The Sunshine Boys

This is an amazing accomplishment for George Burns. He had not made a film for almost 40 years and had never really acted before, and yet he gave one of the most moving performances I have ever seen in a motion picture. He was the oldest performer to ever win an Academy Award for best supporting actor and I think it would behoove acting students to study his wonderful performance. Neil Simon is one of my favorite writers and I think this is his best work. Burns and Matthau make movie magic and it is a delight from start to finish to see these two old pros at work.

THE SUNSHINE BOYS was the hilarious 1975 screen adaptation of Neil Simon's play about a retired vaudevillian team, played by Walter Matthau and George Burns, who had a very bitter breakup and have been asked to reunite one more time for a television special or something like that. The problem is that the two still hate each other and want nothing to do with each other. Richard Benjamin appears as Matthau's nephew, a theatrical agent who has been given the monumental responsibility of making this reunion a reality. This warm and winning comedy is a lovely valentine to a forgotten form of entertainment...vaudeville and it works mainly thanks to one of Neil Simon's better screenplays and outstanding work by Matthau, Burns, and Benjamin. Burns won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this, but I think Matthau walks away with this film with his flawlessly hilarious performance as Willy Clark. Matthau was nominated for Best Actor but didn't stand a chance against Nicholson for ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST; however, in another year, this was an Oscar-worthy performance. Matthau commands the screen and there is not a false note in this beautifully timed performance. The scene where he is auditioning for a potato chip commercial and can't get the name of the product right is a classic. THE SUNSHINE BOYS is a warm and winning Neil Simon comedy which shines thanks to unbeatable chemistry between Matthau and Burns.

THE SUNSHINE BOYS (1975) ***1/2 Walter Matthau, George Burns, Richard Benjamin. (Cameos: Steve Allen and Phyllis Diller). Extremely funny and warm-hearted adaptation of Neil Simon's play about two stubborn vaudevillians teaming up one last time for a tv special despite the fact they haven't spoken to one another in years. Matthau is a riot ("Ehnntaaaahhh!") but Burns, who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, resurrected his career and became an icon in entertainment. Incidentally, Burns took this role when his best friend, Jack Benny (who was initially cast), died. Look for small roles by Howard Hesseman and F.

Murray Abraham.

This is a ying versus yang personality clash that worked for many years on the big stage as a successful vaudeville comedy duo who were at the top of their respective games for decades but as with any good wine it will eventually go bad if left in the proverbial sun too long. Willy Clark (Walter Matthau) and Al Lewis (George Burns) begrudgingly agree at the bequest of Willy's stage manager nephew Ben Clark (Richard Benjamin) to get together for a reunion performance of their greatest comedy skits. Both aging comedians blame the other one for their eventual falling out so the feat of getting them back on the same stage is left to Willy's nephew Ben.

Willy is a crusty old "glass half empty" entertainer who likes to feel like he is the main attraction while his old comedy partner Al is a more confident and healthier "glass half full" entertainer.

The film was originally a stage production of Neil Simon and brought back to the big screen and directed with some down to earth pizazz by director Herbert Ross. It's alight hearted message that still resonates almost fifty (50) years later with the message for all old friends which is "let bygones be bygones". Most film goers were rooting for these two old octogenarian vaudeville performers to reconcile and make one big splash on the live stage.

No spoilers here. It's a warm hearted with good intentions film well worth watching at least twice. I give it a 7 out of 10 IMDB rating.

Taking over roles that Jack Albertson and Sam Levene played on Broadway, Walter Matthau and George Burns play a couple of old time vaudeville comics, a team in the tradition of Joe Smith and Charles Dale who seem to have a differing outlook on life.

Walter Matthau can't stop working, the man has never learned to relax, take some time and smell the roses. He's a crotchety old cuss whose best days are behind him and his nephew and agent Richard Benjamin is finding less and less work for him.

What hurt him badly was that some 15 years earlier his partner George Burns decided to retire and spend some time with his family. A workaholic like Matthau can't comprehend it and take Burns's decision personally.

Benjamin hits on a brain storm, reunite the guys and do it on a national television special. What happens here is pretty hilarious.

The Sunshine Boys is also a sad, bittersweet story as well about old age. Matthau is on screen for most of the film, but it's Burns who got the kudos in the form of an Oscar at the ripe old age of 79.

Burns brought a bit of the personal into this film as well. As we all know he was the straight man of the wonderful comedy team of Burns&Allen who the Monty Python troop borrowed a lot from. In 1958 due to health reasons, Gracie Allen retired and George kept going right up to the age of 100. Or at least pretty close to as an active performer.

The Sunshine Boys is based on the team of Smith&Dale however and if you like The Sunshine Boys I strongly recommend you see Two Tickets to Broadway for a look at a pair of guys who were entertaining the American public at the turn of the last century. The doctor sketch that Matthau and Burns do is directly from their material.

And I do think you will like The Sunshine Boys.