The Sunshine Boys (1975)

** out of ****

As a lover of good theater, I really enjoy it when a stage play translates into a great movie. Excluding musicals (of which there have been as many dogs as great films) some of my favorites to make the transition are “A Few Good Men”, “Agnes of God”, “The Goodbye Girl”, and “Who's Life is it Anyway?” What those films were successful at was taking likeable characters and putting them in interesting situations. “The Sunshine Boys” does neither.

In 1975 George Burns hadn't been in a movie in 35 years and his career was on the wane. So the very least I can do is give this film some credit for reviving a worthwhile talent. Walter Matthau had been on a hot streak for several years – he'd had several Academy and Golden Globe Award nominations over the past 8 years – so Matthau was the “star” of the film. But I will take this moment to state uncategorically that I have never “got” Matthau. I could buy him as a heavy (such as Maxie in “King Creole”) but I have never found him funny, and his “mean old man” routine is so campy that I could never take it seriously.

Perhaps that's why “The Sunshine Boys” just doesn't work for me. Matthau and Burns play a former vaudeville team called “Lewis and Clark” that split up 11 years earlier upon Lewis's (Burns) retirement. Clark (Matthau) has never forgiven him, as he can't get work on his own. The film is about their attempt to reunite for a TV special where they would perform one of their classic skits. However, given the animosity between them, they can't get through any performance without arguing.

The running joke in the movie is their arguments – they're supposed to be funny. Unfortunately, they never are. There's some truth in the fights, that when someone is deeply under your skin anything they do can royally piss you off, but you never really care enough about these guys to root for either of them. Matthau's Clark is a mean old bastard, selfish almost beyond words, and with no real redeeming qualities at all. Matthau plays him as a crotchedy Yiddish guy (heavy on the accent – you expect him to ask why everyone is acting like a 'schlemiel') and he provokes confrontation at every turn. Not only do you not like him, you kind of hope someone might drop a safe on him. Burns plays Clark much straighter, and though his character is much less offensive the situation just isn't enough to make you care about his fate.

When they finally rehearse their scene at the ABC studios, we are supposed to be treated to Vaudeville magic. They actually get through 5 minutes of the sketch before it breaks down, but the hammy treatment of the material (especially by Matthau, who hollers his way through the dialogue in an overbearing German accent) makes it completely unfunny. Their ensuing argument causes Clark to have a heart attack, and the film them tries to treat us to the duo's reconciliation. But as I mentioned before, we don't really care.

I admit to watching this through jaded 2015 eyes – comedy of the mid 70s often seems terribly basic and painful compared to the cutting edge material of today. However I don't think I am being too hard on the film, as I greatly admire many films of the era (other big films of that year were “Jaws”, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” and “Dog Day Afternoon”, all of which are 3 ½ and 4 star films to me). This one just doesn't work – Neil Simon was the writer and I find these two of the weaker characters he ever presented.

Not completely without charm, and nice to see Burns' understated “straight man” performance, I personally think this is a very overrated film. Perhaps with someone less shrill in the Clark role (which was originally to go to Red Skeleton – that might have been interesting) it could have been better, but Matthau's angry, noisy charactertization make the whole thing dull and tiresome.