The Odd Couple - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of The Odd Couple or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to The Odd Couple

[carla]

Billy Wilder was going to direct and write the screenplay at one point.

[ronnie]

When Felix is upset over his impending divorce, Oscar offers him a box of Mallomars to make him feel better. Since Mallomars are only "in season" from September to March, it's unlikely that there were any in the apartment since the scene took place on a hot summer day. Of course, considering Oscar still has his Christmas decorations up in July, and serves "green" sandwiches that might be very fresh cheese, or very old meat, one can safely assume he keeps Mallomars for well past their best before date.

[wesley]

Neil Simon based the character of Felix on his older brother, Danny Simon.

[fred]

According to former Paramount production chief Robert Evans in his memoir "The Kid Stays in the Picture", producer Howard Koch originally wanted to use the Broadway cast, Walter Matthau (Oscar) and Art Carney (Felix) in the movie. Evans wanted Jack Lemmon for Felix. Evans also wanted Billy Wilder, who directed Lemmon and Matthau in The Fortune Cookie (1966), as writer-director. The cost for the Lemmon-Matthau-Wilder package was $3 million plus 50% of the profits. Paramount owner Charlie Bluhdorn balked at the demands and personally took over negotiations. Wilder eventually dropped out. Lemmon was signed for $1 million against 10% of the gross and Matthau got a straight salary of $300,000.

[bernice]

While the names of the sisters - Cecily and Gwendolyn - are the same as the female leads in Oscar Wilde's play "The Importance of Being Earnest," Neil Simon claimed in interviews that it was unconscious and the coincidence didn't occur to him until years later. (Nonsense. Undoubtedly someone pointed this out to him for the year this play was being workshopped!)

[sophie]

Tony Randall and Jack Klugman were considered for the roles of Felix Ungar and Oscar Madison, roles that they would later portray in the television series adaptation.

[lena]

When this film premiered in a Boston theater, it was for raising money for a senior center and "rocking chair" seats were advertised.

[riley]

The pilot episode of the 2015 TV reboot of The Odd Couple, starring Matthew Perry (Oscar) and Thomas Lennon (Felix), used a good chunk of this movie as its plot; Oscar offered to let Felix move in, cleanliness of apartment is like night and day, chases Oscar's friends out with his cooking and other things, Oscar setting up a double date with two sisters in the same building, Felix commandeering the date and Oscar making the girls mad at him, etc.

[chad]

Tony Randall and Jack Klugman held their own against legends Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau; two of the most critically acclaimed actors ever, in probably the most critically acclaimed and beloved comic team ever. Randal and Klugman both got showered with Emmys for their portrayals of these iconic parts in the tv series. The fact that they got so much love and admiration and almost no one complained that their performances fell short of the movie version is a testament to Klugman and Randal's talent.

[ella]

At the baseball game when Oscar is handed the phone by a colleague that is Heywood Hale Broun a noted CBS sports commentator later turned actor/playwrite/author . He had among other things written scripts for Car 54 where are you and was a contributing editor to the 1980s CBS Sunday morning news magazine . He was very accomplished and had well known literary parents.

[caroline]

The baseball sequence was filmed at Shea Stadium before a regularly scheduled contest between the New York Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates on June 27, 1967. Originally, Roberto Clemente was supposed to hit into the triple play. However, the fleet-footed Pirate kept beating the throw to first base. After several takes, Clemente slowed so much he appeared to be walking. Bill Mazeroski, a more lead-footed athlete, was offered the part instead.

[aaron]

This was reportedly Paramount's biggest hit since The Ten Commandments (1956).

[jamie]

This is the first of three pairings with Carole Shelley and Monica Evans, the second and third being the Disney films The Aristocats (1970) and Robin Hood (1973).

[eli]

Odd Couple was recently rated one of the top 100 comedy films of all time on Rotten Tomatoes.

[jamie]

According to the 1978 biography "Leif Garrett" by Connie Berman, the future teen idol singer had a bit part in this film. He later appeared in the television series.

[riley]

John Fiedler, Carole Shelley and Monica Evans are the only actors to appear in both The Odd Couple (1968) and The Odd Couple (1970).

[sophie]

At about the 1 hour mark, Jack Lemmon enters a Bohack supermarket which was located at the SE corner of 87 St. and 2nd Ave. This is diagonally across from where the feature film, The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975) was filmed at 245 E. 87 St. on the NW corner.

[edgar]

Final appearance of actor Joe Palma.

[bernard]

When getting ready for their dinner with the ladies, Oscar jokingly asks "You think Mozart goes good with meatloaf?" In real life, Walter Matthau was a passionate Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart enthusiast, and had extensive knowledge about his work.