What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?

The three film shorts, What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? (1963), It's Not Just You, Murray! (1964), and The Big Shave (1967), came out of Martin Scorsese's student work at New York University, directly preceding his first feature, Who's That Knocking at My Door? (1967). As much as his later work shows a greater sophistication and artistic assurance, one can see here the beginnings of some of the themes, characters, and style that would later emerge full-fledged in his feature films. What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? is a surrealistic comedy about a young writer so obsessed with a picture of a boat on a lake that he cannot function in the real world anymore. It was Scorsese's first student work at NYU. Director: Martin Scorsese Screenplay: Martin Scorsese Cinematography: James Newman Film Editing: Robert Hunsicker Music: Richard H. Coll Cast: Sarah Braveman (Analyst), Zeph Michelis (Harry), Fred Sica (Friend), Mimi Stark (Wife), Robert Uricola (Singer). BW-9m. It's Not Just You, Murray! is another comedy, but one that brings to mind the tough guy characters in Scorsese's later urban crime dramas. Ira Rubin plays a middle-aged mobster looking back on his life and his blindly loyal friendship with his back-stabbing buddy Joe. The cast features Mardik Martin, who co-wrote the script and later authored the screenplays for the Scorsese features Mean Streets (1973), New York, New York (1977), and Raging Bull (1980). Also in the cast is Andrea Martin, the comic actress who made her first mark on the SCTV television skit comedy show and the films Wag the Dog (1997), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), and My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002). This was also the first time Scorsese cast his own mother, who later played parts in his pictures Mean Streets, The King of Comedy (1983), Goodfellas (1990), Cape Fear (1991), The Age of Innocence (1993), and Casino (1995). Scorsese also made a documentary about his parents, Italianamerican (1974). Director: Martin Scorsese Screenplay: Mardik Martin, Martin Scorsese Cinematography: Richard H. Coll Film Editing: Eli F. Bleich Music: Richard H. Coll Cast: Ira Rubin (Murray), Catherine Scorsese (Mother), San De Fazio (Joe), Dominick Grieco (Lefty), Andrea Martin (Wife). BW-15m. The Big Shave is a stylish and macabre six-minute piece, reportedly conceived by Scorsese during a bout of depression, about a man who turns a normal shaving routine into a bloodbath that covers him and a spotless, sterile bathroom. The film has also been alternatively titled The Big Shave...or, Viet '67. It was originally planned for a weeklong Viet Nam protest, "The Angry Arts Against the War" but premiered instead at the 1968 Festival of Experimental Cinema in Belgium, where it won the Prix de l'Age d'Or. Director/Producer: Martin Scorsese Screenplay: Martin Scorsese Cinematography: Ares Demertzis Film Editing: Martin Scorsese Art Direction: Ken Gaulin Cast: Peter Bernuth (Young Man). C-6m. by Rob Nixon