A Thousand Clowns

A Thousand Clowns is a great example of the slacker character as hero in American cinema. Based on Herb Gardner's play, it is the story of an unemployed television writer, Murray Burns, who lives in New York in a one bedroom apartment with his twelve-year old nephew, Nick. Murray has been unemployed for five months by his own choice. His nephew, who was abandoned by Murray's sister, attends a school for gifted children. When Nick writes an essay on the benefits of the unemployment system, it causes his school to investigate his home environment. Confronted by investigators for the Child Welfare Bureau, Murray is given the option of finding a job or losing custody of his nephew.

Along the way Murray charms and seduces the young psychologist assigned to Nick's case, Sandra. Although Murray tries to avoid returning to work, in the end, he must swallow his dignity and surrender to his greater responsibilities. By choosing to go back to work for a man he loathes, he ultimately loses the respect of the nephew he so highly prizes.