The Sunshine Boys

A film about two old comedians. Willie and Al were a vaudeville double act for forty years. They split up eleven years ago and have not spoken since. Willie is still looking for work; his nephew, who is his agent, tries to find him parts, but the man can no longer learn lines. A television network is making a programme about the history of comedy and wants to put the pair on stage one more time. The nephew tries to arrange it. The humour comes out in rehearsal. They run their old routine and fight over every line: who knocks at the door, who comes in first, which word is the right one. Forty years of resentment fits into one room. Underneath is ageing and feeling useless. Willie says he needs nobody and all he wants is to keep working. The source is Neil Simon's play; he wrote the screenplay himself. Walter Matthau plays Willie and George Burns plays Al. Burns returned to film with this after many years and won an Oscar for it. Herbert Ross directed. An enjoyable production for anyone who likes character comedy and dialogue-driven storytelling. For a viewer expecting incident, the film is almost entirely two men arguing.