First Monday in October

Though First Monday In October didn't last too long on Broadway, the Jerome Lawrence-Robert E. Lee play made one fine sparkling movie for Walter Matthau and Jill Clayburgh taking over the roles that Henry Fonda and Jill Alexander did on the stage.

In 1978 when this was on stage, the iconoclastic William O. Douglas had been gone three years from the Supreme Court and the idea of a woman justice was yet untried. So imagine the serendipitous joy with the producers when Ronald Reagan added Sandra Day O'Connor to the court. You couldn't buy better publicity.

Matthau is clearly based on William O. Douglas who was a far seeing advocate for social justice and change on the bench. Matthau if you can believe is a kinder, gentler version of Douglas. In real life Douglas was not a nice guy, in fact personally he was a swine. The banter with which you see him engage his law clerk James Stephens would never happen, he went through law clerks like he did wives. Ditto with Jan Sterling playing Mrs. Matthau. The first Mrs. Douglas had taken a hike years earlier and Douglas was on wife number 4 in her twenties at this time. He died in 1980.

O'Connor replaced Potter Stewart in 1981 on the bench so in real life these two never served. Still First Monday In October you'd like to think would be how they got along with even a little romance thrown in once the two got to know each other. Douglas never got along with colleagues, especially those who had a different point of view.

Still Matthau is one of his patented curmudgeons and Clayburgh do have a good cinema chemistry which makes First Monday In October a pleasant piece of viewing.

Walter Mathau left many wonderful performances for us to enjoy, and here is another one of them. In what could be a rehearsal for GRUMPY OLD MEN, it's great to see how he and Jill Clayburgh bounce off each other. Their characters are so different and opposite, yet they're like two pillars holding up the roof of the system. I find it difficult to fault this movie, It's enjoyable from start to finish.

The dialogue is priceless, and the physical comedy is great too, i.e., Barnard Hughes never says a word as he approaches Matthau's office where Matthau and Clayburgh are in a heated debate; it's a long shot from the office doorway as he approaches, and as soon as he is within earshot, he does a perfect "to the rear, march" without missing a beat!

I agree wholeheartedly with the comments of bato-2 except for the "comedy isn't much" remark. Why such a low rating?

This movie is among the many that I have taped, and I return to it often for "pure enjoyment".

You have to hand it to Walter Matthau, the older he gets, the more feisty his characters become!!

This is a sorely underappreciated minor gem with two brilliant performances from Matthau and Clayburgh. Their chemistry is wonderful. All in all the film is clever, funny, original, and down right fun!!!

If you happen to find this film at your local video store, check it out...its well worth discovering!

When I first saw this movie, I had a discussion with a friend of mine over many of the things shown in this movie. After several years I again had another discussion with the same friend and it again was very interesting although very different. I can say this about two handful of movies. I give it a 10...