Product Description

Neil Simon's beloved story about two divorced men who decide to share a New York apartment. Felix is fussy and fastidious to a fault. He proves that cleanliness is next to insanity. Oscar wreaks havoc on a tidy room with the speed and thoroughness of a tornado. An enduring and endearing picture with the intelligence one usually misses in comedies.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5822 in DVD
• Brand: Paramount
• Released on: 2000-12-12
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Portuguese, Spanish, Italian
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 105 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
Neil Simon's terribly funny play about roommates Oscar the slob and Felix the neurotic was first committed to film in this 1968 production, directed by Gene Saks (Barefoot in the Park). Perfectly timed, ingeniously rendered, not a hair out of place in the history-making performances of Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon (or the great support cast), The Odd Couple is a movie that one just has to see every two or three years to stay happy. The poker-game sequence in which Oscar's cronies seem to be falling under the sway of fussy Felix's talent for making sandwiches is priceless. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Smart, Insightful, Funny Movie -- Still Holds Its Own Today
I grew up with the Tony Randall/Jack Klugman sitcom version of "The Odd Couple." Everything about it is funny. Having seen for the first time the movie, I never before imagined how smart Neil Simon could be. The movie outshines the TV series, and is worth the space on any standard comedy DVD library shelf.

In the TV series, Klugman's Oscar is a bohemian bachelor living in slop, and apparently content. In the movie, Walter Matthau's Oscar is no neater, but five times as deep. Although he lives in a divorced man's squalor of old cigars and warm beer, he wants more. He's lonely for his wife and kids, and regrets not making his alimony payments. His life is so disorganized that he wastes money by squandering cash on dinners out and gambling.

When Felix Ungar, as played by Jack Lemmon, Oscar's poker buddy, comes to stay when his wife divorces him, lifestyles clash.

On the surface, the clash is about organization and housekeeping. More deeply, Felix and Oscar duel as Super Ego and ID. Consistently archetypal, they are, in a more modern sense, like Marge and Homer Simpson, each seeing life through their limited expressions. Felix is uptight, and forever second-guessing himself. Oscar is living life for the moment, and never stopping to consider his responsibilities.

Oscar cares about Felix more than their other poker buddies, and connects with him as alter self, regarding their friendship worth pursuing. Since Felix needs a place to stay, Oscar offers up his ample apartment. The conflicts arise soon after, but not without each appreciating what the other brings to the relationship. Ironies abound when Felix's hypersensitivities gain him the affection of two dimwitted but attractive sisters, and Oscar's unbridled hormones.

Oscar can't help but enjoy Felix's great cooking and cleaning habits. He eats better, saves money, and finds his home is a nice a place to be when cigarette butts don't litter the floor.

No remake could collect such a cast. Matthau and Lemmon are known here as a duo on par with any of the great matches, like Bogie and Bacall, Bing and Bob, or Abbott and Costello. John Fiedler as the soft spoken family man, Vinnie, and Herb Edelman as Murray the cop are casted primely. One reason "The Odd Couple II" misses is this class cast. Matthau and Lemmon bring a lot to the table, but with Murray and Vinnie (plus Monica Evans and Carole Shelley respectively as the giggly sisters, Cecily and Gwendolyn Pigeon), anything made 30+ years later won't do.

Superbly written, "The Odd Couple" is one of those comedies with intelligence. Never does Neil Simon try to pan off one-liners. Even as Oscar tosses out slicing one-phrased commentaries as swiftly as Grouch Marx, there is more than a quick chuckle behind it. It is the myriad of layers, subtle commentary and sly interjections that lift this script up an extra level, placing it as a classic.

Surprisingly entertaining is the theme. It is the same them as in the TV series, but plays in varied orchestrations throughout the movie's context. It was one of the great TV themes, and to hear it extrapolated in several variations makes it so much more enjoyable.

I fully recommend "The Odd Couple."

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

One of the Funniest Movies Ever
It just doesn't get too much funnier than Matthau & Lemmon in this movie. Each scene is a treasure. I'd heard that Matthau wanted to play Felix first, saying that he could've "phoned in" his performance of Oscar. But, this was perfect casting. A line that still is one of the best is when Oscar goes through his littany of things that irritate him about Felix. He tells him to stop the little notes he leaves on his pillow. "We are all out of toilet paper. F.U. It took me three hours to figure out that F.U. meant Felix Unger!" You gotta own this one. It's a classic.

Excellent!
I saw this movie about two weeks ago on AMC. It was funny and made me really laugh. I'm a 16 year old who likes classic and ORIGINAL films, not today's CGI filled/no talent actors/rap star cameo-esque films. Anyway, I really liked Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau after seeing this movie. Of course, I always liked Matthau, because I've seen him in a couple of movies with Gregory Peck (also on AMC). It was a great movie!