The Out-of-Towners | | Cast : | Jack Lemmon | | Director : | Arthur Hiller | | Studio : | Paramount Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | May 28, 1970 | | DVD Released Date : | November 25, 2003 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | G (General Audience) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | December 13, 2004 | | Summary | Oh My God!!!!!! | Content
 | One reviewer said it right. Today's comedies are quite different from what they were when this marvelous gem was made. Today, in the tyranny of Hollywood accountant's bottom line orientation, producers are no longer willing to take risks and attempt to produce art. Today's video game raised generations don't have the patience for humor that is driven by great dialogue, they want the site gags and cliche "hot babes" - okay so it isn't all bad. However, if you are one who enjoys and even demands good writing, and good acting, this movie is calling to you. While far from Lemon's best work, it is indeed excellent.
This is a tale of the Kellerman's (Lemon and Dennis) who's trip to New York evokes Murphy's Law with an attitude. This is a tale of miscalculations, bad timing, blunders, and goofs. Will our heros survive this ill fated trip? Or will the big apple devour them? Their reactions to the various situations they fall into will have you laughing. |
| Rating | | | Date | September 03, 2004 | | Summary | The Day EVERYTHING Went Wrong | Content
| We've all had those moments when everything that could go wrong, did, and there's invariably someone available to cheerfully tell us how we should have done it. Aargh!!! Gwen and George have no fewer than 20 things go wrong on their business trip to New York. This movie is Murphy's Law stretched to the maximum and will have you laughing in sympathy to the couple's responses to misfortune. Wonderful movie you can watch with your children! |
| Rating | | | Date | June 29, 2004 | | Summary | Get Out of Town | Content
| Probably in its initial release, THE OUT OF TOWNERS was considered a great comedy. However, today's audiences might find it trite and annoying...especially native New Yorkers or even the New York City travel bureau. It does capture a moment in time just before New York City was on the verge of urban decay in the late 70's, so it has its merits for being a time capsule. Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis are husband and wife George and Gwen Kellerman, mid-westerners who are about to relocate to New York City for a job promotion. Their business trip becomes a "Murphy's Law" film as anything that can go wrong...does go wrong. From lost luggage, missed trains, long waits,a garbage and transportation strike, being rained on, muggings, a kidnapping, an unintentional cancelled hotel reservation, an unintentional mugging of hispanic child, etc., the couple suffer every conceivable mishap Neil Simon (screenwriter) can bestow upon his hapless characters. 'George' is a typical Jack Lemmon character. The performance is not exactly "phoned-in",but it is a familiar Lemmon persona. At first, this viewer sympathizes with George Kellerman. However, with each mishap, he becomes (understandably) mean, irritating, and illogical. The one comic gem about the character is that he writes down every person's name he feels has not given the proper customer service (i.e. airport personnel, hotels clerks) or courtesy after each plan on his itinerary has failed. Then he threatens them that they're going to hear from his lawyer. Sandy Dennis has perfect comic timing as the patient and supportive wife of Lemmon and the location shots of New York City play a major "support character" in the film. Overall, the film should be viewed with caution depending on one's disposition at a given moment meaning it can be hilarious or annoying. Lastly, the film is a showcase of a couple of future stars and well-known character actors. A young Billy Dee Williams (STAR WARS:THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK) shows up in an airport sequence. Note: Look for actor Sandy Baron as the "TV-man in church". He played the recurring character Mr. Klompus on TV's SEINFELD and had a very funny role in the comedy film IF IT'S TUESDAY, THIS MUST BE BELGIUM. |
| Rating | | | Date | February 23, 2004 | | Summary | Good, but you just want to shoot the both of them. | Content
| Having successfully avoided the apparent train wreck of a remake of this starring Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn, I thought I'd rent the original Neil Simon film starring Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis to see what caused such a fuss as to remake it after such a short period of time.
Jack and Sandy are on their way to New York city from the suburbs, to see about Jack taking a big job there. Suffice it to say, everything that can go wrong does go wrong, and the two are trapped in hell, trying to survive the night before his interview in the morning.
This is considered to be classic dark comedy, that will be annoying to some and funny as heck to others. I think I fell in between the two. Jack Lemmon is such an ass, and his wife such a dunderhead, that it's hard to have much sympathy for either one. As their problems pile up, it's all too obvious that the cause is mainly his own agonizing egotism, being thrown as the small fish into the huge pond. New York chews up and spits out idiots like this daily, and rightly so. Beyond this criticism (coming from a city boy, admittedly), there are some genuinely funny moments here and chuckle worthy constant prattle back and forth between the always talented Lemmon and the creepy huge-gummed Dennis. Still, I felt the "lost in NY hell" story was much better and sympathetically told, as well as more funny in Martin Scorscese's superior "After Hours". |
| Rating | | | Date | January 20, 2004 | | Summary | Another Classic American Comedy. | Content
| THE OUT-OF-TOWNERS was written by Neil Simon and remains one of his best works, even though Simon is mainly a playwrite. The movie starts off fairly slow and uneventful as George and Gwen Kellerman, from Twin Oaks, Ohio, are flying to New York where George has an interview (just mere formality) for a vice presidency. They are expecting to eat dinner at 8:30pm at the Four Seasons, but they never see the inside of that famous eating establishment. Instead, the plane circles for hours and ends up going to Boston because of fog. Once in Boston their luggage is lost, they miss the train to New York, and catch the train to New York. Once in the Big Apple, they find that the city is in the middle of transit and garbage collectors strikes. In the pouring rain they walk to their hotel only to find that their room wasn't held and has been given away. Later the couple are mugged, kidnapped, and George is mugged in his sleep. Having not eaten for several hours and with no money they chase a stray dog for a breakfast of a half-eaten box of Cracker Jacks. More chases follow and they are even kicked out of praying in a church because of a televised special. George eventually does make his morning meeting, but by then has learned some very important lessons about family and the simple life back home in Twin Oaks, Ohio. Jack Lemmon is great in this movie, but I find it's Sandy Dennis who really steals the film. She plays Gwen perfectly, brilliantly foiling Lemmon's performance as the loud and boistorous George. The "O, my God" line, which signals a major worry by Gwen, keeps me laughing every time I hear it. THE-OUT-OF-TOWNERS is a very witty comedy and one of Neil Simon's finest pieces of writing. It's a great movie to watch alone or with family and friends. It's relatively short (around 90 minutes), too, so even if you don't enjoy it, you won't have wasted much time. |
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