The Odd Couple

Compulsive neatnik Felix Unger (Jack Lemmon) is thrown out of his house by his divorce-bound wife. He wanders aimlessly through the streets of New York, toying with the idea of suicide, before gravitating to the apartment of his best friend, incorrigibly sloppy sportswriter Oscar Madison (Walter Matthau). Worried that Felix will try something desperate, Oscar, himself in the process of being divorced by his wife, invites Felix to move in with him. Within a few days, this mismatched pair is on the verge of mutual murder: Felix cannot abide Oscar's slovenliness, while Oscar is driven insane by Felix's obsession with cleanliness. A potentially passionate evening with Oscar's neighbors, the "coo-coo" Pigeon sisters (Monica Evans and Carole Shelley) is ruined when Felix, ruminating over his wife and children, reduces the two ladies to remorseful tears. Pushed to the brink, Oscar stalks around the apartment making as big a mess as possible. Comes the next week's poker game, and the previously vengeful Oscar is worried that Felix might have attempted to do away with himself again. Instead, a surprisingly self-confident Felix shows up to collect his belongings, then announces that he's temporarily moving upstairs with the toothsome Pigeon sisters! There's a laugh a second in this faithful movie adaptation of Neil Simon's hit Broadway play. A foolproof comic situation (allegedly based on a chapter in the life of Simon's brother Danny) is kept alive and healthy by some of the funniest dialogue ever written. The Odd Couple was later adapted into a long-running TV sitcom starring Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. — Hal Erickson

AMG Review:
Perhaps the funniest film version of a Neil Simon play, The Odd Couple benefits from the superb comic interaction of Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon. It was Matthau and Lemmon's second movie together (following 1966's similar Fortune Cookie), though it would not be their last. Adapted for the screen by the playwright and helmed by Broadway director Gene Saks, the film successfully walked a fine line between sheer comedy and sincere drama. Matthau and Lemmon would re-team for the rest of their careers, but never with the vitality that they exhibited in this film. The Odd Couple was later a popular, long-running television show, with Tony Randall and Jack Klugman in the Lemmon and Matthau roles. — Brendon Hanley