Herb Edelman

On a flight to Los Angeles, California, British actress Diana Barrie (Maggie Smith) watches herself on the in-flight movie in the role for which she has received an Academy Award nomination. She expresses her nervousness about the upcoming Oscar ceremony to her husband, Sidney Cochran (Michael Caine), as the plane lands. Elsewhere, on a Los Angeles freeway, Dr. Willis Panama (Bill Cosby) and Dr. Chauncey Gump (Richard Pryor), physicians from Chicago, Illinois, vacationing together with their wives Bettina (Sheila Frazer) and Lola (Gloria Gifford), bicker with each other constantly as their rental car first breaks down, then collides with two other vehicles. As Diana and Sidney check into the Beverly Hills Hotel, Hannah Warren (Jane Fonda) paces her room in the hotel while waiting to meet with her ex-husband, Bill Warren (Alan Alda). When he arrives, they note that it has been nine years since they saw each other, then they leave to keep the lunch reservation he made. At the Los Angeles airport, Harry Michaels (Herbert Edelman) picks up his brother, Marvin Michaels (Walter Matthau), who has come to town to attend Harry's son's bar mitzvah. Marvin explains that he and his wife Millie (Elaine May) always fly separately, so she will arrive the next morning. Marvin notices that Harry still ogles and wants to proposition every beautiful woman he sees. Harry drops Marvin off at the Beverly Hills Hotel and they arrange to meet for dinner later. Meanwhile, Hannah and Bill reminisce over lunch and later at his beachfront home. She is an editor for Newsweek magazine in New York City and dating a writer for the Washington Post. He is a former journalist, now working as a screenwriter, and contemplating marrying his girlfriend. Then they discuss the real reason Hannah has flown to Los Angeles: their seventeen-year old daughter, Jenny (Dana Plato), unhappy living with her mother in New York, ran away to stay with her father and wants to spend the next year with him in Los Angeles. Hannah doesn't want her daughter living in southern California but she is nervous about seeing Jenny and getting her to return to New York. Back at the hotel, Diana continues fretting over the likelihood of winning the Academy Award and exchanges witty banter with Sidney. Later, she has a couple of drinks to calm her nerves as she gets dressed for the awards ceremony. As Hannah and Bill return to Hannah's hotel room, Jenny calls and informs her parents that she will abide by whatever decision they make. Hannah announces to Bill that Jenny will return to New York with her. Bill is disappointed but trusts Hannah's instincts. When Hannah expresses how afraid she is of losing Jenny, Bill remarks that he has never seen his ex-wife so vulnerable. Then Hannah says Jenny can stay with Bill in Los Angeles, but only for six months. Hannah watches Jenny drive off with Bill. At the hotel's front desk, the doctors learn there is a reservation for Willis but not for Chauncey. The hotel has no extra rooms because it is Academy Award week. The only thing available is a small single room undergoing repairs. Chauncey agrees to take it. Later, Willis tells Chauncey that he has made a dinner reservation at a Japanese restaurant and booked them a tennis court for a doubles game the next day. While the Gumps struggle to get ready in their tiny room, Chauncey complains about having to eat Japanese food. As Willis and Bettina wait for their friends in the lobby, Willis complains that Chauncey is always late. When the two couples finally gather at the hotel's front door, the doctors argue about who will drive to the restaurant, until Bettina insists she will drive. On the way to the Academy Awards, a nervous Diana begs Sidney to be nice to her and wish her luck. He reminds her how talented she is and gives her a kiss. They exit the limousine and greet the crowd outside the venue. Elsewhere, paramedics arrive at a collision in which a car is on top of the one Bettina is driving. While a policeman questions her, Chauncey insists to the officer that his legs are paralyzed from sitting down at the Japanese restaurant. After the Academy Awards ceremony, Diana observes Sidney speaking with an attractive young man. Drunk, she takes her disappointment about losing the Oscar out on her husband. At the hotel, as Harry drops his brother off after dinner, Harry teases Marvin that "the night is not over yet." Marvin goes to his room and finds that Harry has hired a hooker, Bunny, to entertain him. Later, Chauncey wakes up in the middle of the night, sick from the Japanese food. Lola calls Willis and insists he tend to Chauncey. Willis angrily acquiesces. Back in their hotel room, Diana jealously insists that Sidney was flirting with the young man that she saw him speaking with earlier. Sidney asks her why they cannot lie to each other about the nature of their relationship the same way they lie to everyone else about it. He reminds her that he has never hidden who he is... that he is homosexual. Diana asks why Sidney doesn't love her anymore. He insists he never stopped loving her. She says his kind of love doesn't do her any good, then begs him to "screw" her before immediately apologizing. She loves him but she doesn't understand why he stays with her when he could share the company of other gay men exclusively. He explains he enjoys his proximity to her minor celebrity and tells her he loves her more than any woman he's ever known. They acknowledge they have fun together, then share a kiss. She comes to bed and they make love. The next morning, Marvin wakes up to find himself in bed with Bunny. He tries to get her up and out of the room but she has passed out after drinking a bottle of tequila. Calling the front desk, Marvin learns that his wife, Millie, has just arrived and is on her way to his room. He tries to keep Millie from discovering the nude, unconscious hooker in his bed but finally reveals his indiscretion. Incensed, Millie leaves. Elsewhere at the hotel, Willis, Bettina, Chauncey and Lola play doubles tennis. Bettina accidentally smashes her racket on Willis' head, loses her balance and injures her ankle as she falls. Lola stumbles over a basket of tennis balls trying to come to Bettina's aid and Chauncey trips over the net trying to help Lola. Outside the Michaels' room, Millie hurries away as Marvin tries to explain his infidelity. At first, Millie doesn't see how she can attend the bar mitzvah knowing Harry paid for Marvin's hooker, then she decides to forgive Marvin and forget it ever happened. She also plans to spend all of his money. The Panamas and the Gumps return to the Panamas' room to care for Bettina's ankle. Lola breaks a bottle of perfume in the bathroom, then cuts her finger on one of the glass shards. While they tend to Lola, Bettina trips and falls through the room's French doors, breaking the panes of glass. Then Lola bangs her head on the door of the medicine cabinet while rinsing off her bleeding finger and passes out. Willis goes to the bathroom to soak a wet towel for her, but steps on the broken glass. Willis and Chauncey put both women on the bed then start fighting each other, damaging the room in the process. After shopping in the hotel boutique, Millie returns to the hotel room. Marvin tries to embrace her but she wants no signs of affection from him in front of the still-unconscious hooker on their bed. In the Panamas' room, Chauncey swears it has been the worst trip ever and Willis tries to force Chauncey to say it is the best time they ever had and that the Gumps will love going on vacation with the Panamas again. In front of the hotel, the taxi that the Michaels were going to take to the bar mitzvah has been given to Bunny, who is awake and fully dressed. She generously allows them to ride with her to their destination. At the airport, Hannah is surprised to see Jenny, who has come to say good-bye and thank her mother for letting her stay with Bill. In another part of the airport, the Panamas and the Gumps, who are bruised and covered in bandages, limp towards their flight. As Diana and Sidney's plane takes off, they learn that the in-flight movie is the same as on their flight to Los Angeles and Diana begs Sidney to get them off the plane.

Harry Kilmer (along with friend George Tanner) were in Japan after the war in the Pacific ended. During this time Kilmer met and fell in love with a beautiful Japanese woman named Eiko Tanaka. But for some reason Kilmer cannot fathom and which Eiko will not tell him, she will not marry him. Finally he leaves Japan and returns home to the USA where he does some police and detective work to earn a living. Tanner continues a business relationship with some very shady underworld figures in Japan (the Yakuza) and in particular with the local boss Tono. In fact he is selling guns to this mafia like organization, but on one transaction he fails to deliver. As a consequence the Yakuza kidnap Tanner's daughter and Tanner turns to Kilmer to help him try to recover his daughter safely. So Kilmer returns to Japan to do what he can for his then friend. He visits Eiko of which their mutual love is quite apparent but who will still not marry him. We also meet her brother, Ken Tanaka who once was a Yakuza himself but resigned and became a respectable swordsman instructor in the ancient tradition of Japanese warfare by the sword. Ken is a master swordsman. Ken is a strange man ("he who never smiles"), and only reluctantly helps Kilmer to rescue Tanner's daughter. He does so because of the totally Japanese concept of obligation or rather burden called "giri", a social tradition of the old world of Japan. It is by this tradition, in fact, that Ken is bound to assist Kilmer since Kilmer did in fact, save Eikos life during those terrible days after the war. It is then that Ken takes up the sword once again to actually fight (rather than teach), and joins Kilmer in the rescue. The result is a bloody battle to (successfully) rescue Tanners daughter. Unfortunately two of the Yakuza men guarding the captive are killed in the fight, so now the Yakuza, and in particular the boss Tono put a price on heads of both Kilmer and Ken. And while Kilmer can just get on a plane and fly home where the Yakuza will not bother him, Ken is a different story and will definitely die at Tonos bidding. Kilmer decides he cannot do this after what Ken has done for him. He seems to feel the "giri" himself and, in fact, feels he is obligated to Ken. They talk it over and decide there is no choice but to try to kill Tono. It is either Ken or Tono, they figure. Kilmer and Ken then undertake the most dangerous venture, to break into and attack the secure Yakuza compound where Tono hangs out along his henchmen. This could be a form of suicide especially since Japanese (and Yakuza) tradition require that Tono die by the sword and not by a gunshot (Kilmer has two or three guns but Ken only his sword). As a Yakuza Ken can only use a sword. They break in and hold the mob at bay briefly. Ken says I come (only) for Tono, but this makes little difference to the mob and a battle ensues where between Ken's master swordsmanship and Kilmer's threatening (and sometimes deadly) gunfire they succeed in wiping out this mob. (Note that the Yakuza gangsters have only swords, no guns.) At some point earlier in the movie we learn of another strange Yakuza custom concerning the custom of "giri". If the person who is obligated cannot repay his burden he may make a symbolic offering by severing the one of his small fingers (his pinkie) at the joint and giving it to the person to whom he is indebted. If the person accepts the token of forgiveness of burden then the matter is resolved. We see this ritual twice as Ken offers this "giri" to his older brother (who is actually only a brother in the Yakuza sense), but who is socially a prominent businessman and one of enough influence to have covered up the massacres. (NOTE: The following is a serious spoiler-do not read it if you plan to see the movie): Ken (much against) his Yakuza brothers will, performs this ritual and is unhappily forgiven his burden by this brother. Kilmer on the other hand learns something from the brother he could never have imagined. It turns out that the reason Eiko could never marry Kilmer is that she is married to Ken. Ken is actually her husband, not her brother. He had hid in a cave after the war and only several years later found his wife, now comfortably set up with a small tea house business bought for her by Kilmer. Thus when Ken returns this totally torn man must honor Kilmer for saving and then helping his wife because of his "giri" and so tells Kilmer that he is her brother. In the end Kilmer takes a taxi to the airport but is himself torn by his "giri" to Ken. He tells the cab driver to turn around and goes back to see Ken. Kilmer tells him he came back because there is something important he must talk to him about. This is true, but while Ken goes for tea Kilmer himself performs the ritual of severing his pinky and in the tradition, putting it in a handkerchief, offers it to a shocked, but an emotionless Ken when he returns. Kilmer asks Ken to accept his token of apology for what HE HAS DONE (to Kens life however unwittingly), and asks him to please forgive Eiko as well. Ken, of course accepts, and says the words which seem to be the traditional response "no man has a greater friend." Finally the two men with bandaged pinkies go to the airport for a final goodbye and Kilmer leaves, very emotionally, for home.

Chicago, Illinois, 1929. Outside a criminal courts building, police build a scaffold and bleachers for the public hanging of Earl Williams, who has been convicted of killing a policeman. Upstairs, reporters play poker in the press room. Newspaper editor Walter Burns (Walter Matthau) calls from the Chicago Examiner, looking for reporter Hildebrand 'Hildy' Johnson (Jack Lemmon) to put him on the story, but he's not there. Walter leaves word that Hildy should immediately come to his office. Later, Hildy wanders into Walter's office at a leisurely pace and informs the editor that he's in love. Walter tells Hildy he wants him to cover the hanging the next morning and snap an illegal picture of the hanged man with a hidden camera. Minutes after the execution, an ambulance will be waiting for Hildy outside so that he can type his story in the back and beat the other newspapers to press with a morning extra. Hildy tells Walter he's quitting to get married and move to Philadelphia. He plans to take an advertising job so that he can spend time with his future wife instead of continuing as a workaholic reporter. Walter resents Hildy for betraying him, insisting that he taught Hildy everything he knows. Determined to keep Hildy in town and on the Williams story, Walter tracks down Hildy's fiancee, Peggy Grant (Susan Sarandon), an organist who works at a movie theater. Posing as Otto Fishbein, a probation officer, he tells Peggy that Hildy is on probation and cannot legally move to another city. Hildy then calls his fiancee, and, over the phone, realizes that Walter is playing a trick. Hildy explains to Peggy that Fishbein is actually Walter, and she sends him away. At the criminal courts press room, Hildy's replacement, Rudy Keppler (Jon Korkes), arrives and informs the others that Hildy has left the business. Mollie Malloy (Carol Burnett) arrives moments later, and yells at the reporters for writing lies about her, claiming she is Williams' girlfriend. Mollie confesses that she had befriended Williams but was not his girlfriend. Unlike the reporters, Mollie believes that Williams didn't intentionally kill anyone. As Mollie leaves, Hildy shows up with drinks to celebrate his new advertising job. Just then, the sheriff (Vincent Gardenia) visits the press room to hand out tickets to the hanging. Hildy accuses the sheriff and mayor of reprieving Williams twice so that the hanging would take place just before an election. The sheriff insists that Williams is a communist who is very sane and shot the policeman to make a political statement. Hildy disagrees, claiming that Williams is "just a screwball." At the jailhouse, Williams (Austin Pendleton), a diminutive, soft-spoken man, is escorted to the sheriff's office for his final psychological examination. Williams calmly explains to Dr. Eggelhofer (Martin Gabel) that he once sent a bomb to J. P. Morgan's office on Wall Street, then contradicts himself by saying he loves people and would never abuse anyone. Eggelhofer borrows the sheriff's gun to demonstrate his theory about why Williams shot at the police officer. Upstairs, Hildy's celebration is interrupted by gunshots. Sirens blare, more shots are heard, and the reporters realize Williams has escaped. Hildy gets on the phone to tell Walter the news. The editor laments that Hildy is no longer reporting, but Hildy promises he's "right on top of it." Downstairs, the sheriff tells reporters about Williams' escape, but insists he doesn't know where the prisoner got a gun. Hildy runs into Jennie (Doro Merande), the building's janitor, who overheard the incident. She tells Hildy she had better not reveal what she overheard, as the sheriff would fire her. Meanwhile, the injured Eggelhofer's stretcher falls out of an ambulance. As the stretcher speeds down the street, Eggelhofer yells repeatedly that Williams is a "fruitcake." Hildy phones Walter to tell him what he's learned from Jennie, that Eggelhofer used the sheriff's gun to reenact the crime, and Williams stole it, shot Eggelhofer, and made his escape. Hildy then informs Walter that Peggy is picking him up in 15 minutes and he can no longer follow the story. The Mayor (Harold Gould) addresses reporters in his office and tells them he has utter faith in the sheriff. After the reporters leave, the Mayor reprimands the sheriff for letting Williams get away. A man named Plunkett (Paul Benedict) arrives and delivers a reprieve for Williams, sent by the Governor. The sheriff receives a phone call that police have trapped Williams. The Mayor tells Plunkett that the reprieve is not applicable because Williams has escaped custody, but he may try to serve the reprieve again tomorrow. The Mayor then sends orders, via the sheriff, for the police to "shoot to kill," now that Williams is in their sights. Headed for a night train to Philadelphia, Hildy joins Peggy in a taxi outside the courthouse. However, when he realizes he left the wedding rings, he runs back inside. There, Hildy finds the rings moments before Williams falls through a window and points a gun at him. Hildy reminds Williams that he conducted an interview with the convict at his jail cell a few days ago. Williams then passes out, and Hildy drags him to the bathroom, draws the curtains, and calls Walter to tell him that he has Williams in his custody. Mollie shows up, and Williams emerges at the sound of her voice. Hildy sends Peggy to pick up their luggage while he finishes up some last-minute business. Hildy hides Williams inside a roll-top desk when the other reporters demand entry to the press room. The men suspect Hildy is hiding something. To cover for Hildy, Mollie claims to know where Williams is, then jumps out the window. The reporters run outside to see if she's still alive. As the room clears, Walter appears at the door. He orders a delivery truck and six large men to move the desk, with Williams inside, to the Chicago Examiner office. Hildy types up a story while Walter takes Williams' picture and sends Keppler to develop the negative. Just then, Peggy returns to find Hildy typing away with Walter at his side. Distracted, Hildy suggests Peggy go to the train station ahead of him, and she leaves, dejected. When he finishes the story, Hildy becomes frustrated with Walter's persistence and heads off to the train station. Before he can leave, however, the sheriff shows up with the other reporters, all of whom accuse Hildy of hiding something. A policeman holds Hildy, while the sheriff demands Williams' whereabouts. The sheriff finally realizes Williams is inside the desk. Police escort Williams away, and the sheriff arrests Hildy and Walter for hiding the convict. In a jail cell, Hildy blames Walter for keeping him from Peggy. In a neighboring cell, Plunkett, who has been arrested for drunkenness, overhears Walter and informs him that he has Williams' reprieve. The Mayor arrives at the jail, and Walter presents him with the reprieve, accusing him of ignoring it so that he could hang Williams before the election. The Mayor lets Walter and Hildy out, and Walter arranges for Hildy to be rushed to the train station to meet Peggy. Just before the train pulls away, Walter gives Hildy his pocket watch as a gift for service to his newspaper. After the train pulls out of the station, Walter (crafty and evil to the end) arranges for Hildy to be arrested at the next stop for stealing his watch! The film closes with a series of texts that say that some time later, Hildy returned to the Chicago Examiner to become Managing Editor. Walter retired, lecturing from time to time at the University of Chicago on the ethics of journalism. Williams, now freed, got married to Mollie, and the two run a health-food store together.

During post-WWII McCarthyism, a diametrically opposed couple come together only to find out that genuine friendship and physical attraction is not enough to overcome fundamental societal beliefs. Set in the period from the mid-1930s to the 1950s, a love story involving two markedly different people. Katie is an idealistic, uptight, Stalin-loving political activist. Hubbell is an easy-going, athletic, All American-type, and a talented writer. We see their different personalities affect their relationship and how they manage despite the differences... —grantss Opposites attract when, during their college days, Katie Morosky, a politically active Jew, meets Hubbell Gardiner, a feckless WASP. Years later, in the wake of World War II, they meet again and, despite their obvious differences, marry. Hubbell wants to be a screenwriter, so the two move to California despite Katie's objections. They prosper there, but as the Hollywood blacklist looms, Katie's activism threatens her husband's reputation. —Jwelch5742 Impossible to resist the beguiling charm of her insouciant and incredibly handsome White Anglo-Saxon Protestant classmate, Hubbell Gardiner, the impassioned Jewish secretary of the 1937 Young Communist League, Katie Morosky, finds herself, more and more, drawn to him. But, even though Katie's logic tells her that a relationship between two polar opposites is doomed to fail, instead, she lets herself get carried away in an enthusiastic romance that will eventually lead both lovers to marriage, and Joseph McCarthy's not-so-glamorous 1950s Hollywood. Now, Katie's principles and her uncompromising political views stand in the way of what should be the perfect love affair; however, life is nothing less than unpredictable. Can Hubbell and Katie turn the clock back? —Nick Riganas

Fussy Felix Unger moves in with his divorced poker buddy, sloppy Oscar Madison. Felix's (Jack Lemmon) wife has left him and he is contemplating suicide. His friends sense his depression and one of them, Oscar (Walter Matthau), volunteers to take him in until he is fine again. The two of them are like chalk and cheese - Oscar is fun-loving, gregarious and slovenly, Felix is a shy, stay-at-home, obsessive-compulsive neat-freak. Being around Oscar brightens Felix up, but he quickly starts to irritate Oscar. —grantss Felix Ungar has just broken up with his wife. Despondent, he goes to kill himself but is saved by his friend Oscar Madison. With nowhere else to go, Felix is urged by Oscar to move in with him, at least for a while. The only problem is that Felix is neat, tidy, and neurotic, whereas Oscar is slovenly and casual. —Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au>

Conservative young lawyer Paul Bratter marries the vivacious Corie Banks. Their highly passionate relationship descends into discord when they rent their first apartment - a rundown five-flight NYC walk-up with eccentric neighbors. New Yorkers Paul Bratter and Corie Bratter née Banks have just gotten married. He is a stuffed shirt just starting his career as a lawyer. She is an independent-minded free spirit who prides herself on doing the illogical purely out of a sense of adventure, such acts as walking through Washington Square Park barefoot when it's 17°F outside. Their 6-day honeymoon at the Plaza Hotel shows that they can get to know each other easily in the biblical sense. But they will see if they can get to know each other in their real life when they move into their first apartment, a cozy (in other words, small), slightly-broken-down top-floor unit in a five-story walk-up. While Corie joyfully bounds up and down the stairs, Paul, always winded after a long day, hates needing to walk up the six flights (including the stairs that comprise the outside front stoop. Beyond the issues with the apartment itself, Paul and Corie must deal with an odd assortment of neighbors, most specifically eccentric senior Victor Velasco, who lives in the unusual attic and considers himself a dirty old man. Corie, worried about her single strait-laced mother Ethel Banks, wants to set her up with Victor. Without Corie or Paul truly realizing it, Ethel and Victor as a twosome is as illogical as Corie and Paul. What happens between Ethel and Victor may predict whether Corie and Paul's marriage can last in the long run. —Huggo Paul Bratter, a conservative young lawyer, marries a vivacious young woman, Corrie. Their highly-passionate relationship descends into comical discord in a five-flight walk-up New York City apartment. When Corie meets one of the neighbors, an older single man, she wonders if her lonely mother would be interested in meeting him. —Jim Cobb Combines love and laughs. Paul Bratter is a newly-married lawyer. Corie Bratter is a newly-married woman whose main goal in life is to have fun, and to have it with Paul. Together they learn how to live and love in an apartment that's laughably small in New York and located on the fifth floor of a building with no elevator. Corie's mother has some of the funniest lines. —Kathy Moore <kathy.moore@ericsson.com> Paul Bratter is Mister Straight. Corie is his new wife, who dedicates her life to the pursuit of fun. As the ecstasy of the honeymoon gives way to the reality of setting up housekeeping in a five-flight walk-up, the harmony of marriage turns to comical discord. The mother-in-law complains meekly. The middle-aged Lothario upstairs flirts. Joy turns to anguish. There is little doubt that the young people will kiss and make up by the end of the picture, just as there's little doubt that mother and the neighbor will find each other. —Anonymous