jrsharko-1

I saw "A Thousand Clowns" for the first time when I was a college student in New York in the early sixties. I remember thinking what a cool guy Murray was.

Then I graduated and realized that, for a variety of reasons, working was a necessity. I saw the movie again from the perspective of someone facing reality.

And then I got married and had a child. Then the relationship between Murray and Nick came to the forefront.

And now I watch it and see how complex life and the people in it are.

This is one of the most significant movies of my life. After I saw it for the first time I began rating movies in units of clowns - one thousand being the best possible rating.

I loved how the characters were represented. They weren't all good or bad. I hate movies where the hero is all good and the villains are all bad. The "villains" in this movie were complex. William Daniels' social worker was ostensibly the villain but he understood himself and was empathetic.

Even though the movie is certainly dated, it's still a great movie well worth watching - over and over again.