers who are less forgiving of something that doesn’t follow the usual series of beats. From what I learned about her on the commentary and special features on this blu-ray, that might have also been a fair description of May herself: a brilliant and funny person who was determined to follow her own course, but who apparently rubbed some people the wrong way.
Dir: Elaine May
Starring: Walter Matthau, Elaine May
Watched on Olive Films blu-ray