MovieChat Forums > The Odd Couple (1968) Discussion > Neil Simon's running joke about the slob...

Neil Simon's running joke about the slob vs the neat-freak.

posted 18 years ago by mbphilly
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In the movie Brighton Beach Memoirs, the brothers Jerome (Simon's own alter ego of this somewhat autobiographical movie) and Stanley are different in the sense that Jerome is the sloppy one and Stanley is the neat, organized one. In this movie, Felix is the ultimate, almost OCD neat-freak and Oscar is the ultimate, almost bio-hazardous slob. And in the Sunshine Boys, Willie Clark, played in the movie by Matthau, is a sloppy curmudgeon versus Al Lewis as the sophisticated, clean gentleman.

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!!
--Michael Palin (Monty Python's Flying Circus)

[–] sister-woman 18 years ago

In Simon's autobiography, "Rewrites" he says that "The Odd Couple" was based on his brother and a roommate, although I don't remember which one was which.

By the way, the main character in "Brighton Beach Memoirs" and the rest of the trilogy is Eugene Morris Jerome. Jerome is their last name.