Movies - Grumpy Old Men

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	Movies - Grumpy Old Men

Grumpy Old Men is a 1993 Warner Bros. comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, and Ann-Margret, with Burgess Meredith, Daryl Hannah, Kevin Pollak, Katie Sagona, Ossie Davis, and Buck Henry.

Directed by Donald Petrie, the screenplay was written by Mark Steven Johnson, who also wrote the sequel, Grumpier Old Men
(1995).

103 mins.; Technicolor

Plot summary

The story concerns two elderly men, John Gustafson (Lemmon), a retired history teacher, and Max Goldman (Matthau), a retired television repairman. Both live in Wabasha, Minnesota, and are widowers.

Despite living next door to each other and having known each other all their lives, the men do not get along well, arguing over, among other things, who is the better fisherman. While both characters feel loneliness, John is also having trouble with the IRS, which is hinted at throughout the movie.

Further subplots involve John's daughter Melanie (Hannah) and Max's son Jacob (Pollak), who have taken a liking to each other yet are afraid to rush into any longterm plans, as Melanie is in the middle of a divorce, as well as John's father, "Grandpa Gustafson" (Meredith), who is attempting to enjoy his retired life despite his son's ongoing battles with Goldman.

Ariel, an attractive widow (played by Ann-Margret) moves into the house across the street from Gustafson and Goldman. Her arrival causes a stir in town, whose longtime residents react differently to her.

Both men court her, but Ariel and John find themselves falling in love, despite Max's comic attempts to sabotage the relationship. As John had won a similar romantic "contest" a number of years ago (which initially caused the rift between him and Max), he decides to let his longtime foe "win" this "second round" and breaks up with Ariel. When John tries to make up with Max over a decades-long feud on Christmas Eve, it becomes a disastrous event; this, coupled with the stress of his breakup with Ariel, his tax troubles, and Melanie's troubled marriage causes him to suffer a heart attack on the side of a road. Flustered from his argument with John, Max stubbornly walks home, ultimately finding his neighbor lying on the ground. Out of concern, Max realizes that John is having a heart attack and immediately beckons help from a nearby house.

The heart attack causes Max to reevalulate things, and he figures out that John and Ariel are meant for each other. Ariel visits John in the hospital, and they resume their relationship. In the meantime, the IRS gets a court order to seize John's house, prompting Max to humorously attempt to keep the IRS agent (Henry) from entering the residence long enough for Jacob to obtain a cease and desist order from the court.

John gets well and leaves the hospital. Shortly afterwards he and Ariel wed. Max tells John that Jacob got the IRS to waive the penalities and interest, and that he took care of the $13,000 the IRS said John owed them. That night Max goes to a dance, figuring he might get lucky. The movie ends with Jacob and Melanie beginning a romantic relationship.

Quotes

John tells his father that Ariel moved in.

John: Did you hear, someone moved into the old Klickner place? A woman.
Grandpa: A woman?
John: Yeah.
Grandpa: Did you mount her?
John: Ohhh, Dad!
Grandpa: Well the woman, does she have big thighs?
John: No!
Grandpa: No?! Then what's the problem? If I was a young fella like you, I'd be mounting every woman in Wabasha. (Grabs the six pack of beer out of his son's hands). Keep the change!

Max: Morning, dickhead.

John: Hello, moron.

Grandpa: Kids. Can't live with 'em, can't shoot 'em.

Max: If I knew there was going to be a nude scene in this picture I would've asked for another million.

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Movies - Grumpy Old Men

Plot summary

Quotes

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