Before I ever saw "The Odd Couple," I heard scenes of it on an long
playing record that my roommate had on our air base in Texas in 1969.
The dialogues were inter-spaced with music clips from the film. It got
to be a matter of course that Sandy and I would unwind with "Dirty
Poker" and "Clean Poker" immediately upon returning to our room after
duty hours. Therefore, by the time I got the opportunity to see the
movie, I had memorized an awful lot of the dialogue and the
complementary visual aspects of the film appeared all the more
illustrative. "The Odd Couple" is the most flawless blend of written
dialogue with setting, movement, and facial expressions that I have
ever seen on film. Every scene of "The Odd Couple" is a masterful
blend of the understated with the flamboyant. It is a film that offers
the audience a nice blend of comfortable, likeable characters in a
familiar setting with something new each time the movie is seen again.
In the "Dirty Poker" scene, nothing is said about it but the viewer who
has seen the film several times can see in their chagrined, resigned
faces that Oscar's poker party guests have long since given up trying
to get him to take down the Christmas decorations now that they are
into the dog days of summer. When warm beer starts spraying all
over the apartment, Oscar is in the background wiping up with sofa
pillows. In 1975, after serving in Vietnam and after getting an MA degree in
Tokyo, I dropped in on Sandy in Chicago. Now with our wives in the
car, I suddenly asked Sandy, "My meat loaf is all dried out. What am
I going to do?" Without missing a beat, Sandy responded, "Put gravy
on it." "Where am I going to get gravy at 8 o'clock?" "I don't know. I thought it comes when you cook the meat." Both of our wives really thought we had lost it when I angrily
insisted, "You don't know what you are talking about, Oscar. You've
got to make gravy. It doesn't just come!"
playing record that my roommate had on our air base in Texas in 1969.
The dialogues were inter-spaced with music clips from the film. It got
to be a matter of course that Sandy and I would unwind with "Dirty
Poker" and "Clean Poker" immediately upon returning to our room after
duty hours. Therefore, by the time I got the opportunity to see the
movie, I had memorized an awful lot of the dialogue and the
complementary visual aspects of the film appeared all the more
illustrative. "The Odd Couple" is the most flawless blend of written
dialogue with setting, movement, and facial expressions that I have
ever seen on film. Every scene of "The Odd Couple" is a masterful
blend of the understated with the flamboyant. It is a film that offers
the audience a nice blend of comfortable, likeable characters in a
familiar setting with something new each time the movie is seen again.
In the "Dirty Poker" scene, nothing is said about it but the viewer who
has seen the film several times can see in their chagrined, resigned
faces that Oscar's poker party guests have long since given up trying
to get him to take down the Christmas decorations now that they are
into the dog days of summer. When warm beer starts spraying all
over the apartment, Oscar is in the background wiping up with sofa
pillows. In 1975, after serving in Vietnam and after getting an MA degree in
Tokyo, I dropped in on Sandy in Chicago. Now with our wives in the
car, I suddenly asked Sandy, "My meat loaf is all dried out. What am
I going to do?" Without missing a beat, Sandy responded, "Put gravy
on it." "Where am I going to get gravy at 8 o'clock?" "I don't know. I thought it comes when you cook the meat." Both of our wives really thought we had lost it when I angrily
insisted, "You don't know what you are talking about, Oscar. You've
got to make gravy. It doesn't just come!"