THE OUT-OF-TOWNERS

US, 1969, US, 97 minutes, Colour.
Jack Lemmon, Sandy Dennis.
Directed by Arthur Hiller.

The Out- of -Towners, if it gets you in the mood, is one of those comedies that keeps you laughing, and, the greatest achievement, keeps you laughing until 'The End'. Neil Simon is a master humorist and this original screenplay has old jokes and new piling up one after the other. Jack Lemmon acts this type of film very easily and Sandy Dennis is subdued as his wife who could cope with the situations better than he - he keeps telling her what she must be thinking and not to worry and never listens when she tells him she wasn't thinking of that at all and that she wasn't worried.

Even though the film is a laugh comedy, its situations are all too real to us at times and are no laughing matter - circling planes, strikes, crowding, pollution, thieves, being caught in demonstrations etc. Simon has made his whole list of comic situations a catalogue of most of the things wrong with contemporary urban America.

It might be too serious to analyse themes of an entertainment comedy like The Out- of- Towners, but the characters and situations, while exaggerated, are real enough and could be talked about, mainly to enquire why they are so funny. It will probably turn out that the exaggerations and the quick succession of one event on another are the things that make us laugh. But the basic characters of George and Gwen are so much like anybody we might know that this is the reason why they keep our attention - George, and his type, exasperate us (and why did Gwen ever marry him?).

The film was re-made in the late 90s with Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn.

The situations are real. It would be worthwhile to make a list of all the things that go wrong. Surely Neil Simon is making satirical social comment on the U.S. What is the comment and how does he achieve it? Is there any way out?