The Odd Couple@50

Fifty-years ago the movie The Odd Couple was released. It's probably the quintessential NYC roommate story about a slob and a neat-freak, Oscar and Felix, middle-aged men who've been kicked out by their wives and are looking to re-start their lives. Of course, unlike most NYC roommates, they live in a huge apartment on Riverside Drive (best line: "Do me a favor? Smoke towards New Jersey") and seemingly no money worries. 

Originally written as a play by Neil Simon, The Odd Couple movie, starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, was a huge hit. It inspired the successful 1970-1975 TV show with Jack Klugman and Tony Randall, a 1998 sequel with Lemmon and Matthau, another recent TV show from 2015-2017, and even an early 1980s TV show where Oscar and Felix were black (The New Odd Couple). Oscar and Felix seem to be perennial.

Why? 

As a play and a movie, the story is okay but nothing terribly exciting. It's not even the best of Simon's plays (Lost in Yonkers or the Brighton Beach plays probably take those honors) and yet it's his most popular creation. Audiences seem unable to get enough of these wacky New York roommates and their antics. 

Again, why?

It's probably because it's a story about friendship, the original "bromance", and how men can help each other at difficult times in their lives. It's also an excuse for a couple of guys to be silly, "boys will be boys", and a chance for two actors to show their comedic chops. And it's about how there can be a bond between men that's separate and special from a romantic relationship that's not necessarily homoerotic or gay (more in the lines of "bros befo' hoes").

It's a story about a couple of New Yorkers that's also universal. Odd -- and understandable. 

What's also interesting about the original 1968 movie is that it was largely filmed on the streets of the city so it's a great way to look at what NYC was like fifty-years ago -- a city once very familiar and strange. Much like Oscar and Felix. 

Other favorite line from the movie, after Matthau throws a plate of linguini at a wall: "Now it's gah-bage!" 

Favorite line from The New Odd Couple, after one of the characters has given money to a hooker named Charity: "I gave it to charity."