Rewind, Review, and Re-Rate: ‘The Sunshine Boys’: One of Neil Simon’s Numerous Odd Couples

PG | 1h 51min | Comedy | 6 November 1975 (USA)

I just bought “The Sunshine Boys” on iTunes for $6.99, which is about what we paid to see it in the theaters back in 1976. I immediately started hollering with laughter all over again. It’s as good as it ever was. OK, almost. Walter Matthau was a comedic genius, one of the world’s funniest clowns, and George Burns was a straight man for the ages, having had years of practice playing straight man to his wife in “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show.”

Grumpy Old Men

“Grumpy Old Men” is another movie in which Matthau will slay you with laughter—he specialized in playing grumpy old men—but Matthau’s original two grumpy old men roles were Oscar Madison in “The Odd Couple” and Willy Clark in “The Sunshine Boys.”