Buddy Buddy (1981)
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62% of critics liked it
(13 reviews) -
47% of users liked it
(498 ratings)
As if in some way Billy Wilder sensed that Buddy Buddy would ultimately turn out to be his final feature film, Wilder lets loose scatter-shot stingers at a wide range of pop-culture targets -- from sex clinics, to 60 Minutes, to movie references, to disco, to Betamax video recorders. Based on… More As if in some way Billy Wilder sensed that Buddy Buddy would ultimately turn out to be his final feature film, Wilder lets loose scatter-shot stingers at a wide range of pop-culture targets -- from sex clinics, to 60 Minutes, to movie references, to disco, to Betamax video recorders. Based on Francis Veber and Edouard Molinaro's L'emmerdeur (known in the United States as A Pain in the A. . .), Buddy Buddy concerns the unlikely pairing of a gruff hitman and a suicidal klutz. Walter Matthau plays a professional killer going by the name of Trabucco, who is on his way to rub out gangster Rudy "Disco" Gambola (Fil Formicola), set to testify against the mob. As Trabucco heads off to a hotel across the street from the courthouse where he plans to set his hit, he runs into the depressed Victor Clooney (Jack Lemmon), who laments the fact that his wife has left him for the head of a weird Californian sex clinic. Trabucco keeps walking and sets up his rifle in a hotel room. He is disturbed by Victor trying to hang himself in the adjoining hotel room and tries to prevent him from killing himself by restraining him, but Victor breaks loose and climbs onto the ledge of the hotel window. To get Victor to come back in, he agrees to drive him to the clinic to see his wife. The two go to the clinic where Victor's wife Celia (Paula Prentiss) informs Victor that she is in love in the head of the clinic, quack Dr. Zuckerbrot (Klaus Kinski). When Victor finds out that Celia is filing for divorce, he heads back to the hotel to kill himself, with Celia and Dr. Zuckerbrot in pursuit. Arriving at the hotel, they plan to inject Victor with a sedative but stick Trabucco with the needle instead. Trabucco reveals to Victor his assignment to kill Rudy, and Victor tries to help him with the killing. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Rating, Runtime
- R, 1 hr. 36 min.
- Directed By
- Billy Wilder
- Written By
- Francis Veber, Billy Wilder, I. A. L. Diamond
- Genres
- Drama, Comedy
- In Theaters
- Jan 1, 1981 Limited
- Studio
- MGM Home Entertainment
Critic Reviews
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Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
This movie is appalling. It made me want to rub my eyes.
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Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Instead of the sentimental cop-out that usually closes his films, Wilder has isolated an impossibly tiny center of real value and belief, an optimism that is extremely moving in its microscopic dimensions.
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Vincent Canby, New York Times
Slight but irresistible.
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, TV Guide's Movie Guide
A slight, but amusing, black farce.
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Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Easy to sleep on.
Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
No Featured Audience Ratings Found…
Cast
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Jack Lemmonas Victor Clooney -
Walter Matthauas Trabucco -
Paula Prentissas Celia Clooney
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Klaus Kinskias Dr. Hugo Zuckerbrot -
Dana Elcaras Capt. Hubris -
Miles Chapinas Eddie the Bellhop
