A different way of telling a story

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Blistering performances.

Directed poorly by John Byrum, "The Razor's Edge" is a missed opportunity. It has some great scenery, settings, and locations, but it's lead Murray is not right for the subject matter. Murray has since been good in the right dramas but here, quirkiness and paucity don't do well. A fight scene is so poor, it's laughable. The movie wants the audience to feel the weight of it's content, but Murray himself is not demonstrative enough of an actor to carry the role. A lot of the scenes too seem disjointed especially considering the large time-spans supposedly gone by. Perhaps this could've been better with Richard Gere or William Hurt - a more serious than offbeat persona.

Elegant but facile version of the Maugham novel, a passion project for Murray who is good in parts of the film but flat in others. On it's own an okay film hampered by over-length but compared to the Tyrone Power/Gene Tierney original, which has its own problems, it's a pale shadow. A good deal of the fault for that lies in both the direction and the performances. The general ennui of the performances may in fact be laid at the director's feet. All are capable actors as they've shown elsewhere but here be it a mismatch of actor/actress and part or lack of direction most founder. Theresa Russell does the film's best work but even her Sophie is missing the bruised sorrow that made Anne Baxter's take on the part so compelling and won her the Oscar for best supporting actress. James Keach evaporates from the screen in a rather thankless role that John Payne managed to make an impression in with a show of quiet strength. Surprisingly the weakest of the star spots is Catherine Hicks, usually a very fine actress, adrift in her part. She exudes a warm presence on screen totally wrong for the heartless, mindlessly cruel Isabel that Gene Tierney playing with an icy edge made vivid.A good try but only average.

I was as amazed as anyone else when Columbia remade the Tyrone Power classic The Razor's Edge with Bill Murray in the lead in 1984. What kind of casting is that I and many others wondered. Almost 30 years later, I'm still wondering.The original adaption was driven by Tyrone Power probably at his most heroic as the World War I veteran earnestly seeking some kind of philosophical grounding. As Herbert Marshall observes in that film, Power is possibly the most amazing individual he's ever met. No one could have said that about Bill Murray. Try as I may I expected at numerous points in the film Dan Ackroyd and the rest coming on accompanied by the Ghostbusters theme.It's the same plot for the most part, Murray begs off his expected engagement and marriage to Catherine Hicks saying he wants to go to Europe. She refuses to believe it's for study, she just thinks he wants to sow wild oats. His quest and her misunderstanding of him is what drives the rest of the film. After Murray and Hicks have been reunited in Paris along comes Theresa Russell playing the part of Sophie for which Anne Baxter got a Best Supporting Actress Award. Russell comes closest though she doesn't make it quite herself to equaling the original performer. Baxter is a study in degradation from an eager newlywed to a woman who after losing her husband and baby in a car crash drifts to Europe and becomes a streetwalker. Murray as did Power in the original tries to rescue her, but to no avail. There's a different emphasis here as Russell's role is built up at the expense of Hicks's part which was done by Gene Tierney in the original. That was a mistake for as great as Baxter was, in fact the role is a supporting one.Denholm Elliott who usually I like was a pale reflection of Clifton Webb as the society obsessed Uncle Elliott Templeton for which he got a Best Supporting Actor nomination. The part of the author W. Somerset Maugham was written into the original and played to perfection by Herbert Marshall. He narrates and he's the observer of events. It's a very reflective plot device guiding the viewer to what the author was trying to say. Marshall played Maugham in two films and was so effective, he's the image we have of W. Somerset Maugham today. That overall narration was needed, but Murray took the lead into places that Tyrone Power did not and not for the better. Maybe he really was sowing wild oats.I recommend highly renting or buying the DVD of the original version of The Razor's Edge before you see this and see what I mean.

I'm not a film buff, I just like a film to be thought provoking and entertaining. I watched this film because Bill Murray was involved. Without addressing the quality of the cinematography or the acting (all of which seemed adequate to me), I'll point out that this is the film that brought me to the work of Somerset Maugham. I knew that there was more to the story than what was presented on screen, so I checked the book out of the library. I keep a few of Maugham's works on my bookshelves, and go back to them periodically because I enjoy his work so much. Knowing that Bill Murray took this on as a personal project certainly changed my opinion (for the better) of him as an actor, and that includes his comedy. Bill Murray's "The Razor's Edge" was a good starting point for me.