Here are some customer reviews of
The Odd Couple
: a very nice insight this movie gives
watching it again and again and again when I can on my player
the first time I put it in my player and watched it from start to end
I laughed, I cried. I sympathized. truly a great movie
it touches you and makes you laugh when it can. Jack Lemmon and Walter Matheau are great actors. see them in Out to Sea, and other movies if you can. even though they both passed away recently years ago. 1 year for one and 2 for the other. they both are great comedians and really literally I mean this "add character to their characters" they should never be forgotten. very talented men and actors. if they or their parents were alive they'd be so proud of them (themselves) see this movie if you haven't
With this version, you do get to see a lot more then even most current DVDs of movies let you see. The widescreen lets you see everything as it was meant to be seen. Among them are: the nasty shocked look the waitress gave to Oscar when he went "ain't she c-cute?!", the whole poker table instead of half and half, and the natural triple play Oscar missed when Felix called just to remind him what not to eat that night.
There were plenty more things on here, including a theatrical trailer, which (if you pay attention to detail like I do) shows how they had to reshoot footage for the trailer (which I can tell by how certain things were spoken, etc.) because they lacked the technology to make multiple copies of the same footage.
Worth it to see a classic comedy the way it should've been seen.
 Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple" is an appealing comedy about two divorced men, who decided to move in with each other. After divorcing his wife, the neat, clean, neurotic nut Felix, is taken in by Oscar, the broke, disorganized slob in his New York apartment. At first, things go well for the interesting duo. Oscar is saving money, and, for the first time eating real food. But then, things take a toll for the worse. They create such an awkward living situation, that Oscar is forced to throw Felix out. They were best friends prior to the moving in, playing poker every night. Yet after living together, they notice that the little things that they do to each other drive them insane.
This film is great. I love the poker scenes, and the classic bachelor pad setup, with Oscar (Walter Matheau) playing a classic performance. But, on VHS some of the scenes are cropped. Like when Felix and Oscar are meeting the neighbor "goyls" from upstairs, you miss Felix's or Oscar's reactions to each other when Felix makes embarrassing statements. I'd like to hear if the DVD wide screen makes up for this, and how the DVD sound quality is. Of course, you can't expect to much in sound, since it was recorded before today's sound standards were available.
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
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