A New Leaf

A New Leaf is a 1971 black comedy film based on the short story The Green Heart by Jack Ritchie, starring Elaine May, Walter Matthau, Jack Weston, George Rose, James Coco, and Doris Roberts. Better known for her collaboration as a stage comedian with The Graduate director Mike Nichols, May also wrote and directed (in her debut). For this film May consulted Dr. Dominick Basile, a botany professor at Columbia University. Dr. Basile wrote botanically accurate lines into the script and supplied the botanical equipment seen in the film. May also modeled Henrietta's office after his.

The film was a critical success upon its initial release. However, despite several accolades, award nominations, and a Radio City Music Hall run, A New Leaf fared poorly at the box office and remains little known by the general public. It is now considered a cult classic. In 2019, the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".