This marked Murray's first starring role in a dramatic film, though he did inject some of his dry wit into the script. The book's epigraph is dramatized as advice from the Katha Upanishad: "The path to salvation is narrow and as difficult to walk as a razor's edge."
The Razor's Edge(1984)
In India, Larry joins a Buddhist monastery. As an exercise, he hikes to the top of a snow-covered mountain and meditates alone. After running out of firewood, he starts to burn books that he brought along. He finds his sense of inner peace. A monk lets him know that his journey is not over, that "the path to salvation is narrow and as difficult to walk as a razor's edge."
While working as a coal miner, Larry saves the life of another fellow who gives him a copy of the Upanishads and tells him that he should go to India. Larry does just that and meets a resourceful Indian who takes him to Tibet. There the American becomes the student of a lama and serves as a cook in the isolated monastery. During a long retreat by himself in the mountains, Larry comes close to enlightenment. He tells his lama: "It is easy to be a holy man on the top of a mountain." His teacher believes Larry is ready to return to the world. He advises him: "The path to salvation is narrow and as difficult to walk as a razor's edge."
Bill Murray's passion project. The snippet says it best: "He had everything and wanted nothing. He learned that he had nothing and wanted everything. He saved the world and then it shattered. The path to enlightenment is as sharp and narrow as a razor's edge."
38c6e68cf9