The Sunshine Boys (1975)

Willy Clark (Walter Matthau) and Al Lewis (George Burns) used to be a famous vaudeville comedy duo. Agent Ben Clark (Richard Benjamin) struggles to help his grumpy absent-minded uncle Willy. ABC wants to do a variety show of comedy history and they want both Lewis and Clark. They can't stand each other and haven't seen each other in 11 years. Al has been living the quiet life with his daughter in New Jersey. Ben needs to convince them both to reunite for just one night.I find Willy Clark more sad than funny. He is super grumpy and his bitterness doesn't make it easy to like him. He needs more loveability. It takes away from some of the comedy early on. George Burns is funnier. He's so deadpan. I love the Ah-stick. When the two of them get together, they are hilarious. Matthau's grumpy old man and Burns' biting remarks fit perfectly. The duo is a comedy master class. Their rehearsal together is comedy insanity. The movie with them apart isn't quite as funny.

A film where senility actually becomes a riot to view. Walter Matthau and George Burns played vaudeville stars of the past asked to reunite in a television sketch despite the fact that they can't stand one another.Ably assisted by Richard Benjamin, who plays Matthau's nephew and manager, there is non-stop hilarity as both aged men show their senile ways, but with perfect comic timing.Another reason why the film was so good was because reality sets in at the end when Matthau falls ill.George Burns was rewarded with a supporting Oscar for the role of Al Lewis, the part was to be played by Jack Benny, before he fell ill in real life.This is certainly an ode to a bygone era.

An old vaudeville team of Willy Clark (Walter Matthau) and Al Lewis (George Burns) were one of the best known but they broke up hating each other. Over 20 years later they agree to get together for a TV special...but find out they STILL hate each other. Willy's nephew/agent (Richard Benjamin) tries to get them to work together.A big hit in its day and it won George Burns an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. I (somewhat) liked it. It was written by Neil Simon so its non-stop one-liners. Some of it was funny but making jokes of Willy and Al's senility was NOT. Also I never liked Matthau. I never thought he was a good actor and something about him just rubbed me the wrong way. Also his character here is so caustic you get sick of him quickly. All that aside this was fun. Burns is just great tossing off one-liners with ease and even Matthau was good matching him. Their verbal battles are the best sequences in the movie. Also Benjamin is very good as Willy's nephew trying to get the two of them to work with each other. For me it's worth seeing for Burns alone. This jump started his career in a big way and two years later he had ANOTHER hit with "Oh God". So, this is good. Just good--not great. Matthau's character really makes this hard to love. I give it a 7.

At first this looked like a boring comedy like The Odd Couple, but when I got into it it turned out to be a really funny film. Basically forgetful ex-comedians Willy Clark (Golden Globe winner, and Oscar and BAFTA nominated Walter Matthau) and Al Lewis (Oscar winning, and Golden Glove nominated George Burns) were a great comedy duo, and a brought back together to revive their hospital sketch for a TV show. Willy's nephew, Ben Clark (Golden Globe winning Richard Benjamin) is confident they can get together again with no hard feelings for each other, how wrong he is. They cannot get on all the time, they are both forgetful, especially during conversation, but they do it eventually. Also starring Lee Meredith as Nurse in Sketch (Miss McIntosh), Carol DeLuise as Mrs. Doris Green, Al's Daughter, Rosetta LeNoire as Odessa, Willy's nurse and Muppets from Space's F. Murray Abraham as Mechanic. I think the best line of the film is Burns mentioning that Matthau called him "a son of a bitch bastard". It was nominated the Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration and Best Writing, Screenplay Adapted From Other Material, it was nominated the BAFTA for Best Screenplay, and it won the Golden Globe Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy, and it was nominated for Best Screenplay. Very good!