I watched this film mainly because "A Thousand Clowns" is one of those classic American plays that I had long heard about but never seen.
Now, it may well be a great play (though I have my doubts) but it is assuredly a terrible movie. So "stage-y" that I kept looking around for my Playbill. Its message feels dated and obvious (although to be fair, it may have had more emotional heft at the time it was made.) Jason Robards was a very good dramatic actor (and, yes, I know he played this part on Broadway to acclaim) but he's never had an particularly appealing affect and it seems to me here that one of the keys to trying to make this play work is that his character needs to be terribly charming. The best Robards can manage is a sort of grumpy kookiness. The kid, as played by Barry Gordon (and, to be fair, as overwritten by Gardner) comes across like an adolescent Woody Allen -- and I mean that in all the bad ways. Barbara Harris' character is a disgraceful and absurd portrayal of a modern women -- even given that the film is set in the early 1960's. (Apparently we are to assume that a women who recently earned her Ph.D. is ready to drop her nascent career to move into a one room apartment with some grizzled ne'er-do-well and his bastard nephew only 12 hours after meeting them).
All of the foregoing notwithstanding, what really makes this film painful to watch is the pseudo-"hip" filming and editing style where jump cuts occur without warning or purpose and where we go back and forth between a 1950's urban realism in one scene and a surreal "we're the only two people in Manhattan" empty city pastiche the next. Perhaps it felt interesting and experimental when it was made, but now it just comes across as odd and VERY over-mannered.
In retrospect, I would have been much better off just buying a copy of the play and reading it, rather than wasting 2 hours watching this. I find it hard to come up with any reason I would suggest someone watch the film.
Now, it may well be a great play (though I have my doubts) but it is assuredly a terrible movie. So "stage-y" that I kept looking around for my Playbill. Its message feels dated and obvious (although to be fair, it may have had more emotional heft at the time it was made.) Jason Robards was a very good dramatic actor (and, yes, I know he played this part on Broadway to acclaim) but he's never had an particularly appealing affect and it seems to me here that one of the keys to trying to make this play work is that his character needs to be terribly charming. The best Robards can manage is a sort of grumpy kookiness. The kid, as played by Barry Gordon (and, to be fair, as overwritten by Gardner) comes across like an adolescent Woody Allen -- and I mean that in all the bad ways. Barbara Harris' character is a disgraceful and absurd portrayal of a modern women -- even given that the film is set in the early 1960's. (Apparently we are to assume that a women who recently earned her Ph.D. is ready to drop her nascent career to move into a one room apartment with some grizzled ne'er-do-well and his bastard nephew only 12 hours after meeting them).
All of the foregoing notwithstanding, what really makes this film painful to watch is the pseudo-"hip" filming and editing style where jump cuts occur without warning or purpose and where we go back and forth between a 1950's urban realism in one scene and a surreal "we're the only two people in Manhattan" empty city pastiche the next. Perhaps it felt interesting and experimental when it was made, but now it just comes across as odd and VERY over-mannered.
In retrospect, I would have been much better off just buying a copy of the play and reading it, rather than wasting 2 hours watching this. I find it hard to come up with any reason I would suggest someone watch the film.