The Sunshine Boys (1975)



Burns and Matthau at each other's throat

 A grumpy old man (Willy played by Walter Matthau) reluctantly reunites with his ex-vaudeville partner (Al Lewis played by George Burns) for a one-off television appearance.
I used to love watching this sort of character go through the motions. Totally in your face type, he doesn't care what anyone thinks he just says and does what he likes. He uses people for his convinience and does not compromise with his likes and dislikes. He thinks everyone else should be on his wavelength and who is not is a 'schmuck'. Totally self-absorbed he knows he is at the exit end of life but refuses to concede that he may have failings. Walter Matthau is at home playing this sort of character and after viewing the other version of TSB (1996) with Peter Falk this is the better one. The trick of the part is to make the character grumpy but likable. The actor has to avoid coming down too hard and avoid alienating the audience with too many disagreeable expressives. That is, he has to be cute even when he is not. That is a hard task, especially when the script works against you. Matthau does his best with the material you feel but Neil Simon, of  'The Odd Couple' fame, had some axe to grind when he wrote this play. He must have had someone in mind and he didn't like him much. Though at the end Simon tries to soften the character a little it's too little too late. By then you as the audience have had enaugh. You just want to bury him and move on. George Burns as the ex-partner could've easily played Matthau's role but instead got Willy's foil and he is adequate though wasted in it. Another version of this play would have seen Burns as Willy. But Matthau is nonetheless always watchable and this movie is better for him.