If You Have Can You Tell Me What It's Like
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This short film has almost haunted me for many years....
Because it's so damned hard to find!
It's a fabulous, and truly memorable, piece-- for me, anyway--
I first saw "It's Not Just You, Murray!" in a theatre in NYC in the early 1970's. As I recall, it was at the 8th Street Playhouse, and I remember the feature film was "Mean Streets," in it's second run....(it was double-billed with "Badlands"...what a fabulous show!--)
The short was an added treat that the management threw in (I believe) for us devotees of the director....
.....even after several decades, that short film always stuck in my mind,-- and since then, I have always searched for it-- but alas, to no avail.
In the early 1990's I purchased (from a mail-order list, with not much description) a sight-unseen VHS tape of Scorsese short films. I did not know what shorts were on it, but of course, I was hoping "Murray" would be one of them,
-- but it was not.....
The tape featured "Italian American" and "The Shave," both good shorts, but a disappointment to me because I was hoping for "Murray"--
Then, just recently, --about a month ago-- TCM was airing a 24-hour short film marathon, focusing on stretches of shorts arranged in groups by director-- and among the directors TCM featured was Martin Scorsese.--
-- AND, --at long last-- among the Scorsese shorts TCM screened was "Murray"!
I was thrilled to see it again, and can say without any hesitation, that it was every bit as clever as I remembered it. I recorded it with my cable-box's (TIVO) DVR, and have still not erased it.
I'm posting this here because (I think) I have just found a DVD of this long-sought-after short film. I read of a DVD once published by RHINO titled: "FIRST WORKS."
It's a 300-minute (5-hour) compilation of film clips by, and interviews with, many of today's important directors. I was told that the 2-disc DVD set INCLUDED several short films, and when I researched it further, I found that it listed Scorsese's first 2 NYU short films, "What's a Nice Girl Like You...." AND "It's Not Just You, Murray!"
--D.--
I saw it in my film class. It's really creative, and it's cool to see early Martin Scorcese directing.
_____
Nothing can kill the Grimace.
A FOLLOW-UP:
-- For those interested, the Rhino DVD collection called "FIRST WORKS" does NOT show the Scorsese shorts in full, just large portions of both "Murray" and "What's a Nice Girl..." are included.
It's not a bad DVD if you want an overview of the "first" works of many of today's famed directors, but a disappointment if you're looking for a complete version of "Murray."
-- As I mentioned in my previous post, I had recorded both of the above-mentioned Scorsese short films with my cable box's DVR when they were aired on TCM.
I have since transferred both short films to VHS tapes-- High quality tapes, (yes, I recorded more than one copy-- in case of future, unforseeen problems) so at least I have both shorts complete on tape.
However, I still would love to have a DVD copy of "Murray."
-- and, if any of you know of it being released on any anthology, or as an extra on any feature film DVD that may be released in the future, I sure would appreciate a nod about it.
- Many Thanks.
--DANA--
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Saw this in my film class. Has to be one of the worst shorts I've ever seen. Bland and uninteresting, too convoluted and possibly only good from the point of view of sourcing the beginnings of characters used by Scorsese in his later films.
"Sell crazy someplace else, we're all stocked up here."
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