Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2476 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

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.

My favourire film
Brilliantly written, impeccably acted. Proof that comedy doesn't have to be viscious, brash or hateful.

An absolute comedy classic...
This film, despite its age is probably a funnier film than many coming out today. Played by legendary funnymen Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon this is a comedy with a wonderfully simplistic premise.

Felix (Jack Lemmon's) long suffering wife has had enough of her husband and dissolves their marriage. Cue the funniest opening scenes I have ever witnessed in a film as Felix, in his search to commit suicide, asks for a higher floor room, pulls his back out trying to open the window and suffers a number of mishaps before deciding he'll go and talk to his slovenly friend, sports journallist Oscar (Matthau)

Oscar is a man who lives in an eight bedroom apartment surrounded by green sandwiches, oppresive heating and whose weekly highlight is his beloved poker night, and plenty of warm beers. Oscar is an untidy slob, his apartment a bactrial breeding paradise - until Felix, the obsessive cleaner with several funny conditions (the scene in the cafe of him "clearing his sinuses" is an absolute hoot!) moves in.

At first, its a match made in heaven. The apartment is spotless, everyone has cold beers and "perfect" sandiwches, and Oscar is relishing his new tidy, helpful housemate.

Soon though, Oscar starts to feel the pressure. Felix is obbsessive, motherly almost. He calls Oscar to ask what he wants for tea, complains when he is late, and nags like Oscar's previous wife. Soon Oscar is rebelling, back to wiping his feet on the curtains and treading on the cushions and threatening to kill his annoying friend.

This film is funny because Oscar and Felix bicker like a married couple, and you can see why their respective wives left them! It's sharp, witty and beautifully acted.

Pure genius. Pure classic!

Watch it. Love it. Watch it again, and get the theme tune stuck in your head for days...