It would seem today that the in-flux of mismatch twosomes is becoming a more regular occurrence, with TV's 'Gimme Gimme Gimme' being the most recent, but I would rather class that as more weird than odd. Undoubtedly, the film that paved the way for these strange pairings was the Odd Couple, starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.
Jack Lemmon worked well with numerous actors in comedy pairings, but with Walter Matthau it worked so well, they appeared together in several films, whilst maintaining the chemistry between themselves. Some of the funniest scenes in the film - and in the majority of films that they have done together - are where they are at each other's throats.
On this occasion, it is the conflict of their personalities which causes the friction between them. Matthau plays Oscar Maddison, a slob; order is profane, organisation is taboo, and hygiene is damn-near non-existent. Lemmon plays Felix Ungar, a freak when it comes to order and hygiene, but the story starts with him feeling depressed and suicidal following the break-up of his marriage to his wife Frances.
To avoid this, Oscar offers Felix the chance to stay with him, with disastrous but hilarious consequences, even to the point of insanity. The combination of visual humour with the verbal sparring between Matthau and Lemmon is what makes this film a classic comedy, it even has its own classic scene, with Lemmon trying to clear his ears in a restaurant by making 'Moose calls' as Matthau puts it.
There are also some classic lines from Lemmon and Matthau, which include: 'Don't point that finger at me, unless you intend to use it.' and 'You got something on your chest besides your chin, you'd better get it off'. Matthau certainly has his hands full with Lemmon, as a compulsive cleaning, mother-hen clucking, hypochondriac; and through the film Felix progresses into more of a wife than a friend; apron in the kitchen practically all the time, asking Oscar's whereabouts when he's late, and ringing him up when he's at work about dinner.
The irony is Felix warned Oscar about his behaviour, and he dismissed it, or as Matthau puts it, "The irony is unless we sort out some other arrangement, I'm going to kill you, that's the irony of it." With the supporting characters Felix and Oscar's buddies, and the romantic interest Cecily and Gwendolyn providing both light relief and sensitive angles, as the two ladies provide a sympathetic ear to Felix. Oscar's buddies sympathise with him, as they are subjected to mistaking coasters for bet chips, stifled by a dehumidifier, and sterilised by disinfected cards, and at one point they regret foiling Felix's suicide attempt.
All in all, this film has a good story line, and the banter between Felix, Oscar and their buddies in the poker group is superb. It is worth watching for Matthau's impersonation of Lemmon clearing his ears!
Craig Aston.
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