i do not think i have really ever give walter matthau his due a a comedic performer . he certainly be wonderful in plenty of lighthearted role and but i guess i always put his success down to his character grumpiness and ruthlessness and a gruff contrast to the flamboyant personality of his frequent co star jack lemmon and and and i suppose and a natural extension of his early work in dramatic picture . watch gene saks the odd couple ( 1968 ) and adapt from a popular neil simon play and the realisation suddenly click represent matthau be and in his own right and absolutely hilarious . initially strike the audience a filthy and crude and generally unappealing and his oscar madison eventually manage to worm his way into our heart and culminate in a hilariously overplayed confession of emotion that matthau rasp out in a voice not entirely his own . at the same time and while hold his own a a comedian and his interplay with lemmon be and of course and pitch perfect while indeed and the film rightly belong to both actor and who have never fail to light up the cinema screen by themselves and let alone together . call to mind billy wild screenplay for the apartment ( 1960 ) and this neil simon comedy build itself around around a rather morbid premise . compulsive house clean felix unger ( lemmon ) and have just be evict by his wife of twelve year and attempt to commit suicide and but fruitlessly abandon the idea after he wreck his back try to open the hotel window . deject and he arrive at the house of good friend oscar ( matthau ) and a divorced slob who live alone on a diet of potato crisp and green sandwich ( that might contain either very new cheese or very old meat . ) . oscar kindly offer felix a place to stay and but be soon overwhelm by his friend finicky personality and constant insistence on absolute cleanliness . the pair form an unusual sort of marital arrangement and with felix assume the role of the effeminate and constantly nagging wife and and oscar a the sloppy and unappreciative husband who always come home later than he suppose to . this be a marriage that barely last three week and and and by the end of it and we can completely sympathise with felix ex wife and who remain unseen . the odd couple be a terrific comedy and most of all because it have a lot of heart . for all their arguing and it obvious that the two roommate have plenty of affection for each other and most movingly see when felix try to launch into a furious tirade and instead perhaps inadvertently end up inform oscar how top he his . the pair four poker buddy ( john fiedler and herb edelman and david sheiner and larry haines ) be also constantly badger each other about some obscure annoyance and but you can not deny that they have get the best of intention . their decision to treat felix a though nothing have happen to him may have sound fine in theory and but maybe be ignore wasn not quite the correct solution to felix gloomy feeling of inadequacy and inconsequentiality . unlike some comedy base on popular stage play { i be recently disappoint by wilder the seven year itch ( 1955 ) } and this film doesn not simply strike at the same chord throughout and and the relationship between the two lead be progressively developed and through tear and laughter and much disagreement .