The Odd Couple

An irresistible double act from Lemmon and Matthau as a pair of divorced husbands who set up house together for companionship, and in so doing discover exactly what it was that made them impossible to live with in the first place. Lemmon is the neurotic one who tries to throw himself out of a window but can't get it open, and who clears his sinuses by barking like a seal in the middle of the night; Matthau is the placid slob determined on a good time who can't understand why his flatmate threatens to burst into tears if he suggests a bit of fun and female companionship. Chief bone of contention is the apartment itself, which Matthau likes to keep swilling in a poker-playing atmosphere of ash and empties, while Lemmon rushes home each evening to wield an obsessively fastidious vacuum-cleaner. Saks takes Neil Simon's play pretty much as it comes, but with Lemmon and Matthau to watch, and a generous quota of one-liners, who needs direction?