I truly cannot understand why Fred Coe\u2019s 1965 comedy \u201cA Thousand Clowns\u201d received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture \u2013 an honor that put it in the company of \u201cThe Sound of Music,\u201d \u201cDoctor Zhivago,\u201d \u201cDarling\u201d and \u201cShip of Fools.\u201d Those other four films are considered classics, while \u201cA Thousand Clowns\u201d is little more than a tired embarrassment.
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\u201cA Thousand Clowns\u201d was adapted from Herb Gardner\u2019s Broadway comedy about a snarky, unemployed TV gag writer (Jason Robards) who reluctantly abandons his slacker lifestyle and seeks a job in order to maintain custody of his 12-year-old nephew. As a playwright, Gardner was a poor man\u2019s Neil Simon: heavy on the New York-style wisecracks, light on the character development, uneven on the pathos distribution and unable to wind up his work into a satisfying whole. In Gardner\u2019s world, a 12-year-old walks and talks like a late-middle-aged Borscht Belt comic while child welfare professionals exist solely to slow burn on the receiving end of smart-ass putdowns.<\/p>\n
Robards originated his role in the Broadway production, but Coe hoped to cast Steve McQueen for the film. McQueen became unavailable \u2013 which is just as well, since comedy was never his forte \u2013 but Robards seemed to forget that he was taking Coe\u2019s direction for the cinema and not the theater. His performance is loud, playing-to-the-balcony brash, and his version of nonconformist behavior is obnoxiously unfunny.<\/p>\n
Barbara Harris made her big screen debut here as a psychiatrist, but her bland performance and inability to milk laughs from Gardner\u2019s jokes makes her presence painful to watch. Oscar trivia buffs will immediately associate \u201cA Thousand Clowns\u201d with Martin Balsam\u2019s Best Supporting Actor Award, yet his performance as Robards\u2019 talent agent brother is merely adequate.<\/p>\n
One thing that \u201cA Thousand Clowns\u201d has going for it is a wealth of tourist-friendly glimpses of mid-1960s Manhattan, including a rare glimpse of Lincoln Center while it was under construction. New Yorkers of a certain age and nostalgia tolerance may appreciate the vintage Gotham views. But beyond the scenery, don’t send in these “Clowns.” <\/p>\n