The Out of Towners

source: The Out of Towners

The 1970 version of The Out of Towners was one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. I first saw it when I was a teenager back in the 1980's, but I rented it just last week because I needed to be cheered up. This is the type of movie that when you watch it it will make your day. You cannot think about anything else but the craziest that is happening on screen. Jack Lemmon was fantastic as George Kellerman. He is truly insane and the movie would have been dull without him. Sandy Dennis was perfectly cast as his wife and was a perfect compliment to Jack Lemmon's confrontational and neurotic character. I see that the director was careful to not put any distractions that would have taken anything away from the film such as making sure that Gwen Kellerman was an average looking (and acting) wife. The whole movie was hilarious, but I thought the funniest parts of the movie for me were 'The Car Chase' when George and Gwen went along on a high speed chase in the police car that was supposed to take them to the armory. Then, if things couldn't get worse, the crooks take over the cop car with George and Gwen still inside and then decide to dump them in the middle of Central Park. The second hilarious scene was scene with the lost little boy and the chase by the policeman on horseback in Central Park. Later that morning, after being kicked out of the church where they were praying, George Kellerman goes on a tirade in the middle of the street "YOU HEAR THAT NEW YORK, WE DON'T QUIT! NOW HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT!!..." This is the perfect movie to watch on a rainy Sunday morning or if you're feeling down and that the whole world is against you.

The real fascinating thing about cinema,is that no matter how many movies you might have seen,there are always going to be films that you have missed and are great ,to say the least.This is the case with the "Out of Towners". I saw a few years ago the remake with Steve Martin and as a big fan of Steve's i liked the film.Actually i didn't know back then ,that there was an original with Jack Lemmon.Anyway i have bought the DVD and just put it in a box to watch it sometime. I never thought, that this was an absolutely hilarious comedy ,with Jack Lemmon, for me ,being even better than "the odd couple". His character is similar to the one he played alongside Matthau ,but we are talking about an amazing performance here.I'm really surprised that he wasn't even nominated for an Oscar(he was nominated though for a Golden Globe). A couple (Sandy Dennis plays the wife)starts a journey to N.Y ,because Lemmon has planned an interview for his new job.He has a strict schedule that includes dinner at the "4 Seasons" restaurant and spending the night with his wife at his luxury hotel. I really can't describe what's happening after the boarding on the plane.EVERYTHING THAT COULD GO WRONG WENT WRONG. But the real magic of the film is that at no point in the film ,you can accuse the writers that they overdid it with the story.And Lemmon has a big part to do with that, because he plays amazingly. Sandy Dennis also plays her part extremely well and has a fine chemistry with Lemmon. A classic in my collection ,with out a doubt in the top-5 of all the comedies i have ever watched. Watch it and enjoy yourselves.

In Twin Oaks, Ohio, George Kellerman (Jack Lemmon) is invited for a job interview in New York. On the eve, he travels with his wife Gwen Kellerman (Sandy Dennis), expecting to have their second honeymoon, in a night of the dreams in a fancy hotel and restaurant. However, first due to the bad weather in the N.Y. airport, they land in Boston; and later, due to a strike in the means of transportation in N.Y., they have a night of nightmare. "The Out-of-Towners" would be a very funny movie, but the nasty and arrogant character of Jack Lemmon, silly and ridiculous, does not fit with a man expecting to occupy a VP position and it is almost impossible to feel any sympathy for him and his situation. All the time, the guy wants to note the name of a person to sue him, and if it is funny in the first or maybe second situation, this insistence annoyed me. The voice of Sandy Dennis is another point that irritated me, with her timbre. Indeed, this story has a good premise, wasted in a dull character. My vote is six. Title (Brazil): "Forasteiros em Nova York" ("Strangers in New York")

It is incomprehensible how Leonard Maltin can badmouth this riotously funny movie. Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis play off beautifully against each other in this tale of two misbegotten and forlorn visitors to the Big Apple who suffer every indignity that can befall two out-of-towners, and then some. It's a comedy classic in my book. The 1999 Martin/Hawn remake pales by comparison.

I found Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis as a believable married couple who have a lot of chemistry together who travel to New York from Ohio and find themselves in hysterical situations. When Mr. and Mrs. Kellerman travel to New York for a job interview plus a romantic weekend the hilarity ensues. Two's company and New York is the crowd. If you want to laugh till it hurts this is the movie to see!!!!! Neil Simon has written a masterpiece. He is a genius when it comes to dialogue. Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis create synchronized lovable characters committed to each other through good times and bad. New York watch out here come the Kellermans!!!

Now that I'm retired I do a bit of traveling now and I make itineraries that I like to stick to. What happens to Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis is every traveler's nightmare in between all the laughs. Starting with the circling around the airport, I remember once circling an hour and a half at Newark Airport because flights were backed up and that's after an hour delay from Rochester. That was 20 years ago and I haven't had anything like that happen to me recently. It can be incredibly nerve wracking and I well sympathize with what was happening. That would normally be enough. But Mr.&Mrs. Kellerman go exponential Murphy on this trip. Everything that can go wrong does, every single solitary thing from lost luggage to canceled hotel reservations to spending a night on the ground at Central Park and plenty more besides. All this on a nice dreamed of vacation in New York for this middle America Ohio couple who are combining business and pleasure as Lemmon is also in town for a job interview. Jack Lemmon is a perfect fit for his American everyman character and Sandy Dennis provides an interesting brand of quirkiness as the wife. Although there are some talented players in the cast including a rising Billy Dee Williams in the role of a ticket agent, they're fairly one dimensional as the film for about 90% of the time focuses on Lemmon and Dennis and their travails in the Big Apple. Do they get out of all their woes. Well I can say is, think about that musical number that Bing Crosby and Olga San Juan did in Blue Skies.

My then 19 year old Son and I watched this movie on television about a year or so ago. I told him that he had to watch it because it was the funniest movie that I ever saw. He laughed so hard during the entire movie that I am and must find the DVD. This movie is a classic. It is a great movie to watch with one's family during the Holidays. A classic indeed. Another reason for me looking for this movie is that I have a girlfriend who at one point in her life was suing everyone that came across her path. That is what really got me on the search. Both Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis were a crack up. I loved her patience, while he was off on a rampage.

I love this movie. I watch this over and over, and every time I watch it, I find a different scene that I missed before. It makes me laugh so hard that I miss some lines. Even now, just thinking of the scenes in Central Park are making me laugh. Every line is funny. This is a very under-rated movie.

Anything with the great Jack Lemmon is always worth checking out, but... Sorry, I have to agree with Leonard Maltin on this rather controversial movie. I found "The Out-of-Towners" to be an endless series of mishaps that before long became extremely tiresome to watch. The characters, especially the whiny wife, grated on my nerves and the only amusing part of the entire film was the ending. I'm not familiar with the Steve Martin-Goldie Hawn remake, but surely the main characters in that one can't be this irritating.