A New Leaf (1971)

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This is a classic example of the great quirky comedies of the late 60s early 70s that America use to do so well. Its at times snarky yet is utterly sweet. When it isn't side splitting it has the "awww" tendency without being sentimental.

Walter Matthau is so ridiculously perfect in this role as an overgrown trust fund baby who faces either suicide instead of poverty or better yet earn money the old fashion way, marriage and murder. Elaine May is his intended bride/victim as a beyond shy and awkard sweet tempered horticulturalist. She believes or you might say is so naive that she is so blindly trusting of pretty much anyone who shows her interest or works for her. Of course she accepts his proposal of marriage after a few days of knowing each other even though he secretly is repulsed by her.  A greedy lawyer and her lazy greedy house staff have been taking her for a ride for years. In a wonderful scene you see Mattahu "clean up house".

Soon they are experiencing their own version of martial bliss. Mattahu comes to realize its not exactly bliss for him though. He starts taking care of the finacial responsibilites which in the start of this film is something he never did and caused him to marry May. Besides that its a full time job taking care of the clumsy crumb ridden May even with his butler's help. Thus, he tries to murder her but fails and becomes sentimental due to the fact she named a newly discovered fern after him that happens to be next to the river that he tried to drown her in just moments before. Saving May it dawns to him and the audience that being married and taking care of her will be his life sentence.

Sidenotes -

At times this reminded me of Charlie Chaplin's Monsieur Verdeux. A man who is so desperate for money that he thinks nothing of marrying and killing for money. Unlike Verdeux its not loosely based on a real person.Instead this was originally a play. The original unreleased film was three hrs long though butchered due to Robert Evans. Its hard for me to imagine this as a film that could even be two hours long since anything more would lessen the impact of the film.


One of my absolute favorite lines from this was an awkard party scene where Matthau earnestly asks a couple after overhearing their name,

"Excuse me, you're not by any chance related to the Boston Hitlers?"


Bottom Line -

Fans of silly and sweet comedies, non traditional "romance", Walter Mattahu or Elaine May, or early 1970s films would most likely fall in love with this film.