1975, United States, 111 min.
Willy Clark (Walter Matthau) and Al Lewis (George Burns) were vaudeville superstars for nearly 40 years. Now, they’re relics. Willy, loud and quick to anger, believes he is a comedy legend, but he can’t book a gig—or find it if he has one. (An audition for a potato chips commercial becomes an exasperating farce.) Al, quiet and unassuming, happily lives with his daughter’s family in the New Jersey suburbs. When Willy’s agent-nephew (Richard Benjamin) lands the pair a spot on a network TV special, the duo reunite. There’s just a small wrinkle: they can’t stand each other. This typically pleasant, thoughtful Neil Simon comedy is driven by Matthau’s manic, hilarious performance and the movie’s earnest belief that a friendship can endure slights past and present. Also remade as a TV movie in 1996, starring Peter Falk and Woody Allen.
