Film Forum

U.S., 1966
Directed by Billy Wilder
Starring Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau
Screenplay by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond
WINNER Academy Awards® – Best Supporting Actor (Walter Matthau), 1966
Approx. 125 min. DCP.

Brother-in-law-from-hell shyster lawyer Walter Matthau (in Oscar®-winning role) sues an insurance company for a million bucks after a football star flattens cameraman Jack Lemmon. Wilder's most bitingly cynical movie has been called “uncannily prophetic of Nixonian America.”

Reviews

“An explosively funny live-action cartoon.”
– Vincent Canby, The New York Times

“Billy Wilder’s best picture since THE APARTMENT, his funniest since SOME LIKE IT HOT.”
– James Powers, The Hollywood Reporter

“Rarely has screen satire been so bleak or so mercilessly funny.”
– David Parkinson, Empire