The Odd Couple (film)

The Odd Couple is a 1968 American comedy film directed by Gene Saks, produced by Howard W. Koch and written by Neil Simon, based on his 1965 play. It stars Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau as two divorced men—neurotic neat-freak Felix Ungar and fun-loving slob Oscar Madison—who decide to live together.

The Odd Couple
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Gene Saks
Written by	Neil Simon
Based on	The Odd Couple by Neil Simon
Produced by	Howard W. Koch
Starring	Jack Lemmon Walter Matthau John Fiedler Herb Edelman
Cinematography	Robert B. Hauser
Edited by	Frank Bracht
Music by	Neal Hefti
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	May 2, 1968 (1968-05-02) (Radio City Music Hall)
Running time	105 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1.2 million
Box office	$44.5 million

The film was successful with critics and grossed more than $44.5 million, making it the third highest-grossing film of 1968 in the United States. The success of the film was the basis for ABC to produce a popular sitcom series starring Tony Randall and Jack Klugman as Felix and Oscar.

Almost three decades later, a sequel—The Odd Couple II, in which Lemmon and Matthau reprised their roles—was released, but it was a critical and commercial failure.

Plot

Newly separated Felix Ungar wanders Manhattan in a daze, with vague ideas of dying by suicide.

Divorced sportswriter Oscar Madison and his card-playing friends, Murray, Speed, Roy and Vinnie, have assembled in Madison's Washington Heights apartment for their Friday night poker game. Murray is concerned because their mutual friend Felix is unusually late for the game. Murray's wife phones and informs them that no one knows where Felix is. Oscar calls Felix's wife Frances, who tells him that she and Felix have separated.

Felix arrives unaware that everyone has already heard that he and his wife have separated. The group attempts to pretend that nothing is wrong, but Felix eventually begins crying and his friends attempt to console him. After everyone leaves, Oscar suggests that Felix move in with him, for Oscar has lived alone since splitting up with his own ex-wife, Blanche, sometime earlier. Felix agrees and urges Oscar not to be shy about letting him know if he gets on Oscar's nerves.

Within only a week, the two men discover that they are incompatible. Felix compulsively cleans the apartment, berating Oscar for being so sloppy. Felix is in no mood to have any fun, spending most of his time thinking about Frances. While at a tavern, Oscar tells Felix about two British sisters whom he recently met and who live in their building: Cecily and Gwendolyn Pigeon. Oscar telephones the girls and arranges a double date for the following evening.

The next night, while he leaves the room to mix some drinks, Oscar attempts for uptight Felix to loosen up by leaving him alone with the two flirtatious sisters. Instead, Felix talks incessantly about his family, breaks down weeping and burns the meatloaf. Furious about Felix's ruining the date, Oscar resorts to giving Felix the silent treatment and tormenting him by deliberately making the apartment as much of a mess as possible. Eventually, the tension escalates to an argument that results in Oscar demanding that Felix move out. Felix complies but leaves Oscar feeling guilty for having abandoned his still-in-need friend.

Oscar assembles the poker group to help find Felix, but they return to Oscar's apartment to play poker and soon discover that Felix has moved in with the Pigeon sisters, with intentions to get a place of his own. Felix and Oscar apologize to each other, realizing that a bit of each has rubbed off on the other, better for each for the experience. Felix promises that next week, he will attend their usual Friday night poker game. The normally slovenly Oscar reminds his friends to beware of their footprints as the poker game continues.

Cast

Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in The Odd Couple)

• Jack Lemmon as Felix Ungar
• Walter Matthau as Oscar Madison
• Herb Edelman as Murray
• John Fiedler as Vinnie
• David Sheiner as Roy
• Larry Haines as Speed
• Monica Evans as Cecily Pigeon
• Carole Shelley as Gwendolyn Pigeon
• Billie Bird as Chambermaid
• Iris Adrian as Waitress
• Angelique Pettyjohn as Go-Go dancer
• Ted Beniades as Bartender
• Bill Baldwin as Sports announcer

Production and casting

The Odd Couple was originally produced for Broadway, and the original cast starred Art Carney as Felix and Walter Matthau as Oscar. At one point, Frank Sinatra (as Felix) and Jackie Gleason (as Oscar) were reportedly considered for the film version. Dick Van Dyke and Tony Randall were also among those considered for the role of Felix, and Mickey Rooney and Jack Klugman were among those considered to portray Oscar. Oscar's poker playing friends were Roy (David Sheiner), Vinnie (John Fiedler), Speed (Larry Haines) and police officer Murray (Herbert Edelman).

Much of the original script from the play was retained for the film, although the setting was expanded. For example, rather than take place entirely in Oscar's apartment, Neil Simon added some scenes that take place at various New York City locations (such as the scene at Shea Stadium in Queens).

The film made its debut at Radio City Music Hall in 1968. It was a hit and earned Neil Simon a nomination for the Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay. The film was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy and Lemmon and Matthau were both nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

The scene at Shea Stadium, which also featured Heywood Hale Broun, was filmed before the start of a real game between the New York Mets and the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 27, 1967. Roberto Clemente was asked to hit into the triple play that Oscar does not observe, but he refused to do it and Bill Mazeroski took his place.

One of the outdoor scenes in the film involves Felix shopping at Bohack, a Maspeth, Queens-based supermarket chain that was ubiquitous in the New York City area during the mid-20th century. The last Bohack supermarket closed in 1977.

Theme music

The award-winning jazz instrumental theme was composed by Neal Hefti. It is used throughout the movie's sequel starring Lemmon and Matthau that was released 30 years later. It was also adapted for the 1970 TV series. The song also has seldom-heard lyrics, written by Sammy Cahn.

Release

The film's copyright date in the opening credits mistakenly reads MCMXLVII (1947).

The Odd Couple garnered both critical acclaim and box-office success; it opened at New York's Radio City Music Hall on May 2, 1968, and ran there for a record-breaking 14 weeks, with a record gross of $3.1 million. It grossed more than $44.5 million in the United States, making it the third highest-grossing film of 1968. The Odd Couple received universal acclaim from critics, earning a 98% "Fresh" rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 40 reviews, with a weighted average of 8/10.

Reception

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3½ stars out of four, and praising the "universally good" performances, although he noted times when "the movie's Broadway origins are painfully evident, as when the players in the poker game are grouped around three sides of the table, but the 'downstage' side is always left bare."

Renata Adler of The New York Times called the film "a very funny, professional adaptation" of the play, although "Mr. Lemmon sometimes overacts".

Arthur D. Murphy of Variety called it an "excellent film", adding that the "teaming of Lemmon and Matthau has provided each with an outstanding comedy partner".

Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times declared, "My not very fearless forecast is that 'The Odd Couple' will cause more people to do more laughing than any film you are likely to see all year."

Stanley Eichelbaum of the San Francisco Examiner wrote that "Neil Simon, whose hit plays haven't always been served too well by Hollywood (remember the flat-footed film of Barefoot in the Park), did his own adaptation this time and there's been no appreciable loss of hilarity", also applauding Saks's direction and the performances of the cast.

Awards and honors

Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result
Academy Awards	Best Screenplay – Based on Material from Another Medium	Neil Simon	Nominated
	Best Film Editing	Frank Bracht	Nominated
American Cinema Editors Awards	Best Edited Feature Film		Nominated
Directors Guild of America Awards	Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures	Gene Saks	Nominated
Golden Globe Awards	Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy		Nominated
	Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy	Jack Lemmon	Nominated
		Walter Matthau	Nominated
Grammy Awards	Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special	Neal Hefti	Nominated
Laurel Awards	Top Comedy		Nominated
	Top Male Comedy Performance	Jack Lemmon	Nominated
		Walter Matthau	Nominated
Writers Guild of America Awards	Best Written American Comedy	Neil Simon	Won

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

• 2000: AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs – #17
• 2005: AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
  • Oscar Madison: "I cannot stand little notes on my pillow! "We are all out of cornflakes, F.U." It took me three hours to figure out 'F.U.' was Felix Ungar." – Nominated

Spin-offs

The film spawned a television series spin-off in 1970, also titled The Odd Couple, that ran for five seasons until 1975.

Also in the 1970s, a cartoon version called The Oddball Couple ran on ABC on Saturday mornings. Produced by Depatie-Freleng, it features a sloppy dog and a neat cat.

Sequel

In 1998, almost three decades later, a sequel, The Odd Couple II, was released. It reunited Lemmon and Matthau, along with original writer Neil Simon. However, it was a critical and commercial failure, grossing less than half than its predecessor.

See also

• List of American films of 1968

External links

• The Odd Couple at IMDb
• The Odd Couple at the TCM Movie Database
• The Odd Couple at AllMovie
• The Odd Couple at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• The Odd Couple at Box Office Mojo