THE RAZOR'S EDGE

"Murray's performance is a qualified success." (http://lever.cs.ucla.edu)

Classic Description:
The Razor's Edge, based upon the 1944 novel by W. Somerset Maugham (the source of the title, according to the author, is the Oriental proverb, "The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say that the path to salvation is hard"), was originally filmed in 1946 by 20th Century-Fox.  Remade in 1984 by Columbia Pictures The Razor's Edge (John Bryum, director, from his co-authored screenplay with Bill Murray) was permiered on 19th October at New York's Ziegfield Theatre in widescreen 70mm 6-track Dolby Stereo.  Bill plays Larry Durell, a man who want to search for the true meaning of life. (A Transcript from the original motion picture soundtrack)

Classic Information:
Director: John Bryum
Screeplay: John Bryum, and Bill Murray
Cast: Bill Murray, Theresa Russell, Cathrene Hicks, and Denholm Elliott

Release Date: 19 October 1984

Classic Quote of Bill in The Razor's Edge:
[After Sophie's murder.]
Larry Darrell: When Piedmont died, I had to pay him back for my life. I found out there's another
debt to pay---for the privilege of being alive. I thought Sophie was my reward for trying to live a
good life. Uh uh. There is no payoff---not now.

Trivia:
1. Bill would do this movie if only Columbia allowed him to do Ghostbusters, too.  A condition of widely reported in the industry trades.
2. Predictably, this movie was a major box office flop, due in part to lukewarm critical reception in the press (one of the more vicious critics writing in a California paper found Bill Murray's performance in the title role as ludicrous as Donny Osmond, a devout Mormon, being asked to portray dementia praecox in a remake of The Lost Weekend)  
3. Murray still received many good remarks for his dramatic performance in this film.
4. Bill Murray's dramatic scene of saying goodbye to Piedmont ("He WILL NOT be missed") and his description of him as sloppy and a man who enjoys offending others was Murray's way of saying goodbye to friend and fellow "SNL" alum John
Belushi, who had died two years earlier.
5. Murray and director John Byrum wrote the screenplay on a cross-the-country trip in the U.S., in bars and cafes, hoping to lend an "On the Road" feel of immediacy to the script.
6. After "The Razor's Egde" flopped in theaters, Bill Murray took a four-year hiatus from films (except for a small part in "Little Shop of Horrors")? He even went back to France and studied in Paris for a year, just
like Larry Darrell.

Thank you to Mark Hawthorne for trvia 4 - 6.

Classic Multimedia:
A tanscript from the original motion picture soundtrack
Bill talks about The Razor's Edge (RealPlayer)

Classic Reviews:
Rabbit's Review
UCLA's Review
More...

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Classic Movie Stills:

Bill Murray as Larry Durell

The WWI Scene

The Cast: Theresa Russell, Bill Murray, Catherine Hicks, James Keach, Denholm Eilliot.

Exclusive!!! - The Razor's Edge Picture Gallery

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