Out of Towners

Hilarious and funny warning to stay out of New York.
What appears to be the plot for a lengthy kids cartoon comes to live action with all the desired results and then some. Lemmon and Dennis, both of whom are Oscar-winners, are genuinely perfect in the leads of the All-American family trying to make it in a big city, with one disastrous mishap topping another, from missing trains to losing luggage to broken teeth and even to broken high heels. It's a wonder Lemmon's character kept from spewing off an endless barrage of foul dirty cussing, something typical of the trashy comedy we see in the movies today. Dennis's portrayal of the ever-so supportive wife is outstanding, as she just takes what comes despite her own misery just to keep her husband happy. Nearly everything one can imagine to make a business trip turn to a total nightmarish cataclysim happens here, and shows just what can happen in the Big Apple, but with a hilarious rather than serious approach to it. "Never give up" seems to be Neil Simon's message...

George and Gwen go to the big bad city of New York
I met Sandy Dennis backstage at a play once and wanting to say something more than the usual remarks of admiration I told her that my father stayed up one night to watch "The Out-of-Towners," which was of some import because my father never stayed up to watch anything. She said her father liked that one too and I got an autograph in which she spelled by first name correctly.

This 1970 film, the original version of "The Out-of-Towners" for those who say the recent version that is part of Steve Martin's attempt to be in more remakes than any other living actor, is my favorite Neil Simon script, which is rather ironic when you consider that he is primarily a comic playwright. However this script takes the hapless couple of George (Jack Lemmon) and Gwen Kellerman (Dennis) from their home in Ohio to New York City, where he has a job interview. However, their plans for a nice dinner at the Four Seasons are dashed when the plan circles the airport for hours before...

Another Classic American Comedy.
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...

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