The Odd Couple (1968)

The Odd Couple
Directed by Gene Saks
Written by Neil Simon from his play
1968/US
IMDb link
Repeat viewing/Amzazon Instant

[box] Oscar Madison: Wait a minute, you’re not going anywhere until you take it back!

Felix Ungar: Take what back?

Oscar Madison: “Let it be on your head.” What the hell is that, the Curse of the Cat People?[/box]

Despite a few now cringe-worthy jokes, the performances are classic and it’s pretty funny 50 years latter.

Oscar Madison (Walter Matthau) is a divorced sportswriter, who relishes his freedom to be a slob.  Felix Unger (Jack Lemmon) has just been given the boot by his wife, leaving him feeling mighty sorry for himself and announcing suicides plans.  They are friends who play poker weekly with several other guys in Oscar’s pad.  Oscar invites Felix to move in. He eagerly accepts.

It soon seems obvious why their wives couldn’t take any more.  Oscar is a complete slob. Felix takes his chosen “housewife” role to hilarious extremes.  This gives everybody the opportunity to lob one-liners back and forth for the duration of the movie’s running time.

Little attempt is made to open up Simon’s stage play.  With acting as good as this, it’s still quite watchable.  If you like Neil Simon, you should love this.

The premise was made into a long-running TV sitcom with Tony Randall and Jack Klugmann.  They also made a perfect “odd couple”.

The Odd Couple was nominated by the Academy in the categories of Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium and Best Film Editing.

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