The Razor's Edge (1984 Film)
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''The Razor's Edge'' is a 1984 American
historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents history, historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction s ...
film directed and co-written by
John Byrum John Byrum is an American film director and writer known for '' The Razor's Edge'', '' Heart Beat'', '' Duets'' and '' Inserts''. Early life Raised in Winnetka, Illinois, on the North Shore of Chicago, Byrum attended New Trier High School, and ...
starring
Bill Murray William James Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian, known for his deadpan delivery in roles ranging from studio comedies to independent dramas. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Bill Murra ...
,
Theresa Russell Theresa Lynn Russell ( Paup; born March 20, 1957) is an American actress whose career spans over four decades. Her Theresa Russell filmography, filmography includes over 50 feature films, ranging from mainstream to independent film, independent a ...
, Catherine Hicks,
Denholm Elliott Denholm Mitchell Elliott (31 May 1922 – 6 October 1992) was an English actor. He appeared in numerous productions on stage and screen, receiving BAFTA awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for ''Trading Places'' (1983), '' A Private Fu ...
,
Brian Doyle-Murray Brian Murray (born October 31, 1945), better known by his stage name Brian Doyle-Murray, is an American actor, comedian and screenwriter. He has appeared with his younger brother, actor/comedian Bill Murray, in several films, including ''Caddy ...
, and
James Keach James Keach (born December 7, 1947) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the younger brother of actor Stacy Keach and son of actor Stacy Keach Sr. Early life and education James Peckham Keach was born in Savannah, Georgia, the son of M ...
. The film is an adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's 1944 novel ''
The Razor's Edge ''The Razor's Edge'' is a 1944 novel by W. Somerset Maugham. It tells the story of Larry Darrell, an American pilot traumatized by his experiences in World War I, who sets off in search of some transcendent meaning in his life. Maugham is th ...
''. This marked Murray's first starring role in a dramatic film, though he did inject some of his dry wit into the script. The book's epigraph is dramatized as advice from the ''
Katha Upanishad The ''Katha Upanishad'' (, ), is an ancient Hindu text and one of the '' mukhya'' (primary) Upanishads, embedded in the last eight short sections of the ' school of the Krishna Yajurveda.Paul Deussen. ''Sixty Upanishads of the Veda''. Volume 1 ...
'': "The path to salvation is narrow and as difficult to walk as a razor's edge."


Plot

In 1917 Illinois, before the United States joins World War I, a fair is planned to raise money to support Gray Maturin and Larry Darrell, who are joining the war in Europe as ambulance drivers. At the front, commanding officer Piedmont has both of them armed. He also destroys the headlights and windows of a fellow ambulance truck because the lights will signal enemies to their unit. Larry adapts, shooting the headlights and windows of his own truck. Larry witnesses the deaths of soldiers and fellow ambulance drivers. By the time the United States is deeply in the war, Larry's unit is down to a few men. During an unexpected encounter with German soldiers, Piedmont dies saving Larry's life. The war eventually ends, and the two friends return to the United States. Deciding that his plans to join Gray in working for Gray's father as a stockbroker will not make him happy, Larry puts off his engagement to his sweetheart Isabel and travels to Paris in an effort to find meaning in his life. Larry lives a simple life, reading philosophy books in a cheap hotel. He finds work, first as a fish packer, then as a coal miner. After saving the life of a coworker by pushing him out of the way of an out-of-control mine car, he talks with him. The elder miner discusses a Russian magician's book, lends a copy of the
Upanishads The Upanishads (; , , ) are late Vedic and post-Vedic Sanskrit texts that "document the transition from the archaic ritualism of the Veda into new religious ideas and institutions" and the emergence of the central religious concepts of Hind ...
, and suggests that Larry travel to India to gain a different perspective. In India, Larry joins a
Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
monastery. As an exercise, he hikes to the top of a snow-covered mountain and meditates alone. After running out of firewood, he starts to burn books that he brought along. He finds his sense of inner peace. A monk lets him know that his journey is not over. Returning to Paris, Larry first re-encounters Isabel's uncle, Elliott Templeton, who reveals that she has married Gray. (She had ended her relationship with Larry after a disastrous reunion in Paris not long after he first arrived.) They have had two children. Gray and Isabel were forced to move to Elliot's house in Paris after the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
bankrupted Gray's livelihood. Gray's father committed suicide after the crash. Larry's friend Sophie lost both her husband Bob and her child in a car accident and turned to alcohol, opium, and prostitution. Larry attempts to reform Sophie, and they eventually become engaged. Isabel plans to buy Sophie a wedding dress as a gift. However, Isabel still loves Larry and eventually condemns Sophie, labeling her a burden on him. She is interrupted by a phone call and leaves Sophie alone with a bottle of liquor. Larry searches for Sophie and finds her at an opium den with her former pimp. After a confrontation, Larry is left bleeding in the street with a black eye, while Sophie stays in the establishment. The next morning, Larry is awakened by two men and brought to the morgue to identify Sophie's body. Her throat was slashed by a razor. Larry then goes to Elliott's house to try to figure out what happened. Elliott had a stroke and was given his last rites. Larry confronts Isabel, who admits her role in driving Sophie back to the bottle. Isabel says that what she did is no different from Larry ruining their relationship by running off to find his life's meaning. However, Isabel admits her love for him and that she did not want anyone to hurt him the way she had been hurt when Larry left her for the war. Before Larry can respond, they are interrupted by the final moments of Elliott's life. Larry does a good deed for Elliott by convincing him that the Parisian aristocrats have not forgotten about him. (He had been waiting for an invitation to a costume party thrown by a French princess.) After Elliott dies, Larry comforts Isabel. He admits that his journey was about trying to lead a good life that would make him worthy of Piedmont's sacrifice. Isabel and he peacefully part, and he says his goodbyes to her and to Gray. He plans to depart for the United States, which he calls "home".


Cast

*
Bill Murray William James Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian, known for his deadpan delivery in roles ranging from studio comedies to independent dramas. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Bill Murra ...
as Larry Darrell *
Theresa Russell Theresa Lynn Russell ( Paup; born March 20, 1957) is an American actress whose career spans over four decades. Her Theresa Russell filmography, filmography includes over 50 feature films, ranging from mainstream to independent film, independent a ...
as Sophie MacDonald * Catherine Hicks as Isabel Bradley *
Denholm Elliott Denholm Mitchell Elliott (31 May 1922 – 6 October 1992) was an English actor. He appeared in numerous productions on stage and screen, receiving BAFTA awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for ''Trading Places'' (1983), '' A Private Fu ...
as Elliott Templeton *
James Keach James Keach (born December 7, 1947) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the younger brother of actor Stacy Keach and son of actor Stacy Keach Sr. Early life and education James Peckham Keach was born in Savannah, Georgia, the son of M ...
as Gray Maturin *
Peter Vaughan Peter Ewart Ohm (4 April 1923 – 6 December 2016), known professionally as Peter Vaughan, was an English actor known for many supporting roles in British film and television productions. He also acted extensively on stage. Vaughan played Gr ...
as Mackenzie *
Brian Doyle-Murray Brian Murray (born October 31, 1945), better known by his stage name Brian Doyle-Murray, is an American actor, comedian and screenwriter. He has appeared with his younger brother, actor/comedian Bill Murray, in several films, including ''Caddy ...
as Piedmont * Faith Brook as Louisa Bradley *
Saeed Jaffrey Saeed Jaffrey (8 January 1929 – 15 November 2015) was a British-Indian actor. His career covered film, radio, stage and television roles over six decades and more than 150 British, American, and Indian movies. During the 1980s and '90s, he was ...
as Raaz * Richard Oldfield as Doug Van Allen * André Maranne as Joseph, the Butler *
Bruce Boa Andrew Bruce Boa (10 July 1930 – 17 April 2004) was a Canadian actor, who found success playing the token American in British films and television, usually playing military types. Boa's most recognizable film role is in ''The Empire Strikes B ...
as Maturin


Production


Development

According to an interview with director John Byrum published on August 8, 2006, in the ''San Francisco Bay Guardian'', he had wanted to film an adaptation of Maugham's book in the early 1980s. The director brought a copy of the book to his friend Margaret "Mickey" Kelley, who was in the hospital after giving birth. Byrum remembers getting a call the next day at 4:00 am, "and it was Mickey's husband, Bill
urray Urray () is a scattered village and coastal parish, consisting of Easter, Old and Wester Urray and is located in the county of Ross-shire, Ross in the Scotland, Scottish council area of Highland Council area, the Highland. Urray is also a paris ...
He said, 'This is Larry, Larry Darrell.'" Byrum and Murray drove across America while writing the screenplay. What they had written did not resemble the previous film version. Murray included a farewell speech to his recently deceased friend
John Belushi John Adam Belushi ( ; January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, singer and musician. He was one of seven ''Saturday Night Live'' cast members of the first season. He was arguably the most popular member of the ''Satur ...
in the script; this appears as Larry Darrell's farewell speech to Piedmont, a fellow ambulance driver in World War I. While Murray was attached to the project, Byrum had trouble finding a studio to finance it. At one stage, 20th Century Fox planned to make it. Murray wanted to play the part because "it was a different kind of character, calmer, more self-aware."
Dan Aykroyd Daniel Edward Aykroyd ( ; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Aykroyd was a writer and an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" cast on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Nigh ...
suggested that Murray could appear in ''
Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, three eccentric ...
'' for
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...
in exchange for the studio's approving to make ''The Razor's Edge.'' Murray agreed and a deal was made with Columbia.


Filming

For the next year and a half, cast and crew shot on location in France, Switzerland, and India with a $12 million budget. The Indian locations were primarily in the
Indian Himalayas The Indian Himalayan Region (abbreviated to IHR) is the section of the Himalayas within the Republic of India, spanning thirteen Indian states and union territories, namely Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, We ...
. After the last day of principal photography, Murray left to make ''Ghostbusters.'' Executive Producer
Rob Cohen Robert Alan Cohen (born March 12, 1949) is an American director and producer of film and television. Beginning his career as an executive producer at 20th Century Fox, Cohen produced and developed numerous high-profile film and television progr ...
said, "It's a timeless story about someone looking for values in this world. It's about a transition. Well, who can make a more extreme transition, somebody like Bill Hurt, who looks pensive to begin with, and will wind up simply a little more spiritual than he was in the first place, or a Bill Murray, who can begin as the class clown, go to war, come back, and having had traumatic experiences, start to question?"


Reception


Box office

The film was a commercial failure, grossing a little more than $6 million, half of its $12 million production budget.


Critical response

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, who served as a film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1977 to 1999, serving as chief critic for the last six years, and then a literary critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000, M ...
of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' called the film "slow, overlong, and ridiculously overproduced," as well as "so disjointed that Mr. Murray, for all his wise-cracking inappropriateness, is all that holds it together."
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and judged the movie "flawed," pointing to the hero as "too passive, too contained, too rich in self-irony, to really sweep us along in his quest." He placed the blame on Murray's shoulders, saying he "plays the hero as if fate is a comedian and he is the straight man".
Todd McCarthy Todd McCarthy (born February 16, 1950) is an American film critic and author. He wrote for '' Variety'' for 31 years as its chief film critic until 2010. In October of that year, he joined ''The Hollywood Reporter'', where he subsequently served ...
of ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' wrote, "Conceived as a major career departure for comic star Bill Murray, ''The Razor's Edge'' emerges as a minimally acceptable adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's superb novel. Tonally inconsistent and structurally awkward, film does develop some dramatic interest in the second half, but inherent power of the material is never realized."
Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert. Siskel started writing for the '' ...
of the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' gave the film three stars out of four and remarked that "the movie stands or falls on whether Murray is able to disappear into his character of a young man searching for meaning in life after experiencing the horror of World War I. The feeling here is that Murray successfully meets that challenge by playing his character with both a quick comic tongue and with soulful eyes. His character's sense of humor is vintage Murray; his soulfulness is deep and genuine."
Patrick Goldstein Patrick Goldstein is an American former film critic and columnist for the ''Los Angeles Times'' who wrote about movies in a column titled ''The Big Picture''. Colleague Tom O'Neil described him as the newspaper's "chief Oscarologist" as his colum ...
of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' wrote, "It's possible that moviegoers will find this mystic glider ride to the snowcapped peaks of the Himalayas painfully earnest, especially for a comic of Murray's wise-guy gifts. But Murray, in his first serious role, is anything but miscast. He's perhaps the best thing about this intriguing but stubbornly ineffectual drama that only fitfully revives the dated charm of Maugham's rambling, meditative novel."
Paul Attanasio Paul Albert Attanasio (born November 14, 1959) is an American screenwriter and producer. He has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, once for '' Quiz Show'' (1994) and once for '' Donnie Brasco'' (1997). Earl ...
of ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' wrote that "this longtime pet project of Murray's will only disappoint his fans," finding the juxtaposition of Murray's comedic sensibility with the 1920s setting "jarringly bizarre" and the supporting cast "uniformly lousy."


Retrospective reviews

Since its release, ''The Razor's Edge'' has developed a following, and criticism has softened.
Nathan Rabin Nathan Rabin () is an American film and music critic. Rabin was the first head writer for ''The A.V. Club'', a position he held until he left the ''Onion'' organization in 2013.
of ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'', reviewing the film in 2007, felt, "If ''The Razor's Edge'' is ultimately a failure, it's an honest, noble one", and that there were "all manner of minor pleasures to be gleaned along the way." As of November 2023, review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
gives the film a 53% rating based on 17 reviews. Murray stated he deluded himself that there would be major interest in the film as a period piece, while the studio wanted to make a modern movie. Afterwards Murray realized his mistake, but said he still would have found the experience worth it even if the film had never been released.


See also

*''
The Razor's Edge ''The Razor's Edge'' is a 1944 novel by W. Somerset Maugham. It tells the story of Larry Darrell, an American pilot traumatized by his experiences in World War I, who sets off in search of some transcendent meaning in his life. Maugham is th ...
'', a 1946 adaptation with
Tyrone Power Tyrone Edmund Power III (May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958) was an American actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include ''Jesse James (193 ...
and
Gene Tierney Gene Eliza Tierney (November 19, 1920November 6, 1991) was an American stage and film actress. Acclaimed for her great beauty, Tierney was a prominent Leading actor, leading lady during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. Sh ...


References


External links

* * * called www.theoldcorner.org.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Razors Edge, The 1984 films 1984 drama films American drama films Columbia Pictures films Films shot at EMI-Elstree Studios Films directed by John Byrum Films scored by Jack Nitzsche Films based on British novels Films based on works by W. Somerset Maugham Films set in India Films set in Paris Films set in the 1910s Films set in the 1920s Films set in the 1930s Films shot in France Films shot in India Films shot in Switzerland 1980s English-language films 1980s American films English-language drama films