Commentary by Chris Lemmon and Charlie Matthau, featurettes on the production of the film, the play, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, photo gallery

We all have a roommate like Oscar Madison (Walter Matthau) or Felix Unger (Jack Lemmon) at some point in our lives. These two men are forced together when Felix's wife throws him out. Oscar takes in his poker playing buddy because he needs some place to stay. Oscar doesn't realize though that Felix's fussiness is enough to drive him to drink not that he needs any excuse to have a beer. Neil Simon's character driven comedy works so well because of the well defined characters and because he throws two that are complete oppposites in every way imaginable. Simon's original Broadway play was so durable it inspired two TV series, a cartoon TV series and numerous revivals throughout the world including one where the genders are reversed for the main characters. -

Image & Sound:

The Centennial Edition of "The Odd Couple" is a huge improvement over the previous one on DVD. The presentation isn't flawless but it's quite very good. Skin tones are natural throughout and only an occasional fleck will mar an otherwise exceptional presentation of the film. Previously mastered for DVD almost 9 years ago, "The Odd Couple" benefits from the passage of time as digital clean up techniques have improved signficantly since that time. ***

"The Odd Couple" is all about the dialog. The original mono presentation sounds clean and clear throughout and while there are some nice sound effects throughout the film the purpose of the soundtrack is to present the crisp, clear and witty dialog of Simon in the best possible way. The audio soundtrack lives up to that expectation given the limitations of the year the film was made. ---

Sadly Paramount didn't bother to ask Lemmon (he passed away in 2001)or Matthau (he passed away in 2000) to do a commentary track for this film while they were still alive. We're stuck with their sons Chris and Charlie doing a play-by-play commentary. There are a few interesting stories here but the best would have come from the stars themselves and that opportunity was missed. ***

"Inside 'The Odd Couple'" focuses on the changes from Broadway (Art Carney was the original Felix on stage)to film and why Billy Wilder who had worked with Lemmon before didn't direct the film (he was originally scheduled to do so). ***

"In the Beginning" features director Gene Saks as well as Robert Evans (who was the head of Paramount at the time) giving a history of the film beginning with its Broadway debut. ***

"Memories" features director Saks and actor David Sheiner discussing their experience of making the film. ***

"Matthau and Lemmon" and "The Odd Couple-A Classic" focuses on the popular duo of Matthau and Lemmon who appeared in a number of films together. They were perfect on screen foils for each other. ***

We also get a photo gallery. ---

Final Words: