Buddy Buddy (1981)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Billy Wilder

Writers:

Francis Veber (play)
Francis Veber (story)

Release Date:

11 December 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

The greatest movie buddies of all time are back!

Plot:

Walter Matthau plays a professional killer going by the name of Trabucco, who is on his way to rub out gangster Rudy "Disco" Gambola...

Plot Keywords:

Remake | Remake Of French Film | Female Nudity | Foreign Language Adaptation | Suicide

Cast

Jack Lemmon	...	Victor Clooney
Walter Matthau	...	Trabucco
Paula Prentiss	...	Celia Clooney
Klaus Kinski	...	Dr. Hugo Zuckerbrot
Dana Elcar	...	Capt. Hubris
Miles Chapin	...	Eddie, the Bellhop
Michael Ensign	...	Assistant Manager
Joan Shawlee	...	Receptionist
Fil Formicola	...	Rudy 'Disco' Gambola
C.J. Hunt	...	Kowalski
Bette Raya	...	Mexican Maid
Ronnie Sperling	...	Hippy Husband
Suzie Galler	...	Pregnant Wife
John Schubeck	...	Newscaster
Ed Begley Jr.	...	Lieutenant #1

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:R | Australia:M | Canada:A (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Riverside, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Last film directed by Billy Wilder.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Victor Clooney confronts Dr. Zuckerbrot at the hotel he rips the doctor’s shirt open, but when Zuckerbrot leaves the room a few seconds later his shirt is buttoned and his tie is in place.

Quotes:

Celia Clooney: Do you know a woman has 89 erogenous zones on her body.
Clooney: [Counts up to 3 on fingers] . Who says that?

Movie Connections:

References Love Story (1970)

Soundtrack:

Cecilia

The Hit-man And The Schnook

For what turned out to be his final film, Billy Wilder decided to adapt the French black comedy L'Emmerdeur to America and he and his writing partner I.A.L. Diamond came up with Buddy Buddy.

As it turned out I saw this film back to back with Wilder's Kiss Me Stupid. In that one, a whole lot of talented actors couldn't raise it above mediocrity. But in watching Buddy Buddy I failed to see why this one was slammed as bad as it was. It's not anything close to what Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau did in The Fortune Cookie or even in the remake of The Front Page. Still Buddy Buddy does have its moments.

Of course the film does hinge on the incomparable chemistry between Lemmon and Matthau and they save the film essentially for Wilder. They are two total strangers whom chance throws together at a most inopportune moment.

Matthau is a professional hit-man who's been given the job of killing three stoolies who are to testify at a mob trial. He's got the first two and has a plan set for number three.

Then of course he meets Lemmon who is despondent over his wife leaving him for a fake sex therapist. He checks into the same hotel in the room next to Matthau who is readying his hit and tries to commit suicide.

For the rest of the film Matthau is forced to take an interest in this schnook's marital problems to keep from committing suicide and bringing a swarm of police to the hotel. Matthau and Lemmon get into some pretty funny situation as there seems to be no end in sight to what can go wrong with a well thought out plan.

Lemmon's wife is played by Paula Prentiss and their marriage seems very much modeled on the one Lemmon had in The Fortune Cookie. Things work out just about the same way for the unhappy couple.

Things kind of work out for Matthau too in a rather unbelievable way for which you will have to see Buddy Buddy. And while it's not like some of the great Wilder classics of the Fifties when Billy was at his creative best, it's far from the worst film he could have gone out on.