Ich bin nicht Rappaport

Nat Moyer ( Walter Matthau ) may be several persons for the others: consumer protector, working class counselor, FBI agent, movie industry mogul, ... But Nat was in his entire life, essentially, the man who never forgot Clara Lemlich calling a general strike at the textile workers Union meeting. Matthau'interpretation was worth an Oscar. The movie has the marks of the original play. A gentle satire about the dreams and the death of communism.

A couple of old codgers who were playing slightly beyond their actual ages make I'm Not Rappaport a really delightful film, especially for us senior citizens who can now identify with it. I couldn't much when the movie came out or Herb Gardiner's play ran on Broadway from 1985 to 1988 for 891 performances. Judd Hirsch and Cleavon Little played the roles on Broadway that Walter Matthau and Ossie Davis do in the film.

There's a nice free flowing chemistry between Matthau and Davis. Matthau was literally born to play this role given his Lower East Side upbringing with family of the same general background as his Nat Moyer.

Matthau's discovered that the elderly can get away with just about anything and maybe helped by a bit of dementia he spins the kind of yarns that in old Hollywood westerns might have made him a Yiddishe sidekick. He's an old leftist from back in the 30s when it was most respectable. Bernie Sanders would have gotten this guy.

Davis has lived for 40 years as a building superintendent in a Fifth Avenue and the building is going co-op and he's about to be let go. Davis likes Matthau in his own way, but hasn't quite gotten the hang of laying it on the way Matthau does. See the two of them, especially Matthau take on the co-op president Boyd Gaines.

The play only had the one setting of the park bench in Central Park where these two commiserate. But with Herb Gardner adapting his own play, the beautiful fall vistas of Central Park makes the park itself a character in the film.

But you really have to see how Matthau and Davis play off against each other so well. That's what puts them in the seats and now renting the film on Netflicks.

What a great movie! With a great script, a pair of huge actors, and a beautiful scenery, this movie can touch anyone's heart. Don't miss it!

Actually, I not only smiled, I laughed out loud. I'm 70 and did not feel that this movie is sad, as some of the other reviewers have suggested. Those two old guys were making the best out of the time they had left,an encouraging message for us old folks. Unlike so many of today's movies, there was an engaging plot and solid character development. So many of the movies I see these days substitute visual effects,sex scenes,violence, and vulgar language for plot and character development. Also, although it was 130 minutes long,those minutes moved quickly.

Three cheers for Walter Matthau! Three cheers for Ossie Davis! Three Cheers for Herb Gardener!

This is a gentle heart warming film, that to me has a quintessential qualities that make Walter Mathau such a great actor. It is not the comedy in which he excelled at in films like 'The Odd Couple'. It is the way he bullies the script and the camera. This he does well but with not as much aplomb in 'The Sunshine Bys'. To see a film where the script is paramount is wonderful, and to have an actor such as Mathau at the centre of it conducting it with all his mastery skill is a delight to watch. The supporting cast around Mathau equip themselves well. They are not overpowered by his fame or skill. At times it feels as though you are actually there watching events unfold. This is a credit to the director who while keeping it looking like the good film it is, also brings you in as though you are the only person in the world watching the film. Although I have only watched the film on the television, I feel that I would have felt the same effect had I been watching the film in the cinema. This is a rare effect, too many times films can have that distant feel. It is the directors's skill, and the skill and art of the actors that this is never lost. I watched this film, when I had to fill half an hour of time. The result was that I was glued to the seat unable to pull myself away.