Once-dominant stage comic Willy Clark (Walter Matthau) has taken his passage into his golden years less than gracefully, as he constantly harangues his beleaguered agent/nephew Ben (Richard Benjamin) for whatever work he can find, and cantankerously manages to blow the few opportunities that come his way. Ultimately, the ideal plum lands in their laps, when a broadcast network calls to offer a slot on a variety special celebrating the history of comedy. The producers want a commitment from Willy and his former partner, Al Lewis (George Burns), to reprise their legendary "doctor" sketch.
The rub is that Willy has never forgiven Al for quitting the act 11 years earlier, and has refused to speak to him since. Ben's powers of persuasion are taxed to the limit in convincing the comfortably retired Al to sojourn from his daughter's Jersey home to Willy's dingy NYC apartment, and upon his arrival, the truculent Willy does nothing but keep the old tensions stoked. Ben somehow manages to keep the arrangement afloat until the day of taping, in the hope, however faint, that they can get through it like professionals.
As Willy, Matthau trotted out his best curmudgeonly chops to play twenty years older, and he brought believability to this crotchety entertainer who didn't know when to hang it up. (It seems that the rest of his career track brought ever more similar roles with ever less age makeup.) Burns, already 79 when he stepped into a part that best friend Jack Benny had to drop because of declining health, delivered a performance that won him the best Supporting Actor Oscar® and improbably recharged his long career for another two decades. Together, their timing is sharp and their chemistry palpable, and they complement Simon's script, which leavens the expected comic interplay with gently incisive observations about both aging and show business.
Warner put together a fairly interesting package of extras for the DVD release of The Sunshine Boys. Benjamin provides a full-length audio commentary, and pleasantly waxes nostalgic over his relationships with Matthau, Burns and Simon. One nice anecdote concerns their nervousness over Burns' apparent inattention at the first reading, only to watch him hit his first cue--and every one thereafter--without benefit of the script. To give the viewer a sense of what might have been, the DVD provides ten minutes of soundless makeup test footage with Matthau and Benny, catching a cheerful if wan Jack kibitzing what might have been a final time for the camera.
Also offered is Phil Silvers' three-minute screen test for the role of Willy. While this footage features sound, Silvers delivers no dialogue, as Willy preps the apartment for Al's arrival. The DVD further contains the 17-minute promotional short The Lion Roars Again, which documents moments from MGM's media push for The Sunshine Boys and other films from their slate of the period. The original theatrical trailer rounds out the supplemental materials. The quality of the DVD transfer is extremely high for a film of this vintage, and the image is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen.
For more information about The Sunshine Boys, visit Warner Video. To order The Sunshine Boys, go to TCM Shopping.
by Jay S. Steinberg
