I remember as a child, my mother taking me and my brothers to visit some great aunt at a nursing home. What I remember most about the trip is looking in the rooms as we walked down the hall. Each room had an old occupant who looked expectantly at the door as we passed. I got the feeling that they hoped we had come to visit them. I don't dread old age. But it would suck to be all alone. Grumpy Old Men takes two ornery old farts who live alone and allows them to realize that they are anything but.
Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau star as two widowers and rival Minnesota fishermen, John and Max. They live next door to each other as they have their entire lives. They fight on a daily basis and play many juvenile tricks. They address each other as 'Putts' and 'Moron'. At one time they each loved the same woman who ended up marrying Lemmon. When Ariel (Ann-Margret) moves in across the street, the rivalry hits a new stride.
The laughs come fast and often. John's father (Burgess Meredith) steals every scene he is in. His raspy voice adds much to such lines as, 'I'll tell you what's on my mind. It's butt cold out here.' Or when John tells him he should smoke filtered cigarettes, he replies, 'I'm 94 years old. What the hell do I care?' His big advice for John in matters of Ariel is to, 'Mount the woman.'
The love story between John and Ariel is nice enough; however, it is the relationship between John and Max that gives this movie heart. In a brief, but immensely poignant scene, Max goes to visit John in the hospital and the nurse asks him if he is family or friend. Max pauses. Then he slowly answers, 'Friend.' It is a revelation for Max to actually say the word.
If there is anything to learn from this movie it is that growing old can be a hoot, as long as you can grow old with someone who can still get a rise out of you.
