A Funny Deadpan Gem That Nobody Remembers

I remember heading on out to "Pete n' Tillie" on a very early in my career "date night." I was pretty young, but I'd had a liking for Walter Matthau for some years.

And here was a movie (to see as a fairly young person) to offer all sorts of sage education about "middle-aged love" -- as offered up in the extremely gregarious personages of Walter Matthau and Carol Burnett.

It was truly perfect casting...with Burnett (rather a newbie to movies, yeah she'd done a couple but was really a TV star) rather carefully following the veteran Matthau's lead while the two read lines from a script by at least one guy who wrote "Casablanca"!

Matthau's lead...followed by Burnett...was to deliver every line "deadpan." , wittily, allowing the line to zip out, hit its target, and fade before anyone knew if it was REALLY that funny or not.

Matthau's an ad man(and despite earning well, not terribly good at it in his misfired ad lines), I can't remember what Burnett is, and they meet when Matthau sits down next to her and says:

"Tell me. Do you always sit with your arms crossed over your breasts like that?"

I laughed then. I laugh now. Its not a great line, really -- but how Matthau says it and how Burnett reacts.

Or when Matthau takes Burnett to a late night restaurant named Bing's that is filled with couples lovingly looking into each other's eyes.

Says Matthau, "They've all been making love before coming here. I have the perfect ad line...'after bangs...Bing's.'"

Well, you had to be there.

Pete n' Tillie fall in love, get married, have a son (whom Matthau instructs on the finer points of Abbott and Costello's classic "Who's On First" routine; THAT'S father/son bonding) and then things go all "Terms of Endearment" but without that later film's epic reach.

Still, a real charmer, and as I recall one of the biggest hits Universal had in 1972.

PS. Sidebar comedy: Geraldine Page as Burnett's pal, a woman who REFUSES to reveal her real age, and Rene Aberjonis (sp?) as Burnett's gay pal, who makes a touching marriage proposal while Matthau's straying...