thejcowboy22 June 1971: My Maternal Grandfather"Abe"passed away at the age of 84 due to blocked arteries. This was the first death I experience in my immediate family. My Grandparents would travel from New Jersey via public transportation and spend weekends at my home on Long Island. There would be no more visits for my Grandpa from this day on as I was going to witness my first funeral and burial. One of my talents is geography and I loved to read road maps . I was; and still a master of the roads and directions in the New York City area. I would constantly drive with my Father around the boroughs,counties as he ran a service business. I basically had a knowledge of the roadways and thoroughfares in and around New York. I came home from school on a Tuesday afternoon. I knew something was wrong when I came into an untidy house and my Mom wasn't around. A few moments later My mother pulls into the driveway with her niece from New Jersey as my Mom gave a distant look as if she was looking through me telling me simply that Grandpa Died . I'm part of a large family so we needed two cars to get to the funeral on time for Wednesday's memorial service from Long Island to Paterson, New Jersey at 10 AM sharp! Moreover my Father appointed me the navigator and make two stops to pick up his Uncles. My Parents went in one car and the second car was to be driven by my sister Elaine who just received her licence. Nervous and apprehensive were an understatement as my sisters and I left from My father's office in Ozone Park heading to Manhattan to pick up my colorful and argumentative Great Uncles . With my expertise we dodged traffic as we rode through unsavory neighborhoods to Manhattan arriving to the Uncle's respective high rise apartments. Then forged onward for New Jersey Via a construction site and a pier which was mistaken for an on ramp for the West Side Highway. On the way over, the two crusty combatants argued which Walter Matthau movie was better? Plaza Suite or A New Leaf? A New leaf was written by Jack Ritchie and Elaine May. Henry Graham (Walter Matthau) Middle aged playboy complete with crash helmet has a problem with his sports car. Too much carbon on the valves. Henry has a bigger problem, notified by his accountant, (William Redfield), Henry is running out of money and is weeks away from bankruptcy. Reminded constantly by his deadpan gentlemen's gentleman Harold (George Rose) who in my opinion has all the funny lines in this off-beat comedy. Henry can't bear the thought of being poor so he contemplates suicide but instead chooses a fate much worse. MARRIAGE!! With little time and funds running low, Henry scours the upper high brow circles of the wealthy and comes across a clumsy near sighted woman who has a knack for spilling tea on expensive rugs. Enter the wealthy available botanist who strongly believes in the organic method, Henrietta Lowell (Elaine May). Henry defends Henrietta to the indignant hostess and works his phony desperate shtick on the unsuspecting millionaire as Henry sees dollar signs all over the crumb laden Henrietta. Henry discovers a network of household servants that are robbing her blind. A housekeeper Mrs. Traggert played by a much younger Doris Roberts who has no idea who she's dealing with as Henry waist no time in letting her go. Jack Weston plays the fraudulent unscrupulous attorney Andy McPherson who handles Henrietta estate plus over pays the help. Henry takes charge of her affairs but Henry isn't looking for love or companionship. The truth is Henry finds Henrietta down right detestable or as he called her feral. Well written story with great timing by the players. Elaine May's direction of James Coco as the avaricious tight wad Uncle Harry and Jack Weston's desperation and crying is comical. Elaine May's use of physical comedy is a sight to behold . Putting on a negligee is a project . So sit back with a Mogen-David extra heavy Malaga cooler as the Graham's discover more than a new leaf. Oh by the way, My Sisters, Uncles and Yours Truly made it to the funeral on time!

SimonJack Henry Graham has "no skills, no resources, no ambition. All I am, or was," he says to his valet, "is rich, and that's all I ever wanted to be. I don't understand, Harold. Why did it happen to me? Why? I was so happy. What will I do?"Those lines from "A New Leaf" are a picture of what Henry Graham's life was like up to now. He's single but he isn't a playboy or a homosexual. If anything, he's a misogynist. He's a man who enjoys manly sports, thrills and action – cost and other people be damned. Walter Matthau plays the egocentric Graham to perfection. He's a self-centered, snob and hedonist whose behavior is sardonic to all around him. His character is exaggerated to the point of ridiculousness. He lives in a New York City apartment but owns a Ferrari. He can't drive the super sports car more than twice a week, so it's always carboned up and in the shop for repairs. But "it's worth it," he tells a mechanic. He owns a plane but doesn't fly it often enough. So it has the same problems -- carbon. He owns a horse and plays polo. He eats in the best restaurants and enjoys fancy wine. In short, he's on a pleasure trip, but he owns so much and has so many things that he can't use them often. And he says, or thinks that he's happy. Fifteen years earlier, Henry came of age and out from under his uncle's guardianship. He told his attorney and financial manager that he wanted to live on an income of $200,000 per year. But he doesn't have a job or own a business. His lifestyle is based on his inheritance earnings of $90,000 per year. Now the money has run out, all his investments are sold, and he's broke. There's only one way to escape poverty and the humiliation of it. As his valet, Harold, explains, it's "what any gentleman in similar circumstances would do – marry." It's presumed into wealth, of course. George Rose is Henry's valet, Harold. He encourages Henry in his hunt for a wife. Harold says he would find it hard to find work elsewhere as a gentleman's gentleman. He says to Henry, "You have managed in your lifetime, Mr. Graham, to keep alive traditions that were dead before you were born." The films is loaded with such wit and funny lines throughout. Most of it comes in the acerbic lines of Henry, especially toward servants, and those people "below" him. Enter Elaine May, who also wrote the screenplay for the film. She plays wealthy heiress Henrietta Lowell. She's the perfect candidate – after Henry has dated some others whom he couldn't tolerate. But the shy, clumsy, amiable and amicable Henrietta is the perfect spouse for Henry's future plans. The rest of the story unfolds as Henry courts Henrietta and they get married. Great humor comes in the form of Henrietta's attorney, Andy McPherson, and a slew of consorts who are sponging off the good- hearted and naïve Henrietta. Jack Weston is superb as McPherson and provides some of the most hilarious scenes in his groveling and begging Henrietta to marry him instead of Henry. Doris Roberts heads the household cast as Mrs. Traggert, and she and the rest of the cast are a hoot. James Coco is hilarious as Uncle Harry. Of course, Henry can see through these slouches, incompetents and con artists. And he's the biggest one of all in this film. Harold discovers the household books, hidden under Mrs. Traggert's mattress. Traggert and company have been bilking Henrietta for years. Henry takes charge of the household, fires the lot and hires new competent help. The rest of the story shows Henry looking for a way to dispose of his wife – by an accident, of course. But as it develops, Harold tells Henry that he has changed, that he has many skills, and that Mrs. Graham is a very good partner. Still, Henry says, almost in a tantrum, "I don't want to share things. I want to own them all by myself." Henrietta's naiveté and innocence begin to work on Henry, He gradually becomes more patient and kind toward her. I won't describe all the details that lead to his final change of heart. But when Henrietta names a new fern she discovers after Henry, we see the spark of humanity begin to glow in Henry. This is a great comic tale of wasted youth, hedonism, and self-centeredness that ends with redemption. Very clever writing, directing, editing and musical scoring went into this film. It's a most entertaining movie with a great moral – although those just looking for entertainment may miss the latter. It is very cleverly interwoven in this beautiful and very funny film. It's certainly one of the very best films about a person turning over a new leaf. Here's one very funny scene in the film. At a fancy restaurant, Henry picks out a wine and says to Henrietta that the '55 Mouton Rothschild was an excellent wine. Henrietta then tells him she didn't drink much, but her favorite wine comes from a drink she had the previous year on a botanical field trip to the Caribbean. A friend introduced her to Mogen David extra heavy Malaga wine with soda and lime juice. "It tastes a little like grapefruit juice, and every year is good," Henrietta says. "It's called a Malaga cooler." I don't know how either actor could keep a straight face in this scene. What a great, funny and satisfying movie!

JLRMovieReviews Walter Matthau has been living high on the hog and used to the extravagant life, due to his wealth left to him, but one day he finds it's all gone. It has come to his attention through his accountant that he is broke and that he has innumerable debts. He must liquidate. He must do something. That something, as he discusses and decides with his man, is to marry for money. Enter Elaine May, who is ideal, because she is eccentric, lonely, kind of naïve and unsuspecting, and plain but not too plain. Oh, and she's very, very rich. In his wooing her, they have adventures together, but mainly talking about her hobby of gardening and discovering new flowers. She loves flowers. He also finds that her staff has been taking advantage of her, because she is very gullible. People tend to take advantage of her sweet nature. Huh? It turns out that Walter has finally found some good use for himself in taking care of her and her financial business. He finally finds some self-worth in thinking of someone besides himself. Her sweet disposition, their chemistry together and the great ending really make the film. It is now my favorite "new film I've discovered." Elaine May wrote and directed this film and I loved all of it. The beginning is a bit confusing, but, if you can get past the first 5 minutes or so, I think you'll love it too. This really is a treasure ready to be unearthed. Find yourself "a new leaf" today and you'll have a new perspective on life.

laura-6 For some of us, the only recent recording of this film came from either TCM or PBS (can't remember which), wherein the sound sync was off kilter. Also, some images were fuzzy. The print shown on SHO(W)is crisp and in sync. That has to do for those of us who await a DVD with Ms. May's comments -- we hope.This is a drolly funny film with great location shots in New York City, parts of Long Island, NY as well as Maine. The line that will live forever for me is this: "And she has to be vacuumed every time she eats!" What a gem of a film.