Product Details

• Actors: Elaine May, Walter Matthau, William Hickey, Jack Weston, George Rose
• Directors: Elaine May
• Format: NTSC, Color, HiFi Sound
• Rated: G (General Audience)
• Studio: Paramount
• Run Time: 102 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000RS4OYI
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,275 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

[Note: some music has been changed for the home video version of this title.] This widely-admired film prompts many questions. Would the original 3-hour version have been better, with its unsavory murders? Or has the film benefited from the studio's pruning of Elaine "Ishtar" May's artistic liberties? Can a life devoted entirely to leisure be satisfying? Or must there be meaningful purpose behind one's existence? Are there really members of the upper crust who need to be vacuumed daily? Is Henrietta in fact only a pretend simpleton?

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why is this movie not on DVD???, August 11, 2011

By 

Scott ""The Perfectionist"" (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A New Leaf (Special Home Video Version) (VHS Tape)

A New Leaf (Special Home Video Version)

Another great lost movie. How hard can it be to get it on DVD
and get it out there? That about says it all!

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A gem, March 10, 2008

By 

D. Woods "skyfish" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A New Leaf (Special Home Video Version) (VHS Tape)

This is a gem of a movie featuring the work of two fine actors at their comic best. I also laughed until I cried several times during the film. Matthau plays a man addicted to the very best in life but without the money to support his cravings (fast cars, fine food, quality clothing, fine art). Elaine May is the bumbling heiress/professor who has abundant wealth but no sense of how to manage it or even herself. Matthau, with the help of his faithful and very funny butler, targets her for marriage and then for murder so that he can inherit. The irony is that with marriage comes the dawning understanding that he likes being a responsible individual, and that he actually is quite good at managing his extreme needy, very dependent wife and her estate. May does a wonderful job of playing the absent-minded heiress who is only capable at her studies in plants and adoring her crusty husband. When the opportunity to murder his wife eventually arrives, Matthau's is a satisfying choice for everyone, including the butler.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Classic Matthau, January 14, 2008

By 

R. Smith (Rutland, VT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A New Leaf (Special Home Video Version) (VHS Tape)

If you like Walter Matthau, this should be in your collection. I had not seen it in 40 years till the other night, and I laughed again till I cried. A well crafted story that makes its point.