The Razor's Edge (1984 film)
| The Razor's Edge | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster by Tom Jung |
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| Directed by | John Byrum |
| Produced by | Rob Cohen |
| Written by | Screenplay: John Byrum Bill Murray Novel: W. Somerset Maugham |
| Starring | Bill Murray Theresa Russell Denholm Elliott Catherine Hicks |
| Music by | Jack Nitzsche |
| Cinematography | Peter Hannan |
| Editing by | Peter Boyle |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | October 19, 1984 |
| Running time | 128 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $12 million |
| Box office | $6,551,987 (USA) |
The Razor's Edge is the second film version of W. Somerset Maugham's 1944 novel. The film was released in 1984 and stars Bill Murray, Theresa Russell, Catherine Hicks, Denholm Elliott and James Keach. It was directed by John Byrum.
The previous version, made in 1946, starred Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney.
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 night at four in the morning, "and it was Mickey's husband, Bill [Murray]. All he said was, 'This is Larry, Larry Darrell.'"[1]
Byrum and Murray proceeded to drive across America while writing the screenplay. When they returned, what they had written did not resemble the previous film version. Murray also included a farewell speech to his recently-deceased friend John Belushi in the script; this appears as Larry Darrell's farewell speech to Piedmont, a fellow ambulance driver in World War I. Even though Murray was attached to the project, Byrum still had trouble finding a studio to finance it.
Dan Aykroyd suggested that Murray could star in Ghostbusters for Columbia Pictures in exchange for the studio greenlighting The Razor's Edge. Murray agreed and a deal was made with Columbia. For the next year and half, cast and crew shot on location in France, Switzerland and India with a $12 million budget. After the last day of principal photography, Murray left to make Ghostbusters.
This marked Murray's first starring role in a dramatic film, though Murray did manage to inject some of his dry wit into the script. The film grossed a mere $6.6 million at the box office;[2] In this version, the book's epigraph is dramatized as advice given to Darrell by a Tibetan monk: "The path to salvation is narrow and as difficult to walk as a razor's edge."
[edit] Cast
Bill Murray – Larry Darrell
Theresa Russell – Sophie MacDonald
Catherine Hicks – Isabel Bradley
Denholm Elliott – Elliott Templeton
James Keach – Gray Maturin
Peter Vaughan – Mackenzie
Brian Doyle-Murray – Piedmont
Faith Brook – Louisa Bradley
Saeed Jaffrey – Raaz
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- The Razor's Edge at the Internet Movie Database
- The Razor's Edge at AllRovi
- The Razor's Edge Film Site
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