Film: A New Leaf & Luv

A NEW LEAF
From the brilliant comedic mind of Elaine May comes her directorial debut, A New Leaf. Also written by and co-starring May, the movie toplines Walter Matthau as Henry Graham, a spoiled, over the hill trust fund baby who suddenly finds himself penniless. He concocts a plan to find and marry a rich woman in a week’s time to restore his former financial glory, with his society chums being none the wiser. Enter May’s Henrietta Lowell, an ever klutzy, introverted heiress with a passion for botany, all of which Matthau’s character pretends to find charming. Can he woo her & get her down the aisle in a mere seven days? Matthau and May make an incredible pair in this hilarious and entertaining comedy classic.

“A New Leaf is one of cinema’s great comedies” – Keith Uhlich, Slant

“A film of such wit and comic invention that it belongs among the great American comedies.” – Calum Marsh, The Village Voice

“Elaine May’s frenzied 1971 comedy, in which she co-stars with Walter Matthau, reveals the essence of marital love more brutally than many confrontational melodramas.” – Richard Brody, The New Yorker

Kim Morgan discusses A New Leaf on the New Beverly blog.

DIRECTOR Elaine May
WRITER Written for the screen by Elaine May Based on Jack Ritchie’s short story, The Green Heart
STARRING Walter Matthau, Elaine May, Jack Weston, George Rose, James Coco, Doris Roberts
YEAR 1971
COUNTRY USA
FORMAT 35mm
RUNNING TIME 102 minutes

LUV
Unlucky-in-love Harry Berlin (Jack Lemmon, The Apartment) is about to jump off the Manhattan Bridge when an old college buddy, Milt Manville (Peter Falk, A Woman Under the Influence), stops him. Grateful, Harry agrees to take Milt’s neurotic wife Ellen (Elaine May, A New Leaf, Enter Laughing) off his hands. Divorcing Ellen, the well-to-do Milt gives her everything and marries Linda (Nina Wayne, Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round), a gorgeous gym teacher. Although they’re now wed to different spouses, Ellen and Milt realize they’re still in love. When their plan to palm Linda off on Harry fails, the divorced matchmakers decide to murder him instead and throw him off the Manhattan Bridge. This dark and manic comedy was based on the Tony -nominated play by Murray Schisgal (Tootsie). (Sony Pictures)

DIRECTOR Clive Donner
WRITER Screenplay by Elliott Baker based on the play by Murray Schisgal
STARRING Jack Lemmon, Peter Falk, Elaine May, Nina Wayne, Eddie Mayehoff
YEAR 1967
COUNTRY USA
FORMAT 35mm
RUNNING TIME 96 minutes