The Odd Couple (1968)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Gene Saks

Writers:

Neil Simon (play)
Neil Simon (screenplay)

Release Date:

2 May 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau are The Odd Couple...say no more.

Plot:

Two friends try sharing an apartment, but their ideas of housekeeping and lifestyles are as different as night and day.

Plot Keywords:

Apartment | Cooking | Poker | Suicide | Sister Sister Relationship

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Jack Lemmon	...	Felix Ungar
Walter Matthau	...	Oscar Madison
John Fiedler	...	Vinnie
Herb Edelman	...	Murray (as Herbert Edelman)
David Sheiner	...	Roy
Larry Haines	...	Speed
Monica Evans	...	Cecily Pigeon
Carole Shelley	...	Gwendolyn Pigeon
Iris Adrian	...	Waitress

Also Known As:

Drôle de couple (France) [fr]
Ein seltsames Paar (West Germany) [de]
Ena paraxeno zevgari (Greece) [el]
Furcsa pár (Hungary) [hu]
Ha-Zug Ha-Moozar (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
Hvem støver af? (Denmark) [da]
La extraña pareja (Spain) [es]
La strana coppia (Italy) [it]
Omaka par (Sweden) [sv]
Parittomat kaverukset (Finland) [fi]
Um Estranho Casal (Brazil) [pt]
Un drôle de couple (Canada: French title) [fr]

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Sweden:Btl | Australia:PG | Finland:S | Ireland:G | Netherlands:AL | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | UK:PG | USA:G | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

190 Riverside Drive, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Billy Wilder was going to direct and write the screenplay at one point.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The copyright date is shown as MCMXLVII (1947) instead of MCMLXVII (1967) as the copyright year for the film during the opening credits.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Felix Ungar: A room, please.
Hotel clerk: You alone?
[Felix nods]
Hotel clerk: Luggage?
[Felix shakes his head]
Hotel clerk: How long do you want it for?
Felix Ungar: Oh, not very long.
Hotel clerk: Five dollars.
[Felix isn't paying attention]
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "What I Like About You: The Odd Couple (#2.10)" (2003)

One of my all-time favorites plus one of the quintessential comedy pairings of 20th century

I simply can't get over how brilliant the pairing of Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon is. It's like the movie doesn't even need additional characters because you can never get tired of the dialog between these two.

Lemmon had already been in several well-known films like Mr. Roberts and The Apartment and Matthau was fresh off his Oscar win for The Fortune Cookie (another Billy Wilder film also with Lemmon). That particular movie wasn't as great as this one because the story couldn't sustain such a long running time (I think it was almost 2 hours). However, this goes by at a brisk hour and a half, even though the introduction of the events leading up to Lemmon ending up at Matthau's apartment is a tad long (so was this sentence). That's a minor quibble though and for the rest of the running time you have a marvelous time.

I have already written a comment about how the follow-up to this film sucked and I won't go deeper into that. The reason why this is such a joy is probably that the movie was made just as the innocence of American movies was beginning to fade fast into oblivion. There are some sexual references but they are dealt with in such an innocent way that you couldn't even get a "Well, I never..." out of the most prudish person out there. It is kind of fun to see a movie from a long lost era and that was probably why the sequel didn't work because you had Matthau and Lemmon say quite a few f-words and that just doesn't fit them.

Of course, now they are both gone and you can just be happy that you still can enjoy them in a marvelous film like this. I think the only male actor in this film who is still alive is John Fiedler. Edelman died recently. So there you have it. Simply one of the best comedies and films ever.

Add: I have just learned recently that John Fiedler has died so to all the fans of him I am deeply sorry. I didn't mean any disrespect and I will try to be more careful of what I am blah blah blahing next time.