Some love for Elliott Gould and his early '70s work:
There was certainly an element of bravado in some of his early career decisions. For “Little Murders” (1971), a dark farce based on a Jules Feiffer play, Mr. Gould approached — and briefly secured — Jean-Luc Godard to direct. “I wanted someone really avant-garde,” he said. But the relationship with the irascible Mr. Godard soon foundered.
Mr. Gould said, “I told him: ‘Look, the establishment here does not want to work with you. I want to work with you, and the establishment wants to work with me.’ ” (Mr. Godard’s response, as Mr. Gould tells it, is not printable.)
The studio ended up installing the actor Alan Arkin as director. “Elliott was a dream as an actor and a producer,” said Mr. Arkin, who added that the characterization of Mr. Gould as an emblem of uptightness was misleading. “I’ve always thought he had a looseness about him.”
Should some other films have been included? (NYT, Between Productions)
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You might enjoy this Mr. Media podcast interview with cartoonist Jules Feiffer, who talks about the new collection of his comic strips from the Village Voice, Explainers, getting his start with Will Eisner on The Spirit, his plays (Little Murders), his movies (Carnal Knowledge, Popeye), the Disney musical adaptation of The Man in the Ceiling, and his forthcoming memoirs.
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