What's your favorite Walter Matthau performance?

[Mahaloth]

I picked Charade.

He’s a great villain.

[Patch]

I don’t know a number of those roles, but of the ones I know I love his performance in The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3. Outstanding.

[KneadToKnow]

@Prelude_to_Fascination

Also I love when he’s in the club, setting up the charter flight: “Oh, and my name’s not Murdison.” “Didn’t think it was, Mr. Murdison.”

“Oh, and you can drop the accent. Terrible.”

[pseudotriton_ruber_ruber]

Charade. If only for his drawn-out pronunciation of “Missus Leeambert.”

Also want to give him props for Senator Russell Long in JFK. “That dawg don’t hunt.”

[El_Kabong]

Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 for me, but I love pretty much everything about that flick.

After that, Charley Varrick and The Fortune Cookie. Somehow I’ve never gotten around to seeing some of his best-known roles, such as Kotch and The odd Couple.

[Zeldar]

@Prelude_to_Fascination

Only voting for one, I voted for Hopscotch. It’s a bit dated, but I like it a lot. Many good lines…when Kendig and the charter pilot land in Bermuda, she says, “You remind me of my father.” He says, “That’s always been my problem.” So many more.

Charley Varrick and Pelham 123 are also two of my favorites. We see a slightly different Matthau in those performances.

Crap, now that I think about it, it’s hard to see a really bad Matthau movie. Sure, some were better than others; not all of them were a 10, but Matthau made some damned fine pictures. He’ll always be one of my absolute favorites.

I have yet to see The Odd Couple so I couldn’t just ditto these comments, but the summary is as I would have put it.

Charley Varrick and the work of Joe Don Baker elevate it to the top pick for me. I would also add The Laughing Policeman to my list if we had more than one vote.

[PapSett]

Other- Casey’s Shadow.

I’m a sucker for a good horse movie anyway, and that’s one of my favorites. He was great in it!

[Sigmagirl]

@Prelude_to_Fascination

Only voting for one, I voted for Hopscotch. It’s a bit dated, but I like it a lot. Many good lines…when Kendig and the charter pilot land in Bermuda, she says, “You remind me of my father.” He says, “That’s always been my problem.” So many more.

He had that effect on a lot of people.

[carnivorousplant]

Another vote for Charley Varrick. Buddy, Buddy was good, too.

[Jack_Batty]

I’m not a huge Matthau fan, but I enjoy his movies. Truly, I’d have to say The Bad News Bears is the one I’m most familiar with, but I went with Other so I can mention a truly unsung movie: The Survivors, with Matthau, Robin Williams and Jerry Reed.