House Calls (1978)
Charley is a surgeon who's recently lost his wife; he embarks on a tragicomic romantic quest with one woman after another until he meets up with Ann, a singular woman, closer to his own age, who immediately and unexpectedly captures his heart.
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Pretty Good
If you don't like this, we can't be friends.
Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
it is a brilliant film. scene by scene, word by word. not only for the smart script or for great acting - both interesting ingredients of movie but for the real seductive chemistry between the leas actors. sure, it is the Hepburn- Tracy recipes but the taste is different. Glenda Jackson does a remarkable job and Walter Matthau use with grace the small details in his personal manner. charming and clever, old fashion and modern, bottle for the flavor of a kind of lost perfume, it is pure delight. Art Carney is one of splendid pillars of humor and the mixture between couple problems and ethic dilemmas is explored with rare art.
Every avid movie fan has a few films that are their "secret gems" - movies that not everyone knows about but ones you will recommend they see with great enthusiasm...."You really have to see this...you will love it. House Calls is just such a film and the reasons are two- fold...Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson.This is one of two films the pair made together....the other is a second of my 'secret gems," called Hopscotch and again, it clicks because of the chemistry between the two, coupled with wonderful supporting casts and great dialogue.The tragedy is that there weren't more movies involving these two. It is hard to imagine, on paper, a romantic comedy that matches Matthau and Jackson. Matthau has the looks of a basset hound, but incredible comedic flair. Jackson has played so many roles but romantic comedy doesn't come immediately to mind when her name is mentioned....until people see these films.Like so many here, I can watch either of these movies over and over and still love them both deeply. You really HAVE to see both. You won't be disappointed.
A great, small, simple comedy that works because of the terrific cast. And it's not only Glenda Jackson and Walter Matthau but Art Carney and Richard Benjamin. And the story actually works because all the characters are involved. There isn't any arbitrary stories. Matthau meets Jackson because she's made to wear a ridiculous head bandage provided by Carney and Matthau removes it and performs surgery on her. Carney becomes angry/upset over this and blackmails Matthau into supporting him for Chief Resident even though Carney's obviously "crack pot". Jackson and Matthau become lovers but she eventually becomes angry with him for (among other things) not standing up to Carney. That's what makes this an almost perfect film comedy: the characters, plot and situations all seem to spring naturally from the events in the plot. There's nothing forced. And the actors seem to be having a ball.Matthau and Jackson are superb together.
Pay no attention to dispeptic, angst-ridden critics who find this kind of fare unfunny and out of favor. (Well, maybe it is out of favor.) Who cares, it's funny. House Calls is a thoroughly enjoyable tale of mis-matched, middle-aged singles working their way toward romance (or a loose approximateion thereof). No car chases, space ships, or wild sex antics here. Instead, a cast of likeable people (Matthau, Jackson, Richard Benjamin, et.al.) and the great Art Carney as one of the more incompetent physicians ever portrayed on screen. The film puts a smile on your face and keeps it there. Ambitious? Of course not. The stuff of sitcoms? Yeah (in fact, it became one). Enjoyable? You bet. This is one of those films that reminds you how much fun it can be simply to sit down and be with old friends.