User reviews

I have a special name this genre--I call these "going to hell in a handbasket" (or just "hell handbasket") films. They are defined by taking "average Joes", often a bit timid at first, and setting them at odds against the world--initially through no, or at least relatively little, fault of their own--in an increasing spiral of dilemmas from which extrication seems impossible. The more they try to dig themselves out of a hole, the further they fall in. "Hell handbasket" films are often comedies, but need not be. Famous examples of the genre include After Hours (1985), Very Bad Things (1998), and My Boss' Daughter (2003). An even greater number of films have elements of the "hell handbasket" genre, combined with other genres, such as Suicide Kings (1997), Killing Zoe (1994) and Neighbors (1981). Because I really like what I consider nihilism in films, the "hell handbasket" genre is one of my favorites.

I bring all of this up, of course, because The Out of Towners is one of the earliest examples, if not the first full fledged "hell handbasket" film. Even if not the first, it is certainly one of the most influential. It may not be one of the best films of the genre any longer, but only because its successors have taken its pioneering lead and upped the ante. Still, the final verdict for me at this point in time is a B, or an 8. That, plus its historical importance, makes it well worth watching.

George (Jack Lemmon) and Gwen Kellerman (Sandy Dennis) are on their way from Twin Oaks, Ohio to New York City--George is up for a big job promotion. His company wants to make him Vice President of the head office in Manhattan. George is naturally a bit neurotic and obsessive/compulsive, and in order to make sure everything goes like clockwork, he has the trip planned out to the last minute.

Of course, things start going wrong, beginning with the flight to New York, which is first put into a holding pattern because of excessive traffic, then later sent to Boston because of the weather. They arrive in Boston hours late, and there is little chance they can get to New York City on time. Despite his planning ahead, it looks unlikely that George will be at his interview with the company President at 9:00 a.m. sharp the next morning.

If The Out of Towners has a flaw, it's that there are slight logical problems when it comes to the Kellermans getting into their increasingly difficult conundrums. A number of times viewers will find themselves asking questions like, "Wait, aren't their buses to New York City from Boston?" Or, "Why would they trust Murray (Graham Jarvis)?" Director Arthur Hiller, writer Neil Simon, and Lemmon and Dennis try to justify these decisions through characterization. George goes from neurotic and self-righteous to even more neurotic and self-righteous, which most of the time is sufficient support for him not always thinking rationally. Dennis goes from cool and collected (or at least she projects as much initially) to irritable, a bit panicky, and generally paranoid and put-off by the city. Still, there are times when the characterization isn't quite in tune with the characters' decisions. It doesn't happen too often, but often enough. Since this aspect is an extremely important element of "hell handbasket" films, it caused me to bring my rating down a point.

On the other hand, it's clear that Hiller and Simon aren't always shooting for a straightforward, literal film. In many ways, The Out of Towners is something of a New York City parable. Most of the elements that make the city a challenge are present--including dilemmas of transportation, the high cost of living, the difficulty of finding readily available and amenable services, strikes, bureaucracy, crime, trusting fellow citizens, the mostly aloof treatment of crazies, protests, social and ethnic conflicts, and so on. By the end of the film, it's no longer just a race to get to a job interview on time; it's a "universal" conflict of man against New York City.

George ends up yelling at the city in the middle of the street, "You won't beat me!"--even though he looks defeated. We could almost call it a love story for New York, although maybe only people who have lived in New York for an extended length of time would understand that. Since the Kellermans were out-of-towners, that might help justify the ending, which is otherwise inexplicable to New Yorkers. At any rate, if you're curious about what it's like to live in New York, watch The Out of Towners back-to-back with something like Woody Allen's Manhattan (1979). Even though both films are around 30 years old, the combination gives a good idea of the joys and joyous frustrations of living in the city.

Like usual, maybe I'm being overly analytical or abstract for many folks. So back to the basics. More often than not, the Out of Towners is funny--maybe not always tears-rolling-down-your-cheek funny, but at least chuckle-funny. When it's not funny, it's usually a joy to watch Lemmon's performance. Dennis can be more challenging for many viewers (quite a few people, including my wife, found her more annoying during the later portion of the film), but for me, her character worked as a good combination of foil and catalyst for Lemmon, even if she was something like a slightly toned-down Fran Drescher in "The Nanny" (1993).

Overall, the film works well enough to strongly recommend it, especially to Lemon fans, fans of comedies of this era, and fans of "hell handbasket" films, even if you didn't know you were one before you read this review.

It deals with a sympathetic marriage living in the small , quiet town of Twin Oaks , Ohio , they're Jack Lemmon and Sandy Denis , then both of whom travel to New York City to a job interview and along the way everything that could go wrong does . Throughout their tumultuous journey , they are thwarted by every tourist nightmare obstacle as retouring to Boston, and there resulting in swindle , robbing , missed trains , cab mishaps , mugging, maxed credit cars, as well as the hotel hasn't honoured the reservation , and eventually an aerial kidnap, among others. As their unexpected adventure does throw up a few very funny set-pieces .

An enjoyable Manhattan melodrama with great performances from an excellent couple : Jack Lemmon , Sandy Denis make a likable enough Midwestern couple , including laughters , funny incidents , amusement and entertainment . Neal Simon's script is , as always , both fun and wholesome. Jack Lemon's acting is magnificent and Sandy Denis is nice , as well . As Lemon suffers the mounting indignities with the skill acquired from acting urban neurotics for most his career . They are well accompanied by a fine support cast , such as : Billy Dee Williams , Paul Dooley , Montalban , Paula Prentiss as a flight attendant . It was remade 1999 by Sam Weisman with Goldie Hawn and Steve Martin.

The motion picture was competently directed by Arthur Hiller. He was a good craftsman who made all kinds of genres with penchant for comedy and drama , such as : "Married to it, Carpool, The Babe , Taking care of business , See no evil hear no evil, Outrageous Fortune , The Lonely Guy , Teachers , Romantic Comedy , Author Author , Making Love , Nightwing , Silver Streak , The Man in the Glass Booth , Man of the Mancha , Hospital, Plaza Suite , Love Story , Promise her anything , Tobruk, Americanization of Emily, Miracle of the White Stallions , The Wheeler Dealers" , among others . Rating : 7/10. Above average . The movie will appeal to comedy enthusiasts and Jack Lemmon fans .

Hilarious Neil Simon comedy, that is, if you can tune into 80-minutes of what-else-can-go-wrong laughs. Seems upscale Lemmon and wife Dennis have to get from Ohio to NYC to accept his big time new job. Okay, no problem; except, the flight is detoured to Boston; there's a wrong train to NY; they're mugged in the city; then there's no room at their hotel, and a rain half-drowns them, etc., etc., etc. Like a string of slippery pearls, it's one adversity after another, and a real tribute to both performers that the frustrations are made amusing rather than off-putting. One thing for sure-- the flick's no valentine to NYC.

Happily, no one could do jangled nerves better than the comedic Lemmon, while Dennis offers perfectly measured support. Together, they bring off the challenge with artful flair. The rest of the cast appear only momentarily as our benighted twosome move from one frustration to the next. In many years of movie viewing, I've seen nothing like this daring storyline. All in all, it's tricky material done slickly and to the proverbial T. Meanwhile, I won't be going to NY any time soon, and if I do, I'll take a fat paper pad for all the names I'll have to sue to get there. Many thanks, Jack and Sandy.

Now that I'm retired I do a bit of traveling now and I make itineraries that I like to stick to. What happens to Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis is every traveler's nightmare in between all the laughs.

Starting with the circling around the airport, I remember once circling an hour and a half at Newark Airport because flights were backed up and that's after an hour delay from Rochester. That was 20 years ago and I haven't had anything like that happen to me recently. It can be incredibly nerve wracking and I well sympathize with what was happening.

That would normally be enough. But Mr.&Mrs. Kellerman go exponential Murphy on this trip. Everything that can go wrong does, every single solitary thing from lost luggage to canceled hotel reservations to spending a night on the ground at Central Park and plenty more besides. All this on a nice dreamed of vacation in New York for this middle America Ohio couple who are combining business and pleasure as Lemmon is also in town for a job interview.

Jack Lemmon is a perfect fit for his American everyman character and Sandy Dennis provides an interesting brand of quirkiness as the wife. Although there are some talented players in the cast including a rising Billy Dee Williams in the role of a ticket agent, they're fairly one dimensional as the film for about 90% of the time focuses on Lemmon and Dennis and their travails in the Big Apple.

Do they get out of all their woes. Well I can say is, think about that musical number that Bing Crosby and Olga San Juan did in Blue Skies.

I sat down at my computer, intent on writing a brief review of 'The Out of Towners (1970).' I figured it would take about thirty minutes to complete the review, and so planned my night accordingly. At first everything went to plan, and I remained on schedule; then – with a dull droning sound, like that of a whimpering animal – my computer suddenly took it upon itself to shut down for no apparent reason. With a light curse, I leaned across and rebooted it, and this time we got as far as the Windows welcome screen. Then the lights flickered brightly, and I was suddenly plunged into darkness; the power was out. Reflecting that perhaps it was only a problem with my own fusebox, I stepped out and circled around to the back of the house, where I fumbled somewhat pathetically with a few of the electrical dials. Just as I was heading inside, the power clicked back on, something in the fusebox sparked, and, before long, my entire home was ablaze… and nary a firetruck in sight.

'The Out of Towners (1970)' might just be the most frustrating film I've ever seen. Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way. For a cocky businessman (Jack Lemmon) and his neglected wife (Sandy Dennis), a meticulously-planned trip to New York City is first disrupted by a seemingly-minor delay, which gradually blossoms into a fully-fledged urban disaster. With an important business interview scheduled for 9:00AM the following morning, George Kellerman must endure every difficulty known to Mankind, including the input of mousy wife, Gwen, with whom he is forced to form a shaky alliance. Flight delays, lost baggage, monsoon weather, muggings, kidnappings, city-wide transit strikes, vicious dogs, gas explosions – nothing is neglected, and George shouts himself hoarse throughout the proceedings, declaring his intentions to sue everybody whom he perceives as having contributed to his awful string of bad luck. Even God has seemingly neglected the pair, who are unceremoniously dismissed from a church by an unapologetic news camera crew.

Lemmon and Dennis are very entertaining in the main roles, and the various supporting performances complement the story perfectly. It's interesting to note how the husband-and-wife relationship shifts constantly as they are confronted by each new setback: at first, George is rather dismissive of his wife, using her primarily to "verify" facts to be later used in the courtroom. Though she subsequently commits some rather foolish acts, such as handing over George's $200 watch to a strange caped man, the couple do eventually acquire a mutual respect towards each other. Neil Simon's story might also be interpreted as a critique of modern society, in which citizens in the bustling metropolises are unwilling to offer help to those in need of their assistance. Burdened by his own hefty share of difficulties, George is quickly consumed by the selfishness of the city and comes to care only for his own wellbeing. Gwen, however, retains her sense of moral rectitude and pauses to care for a lost boy in Central Park. Remind me never to go to New York.

It is incomprehensible how Leonard Maltin can badmouth this riotously funny movie. Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis play off beautifully against each other in this tale of two misbegotten and forlorn visitors to the Big Apple who suffer every indignity that can befall two out-of-towners, and then some. It's a comedy classic in my book. The 1999 Martin/Hawn remake pales by comparison.

The real fascinating thing about cinema,is that no matter how many movies you might have seen,there are always going to be films that you have missed and are great ,to say the least.This is the case with the "Out of Towners". I saw a few years ago the remake with Steve Martin and as a big fan of Steve's i liked the film.Actually i didn't know back then ,that there was an original with Jack Lemmon.Anyway i have bought the DVD and just put it in a box to watch it sometime. I never thought, that this was an absolutely hilarious comedy ,with Jack Lemmon, for me ,being even better than "the odd couple". His character is similar to the one he played alongside Matthau ,but we are talking about an amazing performance here.I'm really surprised that he wasn't even nominated for an Oscar(he was nominated though for a Golden Globe). A couple (Sandy Dennis plays the wife)starts a journey to N.Y ,because Lemmon has planned an interview for his new job.He has a strict schedule that includes dinner at the "4 Seasons" restaurant and spending the night with his wife at his luxury hotel. I really can't describe what's happening after the boarding on the plane.EVERYTHING THAT COULD GO WRONG WENT WRONG. But the real magic of the film is that at no point in the film ,you can accuse the writers that they overdid it with the story.And Lemmon has a big part to do with that, because he plays amazingly. Sandy Dennis also plays her part extremely well and has a fine chemistry with Lemmon. A classic in my collection ,with out a doubt in the top-5 of all the comedies i have ever watched. Watch it and enjoy yourselves.

I didn't appreciate this film until I saw the updated version. This film starring Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis as Ohio visitors to New York City. The trip is nearly disastrous from the moment that they get off the airplane. Of course, this film is one of Neil Simon's better works. The couple lose their luggage, get robbed, and don't have a clue about the way that the city works. George is here for a job interview and has high hopes of moving to the city with his wife, kids, and dogs. He has a romanticized notion of New York City that he sees in the films and television shows. Being there is different from just the movies, I think the ending speaks for itself. New York City is not for everyone but it's how they came to the realization of how tough it is to be New Yorker and even the ending is something that could have generated a sequel.

I'm a huge fan of Jack Lemmon. I loved him in the Apartment and the Odd Couple. Out-of-Towners is a timeless classic comedy in my opinion. I mean come on! Jack Lemmon in a Neil Simon story? How can you go wrong with that? There are alot of funny lines that Jack Lemmon uses that makes the movie what it is. I couldn't imagine anyone else playing the role of George Kellerman. This movie is a definte classic comedy that will never be forgotten.

In Twin Oaks, Ohio, George Kellerman (Jack Lemmon) is invited for a job interview in New York. On the eve, he travels with his wife Gwen Kellerman (Sandy Dennis), expecting to have their second honeymoon, in a night of the dreams in a fancy hotel and restaurant. However, first due to the bad weather in the N.Y. airport, they land in Boston; and later, due to a strike in the means of transportation in N.Y., they have a night of nightmare. "The Out-of-Towners" would be a very funny movie, but the nasty and arrogant character of Jack Lemmon, silly and ridiculous, does not fit with a man expecting to occupy a VP position and it is almost impossible to feel any sympathy for him and his situation. All the time, the guy wants to note the name of a person to sue him, and if it is funny in the first or maybe second situation, this insistence annoyed me. The voice of Sandy Dennis is another point that irritated me, with her timbre. Indeed, this story has a good premise, wasted in a dull character. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Forasteiros em Nova York" ("Strangers in New York")

Well, truth be told, I don't like this movie very much. Now--I'm a HUGE Neil Simon fan, a HUGE Jack Lemmon fan, a HUGE Sandy Dennis fan. How in the world could this movie have gone so wrong?

1. Neil Simon's episodic tale of an obnoxious neurotic and his annoying wife running into one disaster after another in NYC, happening at the rate of probably one screw-up every five minutes, is so relentless--it induced in me a headache of major proportions. The episodes are not really funny, because they are all so unpleasant--seeing Sandy Dennis' foot bleeding after stepping on a twist top bottle cap in the middle of Central Park, watching Jack Lemmon breaking a tooth eating cracker jack, and the relentless parade of stereotypical NYC (circa 1970) loonies contributing to the unpleasant atmosphere of Dante's Inferno transported to Manhattan is so inexorable, one watches the movie in absolute awe at the blatant humorlessness of it all. Instead of being funny, it is noisy, chaotic and relentless. The two hour or so movie feels like it lasts an eternity.

2. Jack Lemmon's character is just SO obnoxious and obsessive compulsive and unpleasant, he is a walking talking perforated ulcer. Think of a terrible headache, or earache or toothache that won't go away. That's Jack Lemmon in "The Out-of-Towners"!

3. Sandy Dennis says "George" (Jack Lemmon's character's name) I swear to God--maybe 300 or 400 times during the course of the movie. I loved watching Sandy Dennis with her quirks and ticks and unexpected crescendos and decrescendos in her voice in films like "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" and "Up the Down Staircase"--but in this movie, these all just become annoying. But if she didn't keep saying George every 5 seconds in the movie, I probably would have tolerated her a little more. Her final monologue enumerating all the rotten aspects of NYC was a bitter whining recitation at the end of a crappy movie.

On paper this movie might have seemed like a sure thing--maybe it read better then the God-awful resulting translation to the big screen.

For those of us living in New York City for the past 40 years, this movie feels like a relic from the distant past. In place of the strikes and the crime and the stereotypical rudeness, nowadays, with NY being OZ for most of the rest of the world--the main annoyance in 2010 is that the cost of housing is so exorbitant. But this relic of a film is not a revealing view of NY circa 1970--it's just a dumb trifle, taking pot shots at easy targets, and causing queasiness in the viewing audience. Have your Alka Seltzer or aspirin (mega-doses) at hand when you prepare to watch this movie.

A pretty decent film, an amusing look at small-town Americans taking on the big city...and losing. This is vintage Jack Lemmon. A must-see for any fan of his. For anyone else, it's still a pretty good dark comedy of its time. Sandy Dennis is also quite good in her role. (I haven't seen the remake w/ Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn and so cannot comment on the relative virtues of the two films) Grade: B-

The Out of Towners does have quite a few laughs, but Jack Lemmon is so shrill and angry the entire time that you wonder why his wife (Sandy Dennis) and everyone else around him doesn't slap him. He's on edge even before their flight is delayed by a few hours, they lose their luggage, hotel room, and money. It leaves Lemmon nowhere to go throughout the rest of the film and can only just get louder and more annoying.

Sandy Dennis doesn't fare much better as the slightly dim witted (and also impossibly loud) wife who takes everything at face value and tries to keep her husband together. The be stuck alone with these two for over 90 minutes sometimes feels like punishment.

With two more appropriate (or maybe better directed) actors, The Out of Towners might have been a lot more fun and less of a drag.

I love this movie. I watch this over and over, and every time I watch it, I find a different scene that I missed before. It makes me laugh so hard that I miss some lines. Even now, just thinking of the scenes in Central Park are making me laugh. Every line is funny. This is a very under-rated movie.

Jack Lemmon rescues this good comedy which shoulda been great > there are as many believable and funny scenes as there are unbelievable and just plain dumb scenes which should have hit the cutting room floor.

as a NJ-NYer from 1951 to 2009, I loved the location shots of New York in 1970 and the Director and EDitor know just how much time to spend on these classic backdrops.

of course, movie comedy is about exaggeration and we can go down of a list of "in reality, they could have easily....". but it's Neil Simon, probably the first American playwright who writes mostly based upon his own New York experiences and knows how to tickle the funnybone especially, of middle class easterners, earnest but constantly being kicked around; not as street savvy as they think they are.

I wrote above that Lemmon saves the project, as professional as it is, because, frankly, Sandy Dennis is uncharacteristically awful. And it's not her fault, I surmise > seems the Director does not know if she should just use her beautiful "English accent", throughout, or mix in some real Brooklynese. On the other hand, perhaps his concept of Mrs. Kellerman, is a kind of naïve, flaky kid, like Edith Bunker > always adoring - restrained but still capable of breaking out in a lecture, if needed.

another reason I chose a "6" rating is in the terrible denouement and finale scene. to use a contemporary expression to describe an old movie directorial/literary choice, "what were they thinking?".

good to see Meara and Billy Dee Williams, in early roles. (and all those 8 cylinder sedans!).

I found Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis as a believable married couple who have a lot of chemistry together who travel to New York from Ohio and find themselves in hysterical situations.

When Mr. and Mrs. Kellerman travel to New York for a job interview plus a romantic weekend the hilarity ensues. Two's company and New York is the crowd. If you want to laugh till it hurts this is the movie to see!!!!! Neil Simon has written a masterpiece. He is a genius when it comes to dialogue. Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis create synchronized lovable characters committed to each other through good times and bad.

New York watch out here come the Kellermans!!!

No getting around it, Jack Lemmon was a fabulous actor and in this film, there is no exception to that statement.

His trip to N.Y. along with his wife, played by the late Sandy Dennis, turns into a comedy of errors. Yes, life in the big apple was rough at the time this film was made in 1970, but everything happening all at once. It's a big exaggerated, don't you think?

The weak link in this film was Miss Dennis. Far better in "Up the Down Staircase," and other films, she comes across at first as a wife who repeats exactly what her husband tells her to say. As their situation becomes more dire, she attains a degree of independence but her voice is upsetting. We reach the point where we can't wait for their nightmare to end in this city.

At least the ending showed that you can't blame everything on N.Y. I wonder how Woody Allen would have handled this type of comedy.

I've been reading some of the comments for this film, and I can't understand those who don't find it funny. Apparently they've never traveled or have never experienced a modicom of mess while traveling (and I LOVE to travel), or, have simply never had a really bad 48 hours, doing whatever! Lemmon's shear repetition of wanting to get everyone's phone number and address is hysterical, because through his fatigue in trying to cope with one problem after another in The Big Apple, he still finds the strength to take down everyone's name and number, and promises to retaliate at a later point in time. Sandy Dennis is a perfect, calm, albeit understandably very fatigued, foil for Lemmon's frustrated and hyper New Yorker-wannabe. For me, she's always a gem to watch.

The scene in which Lemmon loses a tooth, followed by losing his hearing, followed by the ability to hear only every other word spoken, is quietly hysterical. Also very funny is his scene in the park "talking" to a little boy....that's all I'll say about that one. Overall, if you're in the mood for observing high-speed neurosis, played to comedic perfection by the inimitable Jack Lemmon, watch this film, and enjoy.

This is the sometimes hilarious story about two Ohio residents' unbelievable mishaps on their way to, in, and returning from, the Big Apple for hubby's big job interview. Along the way, the couple are challenged by: having their luggage lost, having their plane circle the runway for hours due to fog, having their hotel reservations expire, being mugged (twice), and, just when they believed they were headed back to the safety of the dull Midwest, hijacked by terrorists!!

The big problem with this movie is Sandy Dennis. Talk about flat, lackluster performances! She is a dreadful bore in this film.

Mr. Lemmon, however is at his hyper, obsessive-compulsive best.

Worth the two-dollar rental. Rating: 6.5 / 10.0.

This film lacked any humor for me. Misfortune should lead to comedic moments, not try to be the comedy itself. Threatening to sue for the fifteenth time did not illicit a laugh. There is no one for jack to have comedic chemistry with, as his wife merely expresses her disappointment at each step and does not have much of a role beyond that. George is very unlikeable, leading to me not caring of his fate.

This contrasts heavily with planes, trains and automobiles. Steve martin plays a similarly grumpy character who has misfortune befall him while traveling. The difference is that he actually has john candy to both play his comedic foil and also provide the film heart. The delays and setbacks that neal faces are not the comedy itself, instead the resulting clashes with the two leads are where the laughs come from. At the end of the film, we root for both characters as neal has grown from their experience together. George seems to have not have learned a lesson at all at the end of this film, instead deciding a big city was not for him - as if his own choices did not cause some of his hardships.