Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.5

The Odd Couple Blu-ray Movie Review

Before Bromance

Reviewed by Michael Reuben June 3, 2013

The Odd Couple is playwright Neil Simon's best-known work, and it features the signature roles of a great comedy duo, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. Even when the pair found success with a new generation in the Grumpy Old Men films, they were building on these earlier comic personas of feuding old friends, which became a permanent part of their public identities. Their sons tell the story of the two actors driving in a remote location, far from TV reception and movie theaters, where they stopped at an isolated gas station on the apparent edge of civilization. The Native American attendant filled their tank, then turned and said: "You guys can't fool me. You're the Odd Couple!"

Viewers who only know the characters of Felix Ungar and Oscar Madison from the long-running TV sitcom of The Odd Couple starring Tony Randall and Jack Klugman will want to recalibrate their expectations, because the original film is a different experience. It's effectively the "prequel" to the series, depicting the events summarized in the opening narration of each episode. As brilliantly as Randall and Klugman inhabited their parts, the characterizations by Lemmon and Matthau were far more extreme, because the movie allowed it. They also had the luxury of developing Felix and Oscar over a feature-length running time and escalating their battle to a point where it was clear that something had to give, whereas their TV alter egos had to still be living together by the end of each episode. Lemmon and Matthau were free to take their battle to epic proportions.

The Odd Couple is one of many gems in Paramount's vault that is finally seeing the light of day on Blu-ray thanks to the studio's distribution deal with Warner Home Video. Comedy fans, rejoice!

Simon's play was set entirely within Oscar Madison's (Matthau) apartment, where the curtain rose on a poker game from which Felix Ungar (Lemmon) was missing. For the movie, Simon added a prologue that shows some of what happens to Felix before he arrives at Oscar's door. We find him dejectedly wandering the streets of New York, then checking into a cheap hotel where he pointedly asks the desk clerk for a room on a high floor. Felix is obviously depressed and suicidal, but his half-hearted attempts don't result in much of anything but a bad back, an attack of bursitis and a brief visit to a Times Square burlesque (the PG version).

The scene then shifts to Oscar's place, for which the term "pigsty" would be a compliment. The usual weekly poker crew is there, except for Felix. They include Oscar's accountant, Roy (David Scheiner); an NYPD cop named Murray (Herb Edelman); the hen-pecked Vinnie (John Fiedler), who keeps trying to leave because he promised his wife he wouldn't be home too late; and the sharp-tongued Speed (Larry Haines). Worried over Felix's uncharacteristic lateness, they telephone his wife and learn that she has ended their marriage. Now they're really worried, but when Felix arrives, buttoned up and distant, they try to pretend that everything is normal. Director Gene Saks holds this absurd situation for as long as possible until it erupts in a crazy surge of frenetic activity that is pure physical comedy.

As a humanitarian gesture, Oscar invites Felix to stay with him, but after the poker buddies have left, the newly minted roommates go out to a coffee shop for a snack and, in another scene written specially for the film, their incompatibility immediately begins to emerge. First, Oscar embarrasses Felix by flirting shamelessly with the middle-aged waitress, who also happens to be married. Then Felix, who's a hypochondriac, embarrasses Oscar by demonstrating his technique for clearing his sinuses—at full volume and heedless of the stares from everyone else in the establishment, patron and staff alike. Words are inadequate to convey Lemmon's manic performance in this scene, which is one of the film's most famous.

Felix quickly transforms his new abode until it's almost unrecognizable. "What happened to the apartment?" asks Murray. "It's been given the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval", answers Oscar, with resignation. But even the poker buddies are impressed with the improved conditions for their game, not to mention the cold drinks and custom-made sandwiches.

The roommates eventually fall out over a double date that Oscar arranges with his neighbors, a pair of ditzsy English sisters, Cecily and Gwendolyn Pigeon (Monica Evans and Carole Shelley; their names are briefly reversed in the credits, because Oscar can't keep them straight). Oscar wants nothing more from the evening but to ply the ladies with drinks and charm one of them into bed. Both seem willing, but Felix keeps ruining the mood by, among other things, obsessing about the precise timing for serving his prized meatloaf and showing pictures of his soon-to-be-ex-wife. By the time the evening is over, the roommates are locked on course to a final showdown.

No one has ever successfully defined "chemistry" between actors, but you know it when you see it. Lemmon and Matthau had already displayed it in their first film, The Fortune Cookie, for which Matthau won an Oscar, and it was never more crucial than in The Odd Couple. Much of what passes between Felix and Oscar could easily seem petty, obnoxious or even vicious. (The business with the plate of linguini is especially tricky.) But because it's Lemmon and Matthau, they squeeze laughter from routines that, in other hands, would simply be cruel. The secret may be nothing more than what is suggested by several commentators in the extras, namely, that their off-screen friendship informed their performances, so that you always feel there's more going on than just the spat of the moment. Whatever the reason, they're a classic pair, and The Odd Couple is one of their best.

The Odd Couple Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Odd Couple was the first feature film shot by cinematographer Robert B. Hauser, whose previous work had been on major TV shows such as The Untouchables, Combat! and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Hauser would go on to shoot additional theatrical features, including Steve McQueen's racing film Le Mans, but his TV background suited director Gene Saks's visual strategy, which frequently involved setting the camera at a distance and letting the actors walk in and out of frame in a single master shot.

The 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray released by Warner has been taken from pristine source material and reflects a clean and detailed, if somewhat flat, image. The production design emphasizes muted colors, with an occasional rich hue (e.g., the green felt covering the poker table at the initial game or Oscar's blue baseball cap) that confirms the design is by choice. Blacks are appropriately black, as can be seen in outdoor night scenes. Contrast seems appropriate, neither overstated so that detail is blown out, nor understated so that shadow detail is overwhelmed. Some of the best-looking sequences are those that were added for the film, e.g., where Felix shops in a Bohack supermarket (the chain is now defunct) or where Oscar receives a phone call during a baseball game on which he is reporting (filmed during an actual Mets game at Shea Stadium).

The image has a slight softness that is almost certainly an effect of the slower anamorphic lenses of the period. It clearly doesn't result from any electronic processing or detail stripping. The film's grain pattern is visible and intact, but you might have to put your nose up against the screen to see it. Given the relatively circumscribed nature of most scenes, and the fact that most were shot on sets, there was obviously no difficulty lighting them sufficiently for the optics and film stocks of the late Sixties, thereby ensuring sufficient exposure for a smooth image. The lack of major activity in the frame, plus the black space from the 2.39:1 aspect ratio, probably also accounts for the relatively low average bitrate (17.98 Mbps), which was sufficient to provide a solid image without artifacts.

The Odd Couple Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The film's original mono soundtrack has been remixed and is presented as lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1. Fortunately, it's a conservative remix that does little more than expand Neal Hefti's famous theme and additional score into the left and right (with light support from the surrounds), while keeping the dialogue and basic sound effects in the center. The dialogue is clear, and the track is serviceable overall. My own preference would have been to retain the original mono track, at least as an option.

The Odd Couple Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Paramount first released The Odd Couple on DVD in 2000, with only a trailer. In 2009, the studio released a feature-laden two-disc DVD set as part of its "Centennial Collection". The Blu-ray contains all of the extras from that set with the exception of the image galleries.

• Commentary with Charlie Matthau and Chris Lemmon: The two sons of the late stars reminisce about their fathers' careers and long working partnership. Matthau, a director in his own right, points out aspects of Saks's directorial technique, which relies on long and medium shots and uses almost no closeups. Both speakers share numerous observations on acting styles, Neil Simon's approach to comedy and the film's lasting impact. During the final half hour, there are long pauses as the speakers become so absorbed in the film that they forget to comment.



• In the Beginning (1080p; 1.78:1; 17:04): This informative featurette covers three main topics: the original play of The Odd Couple and its author, Neil Simon; the career and personality of Jack Lemmon; and the career and personality of Walter Matthau. Interviewees include Larry King, Brad Garrett (who played Oscar in a recent revival of the play), David Sheiner, Carole Shelley, director Gene Saks, Chris Lemmon, Charlie Matthau and former Paramount studio head Robert Evans.



• Inside The Odd Couple (1080p; 1.78:1; 19:08): The same roster of interview subjects discusses the film. Evans relates the negotiations that led to the casting and resulted in Billy Wilder's losing the director's job in favor of Saks, while others discuss making the film and pick their favorite scenes.



• Memories from the Set (1080p; 1.78:1; 10:26): Saks recalls shooting specific scenes, with emphasis on those that Simon added or modified specially for the film.



• Matthau & Lemmon / Lemmon & Matthau (1080p; 1.78:1; 10:37): Reflections on the two comic giants by those who knew them, primarily their sons.



• The Odd Couple: A Classic (1080p; 1.78:1; 3:03): What makes a classic? No one really knows, but several of the interviewees try to answer the question.



• Theatrical Trailer (480i; 2.35:1; 2:49): "No wonder his wife kicked him out!"

The Odd Couple Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Odd Couple is one of the many catalog films that only Warner Home Video seems committed to releasing on Blu-ray in any volume these days. For years, fans complained (and justifiably so) about the slow pace of Paramount's catalog Blu-rays, but on the strength of such titles as An Officer and a Gentleman and The Odd Couple, it appears that Paramount's distribution deal with Warner will go a long way toward addressing those complaints. One of the great comedies of all time has been given a worthy presentation on Blu. Highly recommended.