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THE OUT OF TOWNERS

Review by Chastity Campbell

Starring: Jack Lemmon, Sandy Dennis
Director: Arthur Hiller
Audio: Dolby Digital, Mono
Video: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Studio: Paramount
Features: See Review
Length: 97 Minutes
Release Date: November 25th, 2003

“You gave my watch to a man in a black cape? Why?”

“It looked like he had a knife under the cape.”

“Did you see the knife?”

“A man in a black cape doesn’t stand over you at 4 o’clock in the morning if he doesn’t have a knife, does he?”  

“I don’t know.  It never came up before!”

Film ***

The phrase ‘get out of town’ takes on a whole new meaning for the Kellermans,of Twin Oaks Ohio, as the Big Apple bears its teeth and takes a bite out of them! 

George and Gwen Kellerman (Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis) are on their way to New York for a job interview.  George is the top candidate for a promotion within his company.  The only task left is for him to head off to New York for the final interview.  Sounds simple and uncomplicated, right? Not where this husband and wife are concerned.

The flight is late, the hotel rooms are gone, George’s wallet is stolen and a Great Dane in Central Park does not want to share his Cracker Jacks!  I don’t blame him…I wouldn’t share my Cracker Jacks with perfect strangers either!

Gwen is starving, George is going insane as more and more problems arise, and his interview time is approaching fast.   Despite the fact that he’s filthy, smelly, and starving, George is determined to go through with the interview and land this job!

This movie is great it’s everything a fun and entertaining family movie should be.  There isn’t a scene in this film that I didn’t find funny.  Jack Lemmon was very talented and handsome, I must say.  I’ve seen movies from his later years, but this is the first time I have had the pleasure of seeing him as a younger man.  I have been told that some of his best work was done along side Walter Matthau in The Odd Couple.  I must say that is a movie I’ve been meaning to view, and now there is no question, it’s a must see!

Two of the funniest scenes in this movie are on the airplane ride to and from New York.  On the way up to the big apple George won’t let Gwen eat anything because he has reservations at 8:30 for the Four Seasons!  Twenty-four hours later they are on their way home to Ohio, and have yet to eat anything substantial.  As the stewardess approaches with a tray of food for his wife, George waves her off and says they have family plans for the evening and he doesn’t want Gwen to spoil her appetite!  Now I do believe, if he was my husband he would find out exactly what it feels like to have a purse smacked upside his head!

Did smelly George get the job?  If he does get the offer, will his wife let him accept?  How long does it take for a starving, exhausted woman, to beat the stuffing out of her dim witted know it all husband?  Grab The Out Of Towners before they are gone, and you’ll find the answers to these and many more questions, are only a play button away! 

 Video **

Having never had the opportunity to view the original, I can’t determine whether or not this print went through much of a clean up process.  It was quite dirty in some places, and suffered from a bit of softness around the edges of some scenes.  The colors were a bit flat, and tended to look dull in some of the naturally lit scenes.  The night shots were too dark, and it was very hard to distinguish any of the details during those scenes.

The transfer to the digital realm didn’t really help or hurt the over all look of this print.  The dirt and graininess visible was not a major problem, with the exception of a few daytime scenes, which were quite a bit dirtier than the rest of the transfer.

Audio **

Old movies are old, and when they come to DVD we should be grateful that we get to have them in a format that will last a whole lot longer than the celluloid versions will.  Therefore, we must be somewhat forgiving when it comes to the audio on these transfers because when they were made DVDs weren’t even a gleam in their inventor’s eye.

The audio from this film was transferred to DVD in a Dolby Digital Mono format.  The mix between the dialogue and the background music/sound effects needed a little work.  The dialogue itself tended to sound hollow and tinny.  The sound effects were often overly loud, and drowned out both the dialogue and the music bed. 

Having said that, the audio tracks were balanced throughout the length of the film, and didn’t fluctuate up and down.  It’s a great movie, with some minor audio flaws that can be attributed to its age. 

Features  ½*

English subtitles, and audio options in French & English are the only extra’s these Out Of Towners brought with them to DVD!

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