A strange couple
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | A strange couple |
| Original title | The odd couple |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1968 |
| length | 101 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Gene Saks |
| script | Neil Simon |
| production | Howard W. Koch |
| music | Neal Hefti |
| camera | Robert B. Hauser |
| cut | Frank Bracht |
| occupation | |
| |
| chronology | |
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Successor → |
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The Odd Couple (The Odd Couple) is an American comedy film of Gene Saks from the year 1968 with the comedy duo Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau . It is the film adaptation of the play of the same name by Neil Simon , who also wrote the script for the film version.
action
The order fanatic and hypochondriac Felix Ungar, abandoned by his wife, wants to kill himself. To do this, he rents a high hotel, but cannot open the window and pulls his back in the process. After a failed attempt, he ends up in the apartment of his friend, the divorced sports reporter Oscar Madison, where the regular poker round with mutual friends Vinnie, Speed and Roy is currently taking place. After the poker friends have calmed Felix down, Oscar decides to take Felix in.
Felix brings the neglected apartment in order and gradually takes over the direction of the 'relationship' between the two. He shops, cooks and cleans; Felix also makes sure that Oscar manages his money better and transfers money to his divorced wife regularly.
However, Oscar is increasingly getting on the nerves of his new roommate with his mania for cleaning and cleanliness as well as his peculiarities. The situation escalates when Felix messes up a rendezvous with the two sisters Gwendolyn and Cecily Fink. He makes himself and the sisters cry with the story of his divorced marriage and thus destroys the exuberant mood.
Oscar doesn't say a word more to Felix and finally puts him in front of the door. But soon his guilty conscience announces itself. Together with his friends, he goes looking for Felix. It turns out that he has now moved in with the Fink sisters, who find him empathetic and sympathetic because of his divorce story. Felix and Oscar apologize for their behavior. Felix announces that he will be playing poker at Oscar's next Friday night. Oscar urges his friends to clean up the mess after the game of poker is over.
background
A Strange Couple was originally a Broadway show directed by Mike Nichols , from 1965 initially with Walter Matthau as Oscar and Art Carney as Felix. Jack Klugman later played the character Oscar and also took on this part in the later television series.
The Fink sisters Cecily and Gwendolyn are originally called Pigeon (in German Taube); its actresses Monica Evans (* 1940) and Carole Shelley (1939-2018) played their roles in both the original Broadway production and in the television series of the 1970s.
Later versions and sequel
From the fall of 1970, the television series created under the direction of Garry Marshall , in which Tony Randall Felix Unger and Jack Klugman played Oscar Madison again, was broadcast. Neal Hefti's theme from the movie was also used as the theme music. The series, which comprises 114 episodes in five seasons, ran from September 1970 to July 1975. It was broadcast on German television under the title Männerwirtschaft .
In 1980 the ZDF produced a six-part series entitled Felix and Oskar . Heinz Baumann played Oskar, Horst Bollmann played Felix. In 1991 Michael Günther shot a strange couple for ARD with Harald Juhnke as Oscar and Eddi Arent as Felix.
In 1998, the successor Still a Strange Couple with the classic cast (Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau) came out in theaters.
In 2002 the play was performed in a revised and slightly updated version by Neil Simon as Oscar and Felix: A New Look at the Odd Couple in Los Angeles, 2005 to 2006 on Broadway. From December 2011, this version was performed in German in Essen in the theater in the town hall with the television stars Leonard Lansink and Heinrich Schafmeister . Later this production went on tour through Germany.
In 2003 Doris Dörrie adapted the material with Heiner Lauterbach and Uwe Ochsenknecht in the leading roles for ZDF.
The play was translated into Low German in 2005 by Manfred Brümmer and Rolf Petersen under the title Een snurrig Poor and performed from November 12, 2005 to January 7, 2006 in the Ohnsorg Theater with Manfred Bettinger and Till Huster in the title roles.
The series The Odd Couple , broadcast in three seasons with a total of 38 episodes from 2015 to 2017, is also based on the underlying material.
Awards (selection)
The film won the Laurel Award for Best Comedy in 1968 . The script won the Writers Guild of America Award .
In addition, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau were nominated for the Golden Globe for best leading actor (comedy / musical). The production was nominated for an Oscar in 1969 in the categories of Best Editing and Best Adapted Screenplay .
Reviews
“ Comedy rich in situation comedy based on a successful tabloid play; Staged quite theatrically, but played brilliantly by Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. "
"Despite some idle time, it is recommended as a lively, carefree and popular comedy film for ages 12 and up."
“Gene Saks directed this stunning comedy based on the acclaimed play by Neil Simon, which was followed by a TV series starring Tony Randall and Jack Klugman in the 1970s . The permanent partners Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau already proved to be a perfect comic duo in Billy Wilder's " Der Glückspilz " (1965).
literature
- Neil Simon : A Strange Couple (Original title: The Odd Couple) . In other words: comedies . Verlag Volk und Welt, Berlin 1988, 411 pages, ISBN 3-353-00217-0
Web links
- The Odd Couple in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Odd couple at rotten tomatoes (English)
- Odd couple at Metacritic (English)
- A strange couple in the online film database
- A strange couple in the German dubbing file
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Broadway League: The Odd Couple - Broadway Play - Original | IBDB. Retrieved October 28, 2018 .
- ↑ TV productions: Ziegler Film. Retrieved February 28, 2017 .
- ↑ imdb.com: A Strange Couple (2004)
- ↑ A strange couple. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed January 2, 2017 .
- ↑ A strange couple on prisma.de