I have watched this film many times and find something new to admire and laugh at every time I see it. It is a pure Masterclass in writing and acting. Such professionalism as this is a joy to watch. It would have been great to see them both get an Oscar. I wonder what Walter thought of missing out on one?
shareI think my favorite scenes are when they actally have started the play on stage, there are some good jokes there. I also enjoy the very ending scene. (though i won't reveal what it's about, incase you haven't seen or just forgot it. But anyway, is it such a big deal to reveal an ending to a comedy?)
i saw a gray cloud rolling in,
and it seemed like the worst weather there's ever been,
but there is a chick named madeleine,
who glows weather it's sunshine or rain,
so i stay close to that girl whenever,
to protect myself from the rough weather,
on her i've bet my lucky dime,
she's so cute, sexy and fine,
i can hear the thunder in a darkend sky night,
luckily there's a wonderuss chick named madeleine who turns it bright.
Personally, I thought Matthau's performance was more deserving of an Oscar than Burns, but Matthau didn't stand a chance that year with Nicholson up for CUCKOO'S NEST and Pacino up for DOG DAY AFTERNOON. In another year, Matthau's Willy Clark would have been an Oscar performance.
shareI agree Isaac. Mr. Burns' performance was outstanding but Mr. Matthau's was great and man what a makeup he had. His timing was just off that year against Nicholson and Pacino.
shareTotally agree. Isn't it amazing how Walter Matthau seemed to play characters in their 70s for decades? He played them quite well, and this was no exception. Of course, Jack Nicholson's performance in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" was finest of 1975, at least in my opinion, and films like "The Sunshine Boys" were considered "old hat" alongside the '70s mavericks.
I assume people in this thread understand that Matthau was nominated for best actor, and George Burns for supporting actor. They weren't competing with each other for the award (though the characters were certainly competitive).
Hilarious movie! Love Walter Matthau. Man they sure don't make em like they used to.
shareoh my gosh.
i love the expression of walter matthau in the tea serving sequence with george burns.
just like a child...lol
i looove this movie.
george burns is so adorable in this movie.
walter matthau is a genius in his craft.
There's no place like home.
George Burns was fine in this movie, although it seems like he didn't have a lot to do in it - but Walter Matthau was pure genius and really made the movie for me. I'll see just about anything with him in it, b/c he can make anything funny. My 9 y/o daughter & I watched this the other night, and couldn't stop cracking up - she also insisted I not delete it from the DVR b/c she wants to watch it again! We've been quoting it for days too - a couple of our favorite scenes involve Matthau's character & his poor nephew - every time the door to the apt. gets locked and the nephew tells him to slide it - the first time Matthau fiddles w/ it, and finally after sliding it, he doesn't admit to it, but instead says "I fixed it." The next time, his nephew is yelling at him to slide it, he says "Oh, I think I have to slide it!" as if it was his idea, lol. Also love when Matthau calls up the nephew at 2 am and goes "Who is this? Ben is that you?" and the nephew is like "YOU called ME!" And the "Come in" & "Enter" scene w/ Burns had us rolling. The comedic timing & dialogue make this fun to watch, and this film really is such a gem.
"Are you going to your grave with unlived lives in your veins?" ~ The Good Girl
Just finished watching this. Couldnt agree more that Matthau deserved the Oscar more than Burns. Seems he got it based on sentimentality due to his age and Matthau already being an Oscar winner. Then again we are talking about the same Academy who snubbed Hitchcock his whole career
shareGood point - no way Matthau was going to top those landmark performances from Nicholson & Pacino. For that matter, John Cazale in Dog Day Afternoon should probably have beaten out George Burns, but the old guy getting a chance at the statue usually wins and they didn't know Cazale would be dead in a few years.
"Boy that was really exciting. I bet you're a big Lee Marvin fan aren't ya."
From what I gather, Matthau was fine with losing to Jack Nicholson. I read that, when Nicholson's name was called, Matthau said to his wife, "It's about time."
shareSpeaking of Matthau's wife, Carol Matthau, she was a life long friend of Truman Capote. Weird connection, huh?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truman_Capote
"La Côte Basque 1965"
"La Côte Basque 1965" was published as an individual chapter in Esquire magazine in November 1975. The catty beginning to his still-unfinished novel, Answered Prayers, marks the catalyst of the social suicide of Truman Capote.
The characters of Gloria Vanderbilt and Carol Matthau are encountered first, the two women gossiping about Princess Margaret, Prince Charles and the rest of the British royal family. An awkward moment then occurs when Gloria Vanderbilt has a run-in with her first husband and fails to recognize him. It is only at Mrs. Matthau's reminder that Gloria realises who he is. Both women brush the incident aside and chalk it up to ancient history.
I wanted to comment on here because just recently, I lost my brother who was only 48. We both loved this movie & could practicaly recite the dialogue from the whole movie. I've tried to turn others on to this side-splitting movie, but nobody seems to get like me & my brother. He lived in an apartment & when I would come to his house & ring the bell, he would yell into the intercomm "ENTER", because he knew it was me. If we were at a family bbq & I saw him grab a pickle, I would tell him not to eat it because it contains too much sodium, just to hear him reply "I'll spit out the sodium". We would go on & on with the lines to this movie. Now my brother is gone, way too soon & I won't have anyone to make Sunshine Boys references to. But I'll still make sure to watch it once a year & hopefully after the pain of his loss goes away, I'll still be able to laugh out loud at Willie Clark, Al Lewis & Ben the newphew (if he were your agent, you wouldn't be working).
shareYeah it's probably amongst the top ten funniest movies I seen - the jokes kept coming rather thick and fast and only surprisingly few missed the mark (although I think the first half of the film was sharper than the second half). And the injection of a certain amount of sentiment towards the end was generally pretty well handled, so it never got distractingly saccharine or anything. I recall seeing a local theater play of The Sunshine Boys on TV here when I was 12 or something, and laughing my ass off... and now, 25 years later, it's still hilarious.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan