BUDDY BUDDY

US, 1981, 91 minutes, Colour.
Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Paula Prentiss, Klaus Kinski.
Directed by Billy Wilder

Buddy Buddy marks writer director Billy Wilder's 40th year in directing films. After a career in writing in Germany, France and the United States, he made The Major and the Minor in 1941. Winner of two Oscars (The Lost Weekend, The Apartment), wilder had a great reputation for a sardonic look at American society. He made few films in the '70s and this comedy of the early '80s, echoes the times but seems to be a throwback to Wilder's older films and to that extent did not resonate with the times. While Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon work very well together, the film (by Wilder and his regular co-writer I.A.L. Diamond) is not particularly funny and is not a success.

The screenplay is based on a play and screenplay by Francois Veber, L'Emmerdeur (English title: A Pain in the A* ) of 1974. This film, directed by Edouard Molinaro (who directed the Cage Au Folles films) was very funny indeed. It has not transferred well to Southern California. Wilder has also added a sex therapy hospital and while there are some funny elements, the satire even seemed out of date in 1981. With Klaus Kinski and Paula Prentiss screeching, the satire is less funny. This is a pity, since there are many good ingredients for a Southern Californian comedy and satire. Matthau mugs his way through the film and Jack Lemmon is his usual bewildered self. They had worked very well together in The Odd Couple, The Fortune Cookie, The Front Page (the latter two for Wilder).

1. The film in the canon of Billy Wilder? A disappointment? A vehicle for its stars? Their appeal, entertainment value?

2. The original French play and screenplay with comedy and wit? How successful the transferral to Southern California? The adaptation to characters, styles, situations? The Californian lifestyle? American cities, hotels, sex clinics? The contribution of the attractively jaunty score? Panavision colour photography?

3. The ironic title indicating the relationship between the two men? The ironic vulgarity of the original French title?

4. The humorous introduction to Trabucco: the postman and the assassination, the poisoned milk - even with the police in the house? Trabucco driving the milk truck - with the humorous slogan about life and milk? Walter Matthau and his deadpan style as a hit man? His hamming, exaggeration, moroseness, vulgarity? Touch of kindness in his relationship with Victor? His work as a hit man, his wanting to opt out, the phone call to his boss? His interaction with people and his intentions to complete his job? The sideline humour with Matthau impersonating the Irish priest?

5. The introduction to victor: illness, worry about his marriage, the garage sequence, booking in at the hotel, his despair and failed attempt to hang himself, on the window ledge? His marital situation and the irony about his leaving his wife, marrying Celia, her going to the sex clinic? The interaction with Trabucco? Getting Trabucco to ring and the developing complications with the visit to the clinic?

6. The overtones of The Odd Couple? Victor wanting to die, avoiding the police, Trabucco's threats? His kindness to get Victor out of the way? The pretence of the phone call? The drive and Victor's being sick? Their interaction and the tone of their talk? The humorous irony with taking the couple to the hospital? The police escort? The hippie types and the build-up to the birth of the child?

7. Celia and her story, her harshness to Victor on the phone, the study she was doing? The skit on sex clinics and Southern Californian styles? The attendant and her brusque manner? The patients? The decor ? the art, library? The professor's lecture, the nudity? The doctor and his intensity, Klaus Kinski persuasive in this role or not? The satire and its effect? Victor and his sense of propriety? The doctor and Celia returning to the hotel, the mix-up with the injection? The irony of the ending with the clinic exploded?

8. Victor preparing to burn himself, the new clash with Trabucco? Trabucco trying to keep awake? The humour with hiding the gun and reassembling it ? and Victor deciding to do the assassination? The irony of shooting the witness? Trabucco escaping impersonating the priest?

9. The sketch of the police, their protection of the witnesses, having the witness on ice in the abattoirs? The dumb police not investigating Victor on the ledge? The changing of clothes of policeman and witness with the ironic results?

10. The South Seas ending with Trabucco enjoying himself? Victor arriving and his boat being destroyed? His staying on?

11. The blend of American never-never-land and reality? The black humour about American values - violence, crime, the police, marriage, family, sexuality? The interaction of characters? How effective a black joke?