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The Razor's Edge (1984 film)

1984 film by John Byrum

The Razor's Edge is a 1984 romantic drama film about an American army ambulance driver/medic traumatized by his experiences in World War I, who sets off in search of some transcendent meaning in his life.

The pathway to salvation is as narrow and as difficult to walk as a razor's edge.
Directed by John Byrum. Written by John Byrum and Bill Murray, based upon the novel of the same name by W. Somerset Maugham.
The story of one man's search for himself. (tagline)

Larry Darrell

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  • [of the man who just died saving his life] He was a slob. Did you ever see him eat? Starving children could fill their bellies on the food that ended up in his beard and on his clothes. Dogs would gather to watch him eat. I've never understood gluttony, but I hate it. I hated that about you. He enjoyed disgusting people, being disgusting, the thrill of offending people and making them uncomfortable. It was despicable. You will not be missed.
  • It's very easy to love someone like you.
    • To Sophie
  • It's easy to be a holy man on top of a mountain.
  • [after Sophie's murder] When Piedmont died, I had to pay him back for my life. I found out there's another debt to pay — for the privilege of being alive. I thought Sophie was my reward for trying to live a good life. Uh uh. There is no payoff — not now.

Mackenzie

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  • I never lend books to coal miners. They've got dirty hands.
  • You've never read the Upanishads? You don't know so much... you really don't know anything do you?

Other

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  • Tibetan Monk: The pathway to salvation is as narrow and as difficult to walk as a razor's edge.

Dialogue

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Elliott Templeton: [Louisa and Isabel have arrived from America and are visiting him in his Parisian mansion] This is my music room.
Louisa Bradley: Oh, isn't that lovely?
Isabel Bradley: Oh, what a beautiful piano!
Elliott Templeton: Well, it's a spinet by Larande, late 18th century French.
Louisa Bradley: It must have cost a fortune.
Elliott Templeton: It did. My poor dear friend, the viscount de Corvence had to part with it at a slight reduction, but then, estates are so draining on one these days, don't you find?
Isabel Bradley: And are all these things for sale?
Elliott Templeton: My dear Louisa, this isn't a shop. Oh, I occasionally allow the odd piece to be torn from my grasp.
Elliott Templeton: You know, if I may say so, Louisa, it makes perfect sense to me. All Americans should avail themselves of at least one season in Paris just prior to marriage. It curbs the itches which tend to rise a year or two down the connubial pike.
Louisa Bradley: Elliot, don't be vulgar.
Elliott Templeton: You know, that's always been my problem. People think I'm being vulgar when I'm being serious, and they think I'm being serious when I'm being vulgar.
Larry Darrell: I wanna' put off the wedding for a while. I wanna' put off the job, too. For a while, anyway.
Isabel Bradley: I don't understand. In your letter all you talked about was coming back and getting married and starting the job.
Larry Darrell: I lied. I didn't know I was lying. But I guess I was.
Isabel Bradley: I see.
Larry Darrell: I don't think I'm the guy you wanna' marry right now. This isn't the old Mr. Sunshine. I'm not happy. I can't make myself happy. I couldn't make you happy. I just wanna' think. I need to think. And I don't have much experience in that field.
Isabel Bradley: "Think"? Think about what?
Larry Darrell: I don't know. Me, you, our lives. I'll tell you when I start thinking.
Isabel Bradley: So you want me and everyone else to just go on and on sitting here, waiting for you to figure out the meaning of life?
Larry Darrell: Well, sort of, yeah.
Isabel Bradley: Well, that's just great.
Elliott Templeton: [Holding freshly made hot dogs at the fair] This is the singly most disgusting concoction in the culinary annals.
Louisa Bradley: That didn't stop you eating a dozen of them every 4th of July when you were a boy, Elliott.
Elliott Templeton: Well, this quaint little village may have been the place of my birth, but after 15 years in Paris, I have come to regard that as a most unfortunate accident of genetics.
Louisa Bradley: [laughing] Oh, Elliot, you are the biggest snob in the world!
Elliott Templeton: I sincerely hope so.
Larry Darrell: Nice looking dog you've got there, Unc!
Elliott Templeton: Oh, how I envy you, young man. Off to Paris, the City of Light. You know, I really ought to provide you with a few introductions. I could put you in touch with some of the most elite members of the European aristocracy while you're there.
Albert: Cocktail, Mr. Templeton?
Elliott Templeton: No, thank you, Albert. I fear my drinking days are over.
Albert: Surely, a tear of Żubrówka could do Monsieur no harm?
Elliott Templeton: Żubrówka! We used to drink it at the Radziwill's when I stayed there for a shooting. I don't suppose a drop will hurt me. Oh, we must all try some... Ah, the herbs. It's like newly mown lavender.
French Detective: Monsieur Darrell, we are the police.
Larry Darrell: Yeah, I noticed your shoes.
French Detective: [at the morgue; Sophie's body is on a slab] We dragged her body from the river. Her throat was cut with a razor.
Larry Darrell: [in disbelief] What?
French Detective: Her throat was cut with a razor. It could have been any one of her friends. They are the vermin of the city.
Elliott Templeton: [Lying on his deathbed, after suffering a stroke] Life is full of ironies, isn't it, Darrell? You know... I spent my whole life... among the great names of Europe. Now I'm dying... And who comes to see me but... Well, I mean... An itinerant...
Larry Darrell: Fish packer?
Elliott Templeton: Fish packer.
Isabel Bradley: [about Elliott Templeton, who's had a stroke] I'm gonna miss him so much. I wish I'd been a better friend to him.
Larry Darrell: Like you were to Sophie?
Isabel Bradley: Is she okay?
Larry Darrell: When I came back yesterday afternoon, she'd gone.
Isabel Bradley: What happened to your face?
Larry Darrell: She's gone for good.
Isabel Bradley: [in disbelief] What?
Larry Darrell: She met up with some old friends, I guess. They got her drinking Żubrówka. One of them slit her throat and dropped her in the Seine.
Isabel Bradley: Oh, my God!
Larry Darrell: I don't give a damn if they catch who killed her. What I want to know is how you got her to take the first drink. What'd you do, get her going on Bob and the baby? Did you get her down and keep her there?
Larry Darrell: I broke this chair once. Because I couldn't spend the rest of my life with you.
Isabel Bradley: Sooner or later, she would have let you down. I wanted you to see that. I've never stopped thinking about you. I love you. I just wanted you to be happy. I didn't want anyone else to hurt you.
Larry Darrell: So you killed my fiancée for me?
Isabel Bradley: Just like you killed my fiancé. I was in love with Larry Darrell, but you had to take him away to go and find the meaning of your goddamned life!
Larry Darrell: Hey, pal, that's my coat. Don't worry, I'm leaving.
Joseph: Where are you going now, Larry?
Larry Darrell: I'm going home.
Joseph: But where is your home, Larry?
Larry Darrell: [pause] America.

Quotes about The Razor's Edge

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  • I don't know what my fans are going to think. It's definitely not what they're used to from me.
  • I think The Razor's Edge is a pretty good movie. But at the time, it was just as reviled as any other comedian doing a serious thing now. Like The Majestic [with Jim Carrey], movies where comedians go straight, people don't like them.
    It angers people, like you're taking something away from them. That's the response I got. I thought, "Well, aren't we all bigger than that?" I wasn't shocked by it, but I thought that the professional critics would be able to say, "OK, we shouldn't rule this out, because the guy normally does other stuff."
    Unless it's really despicable, then you have to just jump with both feet on the neck.
    • Bill Murray, in Rolling Stone Issue 903 (22 August 2002)

Tagline

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  • The story of one man's search for himself.

Cast

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