Short Takes: Martin Scorsese’s “It’s Not Just You, Murray!” (1964)

I say this pretty often in discussion; if you want to have some fun, watch great directors’ old student films or their early shorts. You’ll often be pleasantly surprised by how early many of the greats established themes and approaches to the medium that they would explore more fully over time. Welles’ “Too Much Johnson”, Cronenberg’s “Crimes of the Future”, Lynch’s “The Alphabet” all presage, to varying degrees, what is to come. 

Martin Scorsese’s “It’s Not Just You, Murray!” is another early shot across the bow. Shot in 1964 at Scorsese’s apartment and won the Producers Guild Award for Best Student Film. It remains one of his funniest films and already lays down techniques and themes he would utilize and pursue throughout his career.

In story, it’s about Murray, a former bootlegger who has risen to great power within the mob and his misadventures along the way, including his wife’s relationship with his best friend Joe. Ira Rubin plays Murray and comes across more as an accountant than a mobster; conversely, Sam DeFazio’s Joe looks more enforcer than lawyer (if such as he is…Murray just refers to him as his best friend). 

It’s a short, sharp 15 minutes or so; but within that time, we see a story unfold in flashback with freeze frames, music that supports and enhances the narrative and that leads to a freaking good kaleidoscopic interlude that if it isn’t Busby Berkeley, really, really works. There are also metatextual references to the French crime films (I’m thinking very much of Jean-Pierre Melville, but I wouldn’t rule out Godard’s influence) and a direct homage to Fellini that is genuinely earned and not merely a clever student’s addition to fill in a lack of ideas.

“It’s Not Just You, Murray!” is available on HBO Max. Also, look for Scorsese’s mom! I think this is her earliest onscreen performance in an almost direct template for the dinner scene in “Goodfellas”.