Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3337 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-09-02
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
• Dubbed in: French, German, Italian, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 101 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Neil Simon's classic stage comedy made an effortless transition to the big screen in 1967, when The Odd Couple provided Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau with a tailor-made mid-career affirmation of their status as two of cinema's greatest funny men. Lemmon is Felix, manically obsessed with cleanliness and housekeeping, struggling to understand why his wife wants a divorce. Matthau is Oscar, his slovenly poker-playing buddy who invites him to take the spare room and lives to regret it as they rapidly and comically come to grief like an old, totally incompatible, married couple, revealing exactly why their respective wives have had enough. "I don't think two single men living alone in a big eight-room apartment should have a cleaner house than my mother", Matthau wails, trying to make sense of the disintegrating situation.

The pair devour Simon's typically sharp and witty script in a frenzy of classic one-liners that allow Lemmon's trademark twitchy neurosis and Matthau's baleful cussedness to flourish. Great as they are, though, they are nearly eclipsed in the funniest scene of the film by Monica Evans and Carole Shelly as a couple of British expatriate sisters from the apartment upstairs. Carry On innuendo briefly meets Manhattan repartee and the screen crackles with brilliance. It's a comic masterclass.

On the DVD: The Odd Couple on disc has no extras apart from the original cinema trailer, but the film, presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, is pristine, Neal Hefti's score providing that instantly identifiable flavour of sophisticated 1960s American comedy. --Piers Ford

DVD Description
DVD Features:

Theatrical Trailer
Language: English (Dolby 5.1); French, German, Italian, Spanish (Mono); Restored English (mono)
Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired, English, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish Turkish
Anamorphic widescreen 2.35:1

Synopsis
After being thrown out of his home and marriage, fastidious Felix (Jack Lemmon) decides the only thing for him to do is to move in with his best friend, Oscar (Walter Matthau), a divorced man living alone in an Upper Eastside New York City apartment. Oscar is a total slob, with week-old sandwiches under his pillows, while Felix is a compulsive cleaner, constantly vacuuming, dusting, and polishing. The question is: Can these men live together without killing each other

Customer Reviews

An absolute classic
"you keep leaving notes on my pillow, it took me 4 hours to realise that 'FU' stood for Felix Unger"

This is a classic Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau film and should be in any collection of dvds.
The sequel, although entertaining, is no where near is brilliant as this masterpiece. A film you will want to watch over and over again.
Without wanting to spoil it for those that have never seen it, it's about 2 friends who become enemies after one (Jack Lemmon) moves in with Oscar (Walter Matthau) after his wife has left him. The entertainment begins as soon as the film starts and does not end until the final credits. If this film does not make you cry with laughter I'm not sure anything will. Although I would perhaps try 'Some like it hot'...

One of my favourite movies
This is so funny it's not true. The lines are amazing and so is the acting, with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau both giving of their finest. This made me laugh like nobody's business when I was 12, and 20 years later it still does. Fantastic stuff.

A flat production, but no one told the two stars
Largely set bound, straight adaption of a claustraphobic comedy of manners, it feels a bit stodgy, but...The but is, despite being flatly handled by the director, the two stars tear into their roles with real zest, and obviously appreciate this quietly funny script. Fairly typical Simon dialogue gets the full treatment by this great double act. It's ying and yang all the way, or really him and her, Lemmon taking the role of her. Some of the film's best scenes are the few outdoors scenes, and they definitely help alleviate the stir-crazy feel you get with domestic scene after domestic scene. The comedy is there, but you do get hemmed in by it all in the same sort of way that Oscar does. Good use of widescreen adds much atmosphere, and the theme tune, fading in and out during the film is pure class. It comes through the rather stolid direction to make itself a much loved classic.