The Odd Couple: Together Again

Randall and Klugman retain their chemistry. A lot of plot holes and inconsistencies, but that was always the case. Nice surprise to see Myrna and Speed again. My biggest complaint is the background music. I think this would play better with no music. As well, the added drama is unnecessary. It remains one of the best comedies of all time.

Tony Randall and Jack Klugman made tv history with The Odd Couple. The chemistry between these two fine thespians is unbelievable, it is like Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello. They were wonderful together on the tv series. Its a custom for them to do "reunion" movies for old tv shows and most of them usually fall like a pancake. It is true that Tony and Jack were old when this was made, but they were like a fine wine that only gets better with age. Yes! The chemistry was still there the spark was still there and the magic was still there. It was like they just picked up where they left off in 1975 (this film was made in 1993). Jack Klugman had had an operation for throat cancer that cost him one of his vocal cords and left him with an impaired voice. They wrote this into the story in a very tasteful manner. It was wonderful how it showed Felix helping Oscar come to copes with this. It was very touching and at one point Jack makes a very heartfelt speech to his poker buddies about how you can beat cancer and that he is still the same person. He was speaking right from the heart and I will tell you right now that it touched my heart. Jack Klugman gave hope and inspiration to so many other cancer victims by going on and speaking out (he has battled throat cancer for almost 30 years). This was a great reunion movie for these two giants. They probably had a ball making it and you will be glad that they took you along for the ride!

The return of a sitcom gem has brought to light. "The Odd Couple: Together Again" brings back Tony Randall and Jack Klugman for a reunion that will last for a lifetime. Felix Unger(Randall) has remarried, and his only daughter, Edna(Toni Kalem) is getting married for the first time. All the time Felix has been the same: Fussy. His fussbudgetness gets him kick out of the house for only a few days. He goes back to his old resting ground, Oscar Madison(Klugman), who has recovered from throat cancer surgery. (The cancer claimed Klugman's larynx and vocal cord in real life, that's why he's very gruff now.) So while at Oscar's place, he and all his friends try to get his spirits back up. While that's in the works, the wedding plans are in the works. Then Felix is at it again, meddling. The fiancé, is divorced twice. And Felix starts jumping the gun again. This time, the wives he married were bad, not him. And it was Oscar who helps out the Ungers for Felix. Imagine, friends for life in god times and bad. Those two are inseparable. Maybe Oscar will be tying the knot himself for the second time. A great reunion movie, too bad some of the other casts couldn't make it like Al Molrinaro. It was good to see those two again. Sadly, it will the last for Randall. He died in 2004. R.I.P. Tony Randall! 4 out of 5 stars!

Most TV reunion movies do little more than reunite the original cast members and revisit the same story ideas that worked the first time around. After all, that's what the audience expects, right? You don't bring back everyone's beloved characters and have them doing UNfamiliar things on screen. Viewers like those characters for what they WERE, and they expect to see them repeat the same moves.

"Odd Couple: Together Again" exemplifies this in how Felix and Oscar are reunited in the same apartment (or at least, they CLAIM it's the same one), rehashing the "neat vs. sloppy" clash, among other events in their lives. Some of the scripted comedic lines are fairly amusing, while others are lukewarm and less sharp.

This TV movie's chief asset is a certain warmth that comes from seeing these familiar characters (and actors, for that matter) reunite. Watching them renew their ties of friendship and seeing them bond possesses more entertainment value than the jokes in the script, which are a decided mixed bag.

Gone are the brilliant wisecracks from the '70s show; since the original stable of Garry Marshall, Jerry Belson, Mark Rothman and Frank Buxton are nowhere to be found, we settle for the tone and pitch of writer-director Robert Klane. I think Klugman and Randall manage to carry the often tame material expertly.

Felix strolls through Oscar's messy bedroom for the first time in many years, and Felix comments on each item of garbage he finds. Again, it's a pleasant enough sequence, but in the hands of the old writers, it could've been much funnier.

Felix is noisily vacuuming in Oscar's living room at four in the morning, and when an angry, half-awake Oscar comes storming in, Felix pretends to open his eyes and says, "Oh ... OH! I must've been sleep-cleaning!" Oscar responds by doing some "sleep-messing" and then threatening "sleep-murder."

I could totally envision the old TV writers coming up with a hilarious tit-for-tat sequence instead, where Oscar could sneak in and unplug (or sabotage) the vacuum to set up a sight gag where the vacuum blows up in Felix's hand, or some similar sight gag that ends up with Felix fuming like it used to be. You get the idea.

The strength of Klane's effort lies in the more serious moments, not the least of which is dealing with Klugman's post cancer-surgery voice. Obviously, Klugman's scratchy, toneless rasp had to become Oscar's voice, and Klane gives Oscar some genuine emotionally touching moments. The idea of Felix helping him through his disheartening loss leads to some nice bonding moments, and again, they are much more effective than the comedic sequences in the film.

I'm guessing that this telefilm flopped. The reason I'm guessing that? Randall stated in an interview from many years ago that he and Klugman had "just made" a reunion movie (or something like that), and another Felix/Oscar movie was coming. It never came, obviously, so I can perceive that "Odd Couple: Together Again" just didn't have a strong creative or viewer-ratings impact.

Also, there is no DVD release. No VHS tape exists either. All five seasons of the original series are now available on disc, but "Odd Couple: Together Again" is not (as of this writing). I believe the film is flawed, but it's not deserving of the obscurity it seems to have achieved. It's OK! A mixed bag, to be sure, but definitely worthwhile.

Getting the true odd couple together again was an inspired idea (I know, Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmonn did the movie first and Matthau and Art Carney were the very first Odd Couple in the original play). They were the best with the truest chemistry. It was and still is one of my favorite television shows of all time. It was hilarious! So, what happened to the reunion? It was dreadful. I know the actors were twenty years older but that didn't matter. The actors were fine. The script was lousy! It was juvenile and made little sense at times. For anyone to believe that a wife who supposedly loves her husband would ban him from his own daughter's wedding was too much of a stretch.

Jack and Tony were still good and the script did incorporate Jack's voice into the story quite well, but these two guys could have done much better. I have seen them both acting together on Broadway after this show was made in two separate plays (Three Men On A Horse and The Sunshine Boys). Both were well done although "Boys" was the better of the two. The point is, why couldn't they have had a stronger script?

Like others, it bothered me a lot that Al Molinaro did not play Murray. I know he retired by I still don't get why he wasn't there. He is still living and doing commercials, so why couldn't they get him to play Murray again? It was a small part in this movie. I wish someone had the answer to that. Also, I understand why Dick Van Patten was one of the poker players (He played the role when they reprised the play for the opening of Tony Randall's national Actor's Theater on Broadway, but what about John Fieldler. Why wasn't he Vinny? He remained active until his death in 2005.