''It's Not Just You, Murray!'' (1964) is a

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

directed by

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...

. The film focuses on Murray, a middle-aged mobster who looks back at his beginnings. The film premiered at the

New York Film Festival The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, i ...

in 1966. ''It's Not Just You, Murray!'' won various awards including the Producers Guild Award for Best Student Film, and Jesse L Lasky Intercollegiate Award.

Plot

Murray (played by Ira Rubin), is a middle-aged mobster, looks back at his beginnings from being a bootlegger to becoming wealthy and highly influential. He claims his success and happiness is from the support of his "friend" Joe (played by Sam De Fazio). Murray follows Joe blindly but Joe backstabs him by sleeping with his wife.

Cast

Credits adapted from

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

. * Ira Rubin as Murray * Sam De Fazio as Joe * Andrea Martin as Murray's wife *

Catherine Scorsese Catherine Scorsese (née Cappa; April 16, 1912 – January 6, 1997) was an American actress. She began acting when her son Martin Scorsese cast her in his short film ''It's Not Just You, Murray!''. Scorsese was of Italian descent and freque ...

as mother

Production

The film was made at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

. The film is 15 minutes long, shot in 16 mm film as black and white film. While working on the film, Martin Scorsese met Laraine Marie Brennan, whom he married. Much of the film was shot in Scorsese's apartment. The story of the film is based on his uncle. Scorsese co-wrote the script with Mardik Martin. The film marked the debut for Scorsese's mother

. It later premiered at the

in 1966.

Reception

In 1964, ''It's Not Just You, Murray!'' won the Producers Guild Award for Best Student Film. Later, the film won the Jesse L Lasky Intercollegiate Award. Patricia Cooper and Ken Dancyger wrote that the film is "among the best student films ever made". Mark Asch of Reverse Shot wrote, "The celebration of one’s influences—a constant in Scorsese's career—is a characteristic ''It’s Not Just You, Murray!'' shares with innumerable other student films". Christopher Campbell of ''

Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German pub ...

'' wrote that the film "features a few more parallels and even seems like a template for a number of later works, including ''

Goodfellas ''Goodfellas'' (stylized ''GoodFellas'') is a 1990 American biographical crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, and produced by Irwin Winkler. It is a film adaptation of the 1985 nonfiction book '' W ...

'', ''Casino'' and now '' The Wolf of Wall Street''."

Nora Sayre Nora Clemens Sayre (September 20, 1932 – August 8, 2001) was an American film critic and essayist. She was a reviewer of films for ''The New York Times'' in the 1970s, and, from 1981, a writing teacher for many years at Columbia University ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' wrote, "What's pleasing throughout is the way that the narration contradicts what's taking place on the screen".

References

External links

* {{Martin Scorsese 1964 films 1964 short films 1960s English-language films American black-and-white films American short films Short films directed by Martin Scorsese