Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau (born Walter John Matthow; October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor, comedian and film director. He is best known for his film roles in A Face in the Crowd (1957), King Creole (1958) and as a coach of a hapless little league team in the baseball... Read full bio →
Featured Characters
Roles you can spot in Whatthemovie snapshots
The Kid Stays in the Picture
Documentary about legendary Paramount producer Robert Evans (the film shares the same name as Evans's famous 1994 autobiography).
Hanging Up
A trio of sisters bond over their ambivalence toward the approaching death of their curmudgeonly father, to whom none of them was particularly close.
The Odd Couple II
It has been seventeen years now since Oscar and Felix saw each other for the last time. Oscar is living in Florida, Felix in New York. One day, Oscar is called by his son Brucey who invites him to his wedding to Felix' daughter Hannah next Sunday in California.
The Marriage Fool
Widower Frank Walsh becomes re-charged when he attends a party for local senior citizens and meets outgoing widow Florence, but his bachelor son Robert is distrustful of marriage and tries to block their budding romance.
Out to Sea
Care-free Charlie cons his widower brother-in-law Herb into an expenses-paid luxury cruise in search of rich, lonely ladies. The catch is that they are required to be dance hosts! With a tyrannical cruise director, and the luscious Liz and lovely Vivian, our heroes have lots of mis-adventures before they finally return to port.
I'm Not Rappaport
Two old men - a white former radical, and a black retired janitor - strike up an unusual and funny friendship on a park bench in New York, where they deal with family, drug dealers, and the pitfalls of age.
Grumpier Old Men
A family wedding reignites the ancient feud between next-door neighbors and fishing buddies John and Max. Meanwhile, a sultry Italian divorcée opens a restaurant at the local bait shop, alarming the locals who worry she'll scare the fish away. But she's less interested in seafood than she is in cooking up a hot time with Max.
I.Q.
Albert Einstein helps a young man who's in love with Einstein's niece to catch her attention by pretending temporarily to be a great physicist.
Grumpy Old Men
A lifelong feud between two neighbors since childhood, only gets worse when a new female neighbor moves across the street.
Dennis the Menace
When his parents must go out of town on business, Dennis stays with Mr. and Mrs. Wilson. He is driving Mr. Wilson crazy, but he is just trying to be helpful, even to the thief who has arrived in town.
Chaplin
An aged Charlie Chaplin narrates his life to his autobiography's editor, including his rise to wealth and comedic fame from poverty, his turbulent personal life and his run-ins with the FBI.
JFK
JFK is a thriller from Oliver Stone that revolves around the Murder of US President John F. Kennedy and the conspiracy theory follow-up.
The Couch Trip
When a burnt-out shrink needs a temp, a charming escaped convict takes over his practice and radio show.
Il piccolo diavolo
Father Maurice, a priest living in a residential college for priests in Rome, is called out one day to "exorcise" the devil from someone. The devil turns out to be in the form of a fun-loving man called Giuditta. What Father Maurice doesn't know is that this type of devil will turn his life around.
Pirates
Captain Red runs a hardy pirate ship with the able assistance of Frog, a dashing young French sailor. One day Capt. Red is captured and taken aboard a Spanish galleon, but thanks to his inventiveness, he raises the crew to mutiny, takes over the ship, and kidnaps the niece of the governor of Maracaibo. The question is, can he keep this pace up?
The Survivors
Having both lost their jobs, two strangers become unlikely friends after a run in with a would be robber, who is actually a hitman with a grudge against the two.
Portrait d'un homme 'à 60% parfait': Billy Wilder
French film critic Michel Ciment interviews Billy Wilder about his life and filmmaking.
I Ought to Be in Pictures
Grandmother has nothing to say when Libby tells her that she is off to LA to look up Dad, a Hollywood screenwriter. Grandmother has been in a New York cemetery for six years and Dad has been out of Libby's life for 16 of her 19 years.
First Monday in October
For the first time in history a woman is appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where she becomes a friendly rival to a liberal associate.
Buddy Buddy
During a high profile Mafia testimony case, a contract killer checks-in a hotel room near the courthouse while his next door depressed neighbor wants to commit suicide due to marital problems.
Little Miss Marker
Sorrowful Jones is a cheap bookie in 1930's. When a gambler leaves his daughter as a marker for a bet, he gets stuck with her. His life will change a great deal with her arrival and his sudden love for a woman also involved in gambling operations.
Hopscotch
When CIA operative Miles Kendig deliberately lets KGB agent Yaskov get away, his boss threatens to retire him. Kendig beats him to it, however, destroying his own records and traveling to Austria where he begins work on a memoir that will expose all his former agency's covert practices.
House Calls
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.
California Suite
Misadventures of four groups of guests at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
The Bad News Bears
An aging, down-on-his-luck ex-minor leaguer coaches a team of misfits in an ultra-competitive California little league.
The Sunshine Boys
Lewis and Clark, aka The Sunshine Boys, were famous comedians during the vaudeville era, but off-stage they couldn't stand each other and haven't spoken in over 20 years of retirement. Willy Clark's nephew is the producer of a TV variety show that wants to feature a reunion of this classic duo.
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
In New York, armed men hijack a subway car and demand a ransom for the passengers. Even if it's paid, how could they get away?
The Front Page
The Front Page is a comedy from director Billy Wilder from 1974 starring Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau and Susan Sarandon. A journalist named Johnson is suffering from a burn-out-syndrom and wants to finally say goodbye to his office except for the fact that his boss doesn’t like the idea one bit.
Earthquake
Earthquake is a 1974 American disaster film that achieved huge box-office success, continuing the disaster film genre of the 1970s where recognizable all-star casts attempt to survive life or death situations. The plot concerns the struggle for survival after a catastrophic earthquake destroys most of the city of Los Angeles, California.
The Laughing Policeman
It's tough beat for San Francisco police lieutenant Jake Martin (Walter Matthau) when he has to investigate a city bus massacre in which a madman opened machine gunfire on eight people.
Charley Varrick
Charley Varrick robs a bank in a small town with his friends, but instead of obtaining a small amount of money, they discover they stole a very large amount of money belonging to the mob. Charley must now come up with a plan to not only evade the police but the mob as well.
Pete 'n' Tillie
A fun-loving bachelor woos and weds a secretary, but the bonds of this marriage aren't strong enough to stop his philandering from continuing.
Plaza Suite
Three vignettes, each set in room 719 of New York's Plaza Hotel, make up this comedy.
Kotch
Joseph Kotcher, retired salesman, walks out on his son and daughter-in-law after their attempts to put him in a retirement home. He tracks down their babysitter, sacked because she is pregnant, and rents a small house nearby. He finds a new purpose in life. Jack Lemmon's first film as director stars his old friend Walter Matthau.
A New Leaf
When Henry Graham's lawyer informs him that his playboy lifestyle has consumed all of his funds, he must avoid sliding down the social ladder. He plans to marry wealthy scientist Henrietta Lowell--and kill her.
Hello, Dolly!
Dolly Levi is a strong-willed matchmaker who travels to Yonkers, New York in order to see the miserly "well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire" Horace Vandergelder. In doing so, she convinces his niece, his niece's intended, and Horace's two clerks to travel to New York City.
Cactus Flower
A dentist pretends to be married to avoid commitment, but when he falls for his girlfriend and proposes, he must recruit his lovelorn nurse to pose as his wife.
The Odd Couple
Felix Ungar has just broken up with his wife. Despondent, he goes to kill himself but is saved by his friend Oscar Madison. With nowhere else to go, Felix is urged by Oscar to move in with him, at least for a while. The only problem is that Felix is neat, tidy, and neurotic, whereas Oscar is slovenly and casual.
Candy
A trippy look at a teenage girl's quest for the meaning of life... She encounters numerous crazy characters and sexual situations played by some legendary movie actors.
The Fortune Cookie
A crooked lawyer persuades his brother-in-law to feign a serious injury in order to collect a big insurance payout.
Mirage
New York City. David Stillwell struggles to recover his memory before the people who are trying to kill him succeed. Who is he, who are they, and why is he surrounded by murder?
Goodbye Charlie
When a cavorting Hollywood writer is killed by the angry husband of a woman he was having an affair with, he comes back as a spirit in the form of a beautiful woman and moves in with his/her best friend as a base operation for enacting sweet revenge.
Fail-Safe
Because of a technical defect an American bomber team mistakenly orders the destruction of Moscow. The President of the United States has but little time to prevent an atomic catastrophe from occurring. Director Sidney Lumet gives an atmospheric vision of the future with a Cold War backdrop.
Ensign Pulver
1945, on an old cargo ship somewhere deep in the Pacific ocean: Captain Morton strives to become commander, so he demands the maximum quality of work from his crew, without granting them any freedom or favors - ignoring that they're thousand of miles away from the front. In one word: he drives his crew crazy.
Charade
After Regina Lampert falls for the dashing Peter Joshua on a skiing holiday in the French Alps, she discovers upon her return to Paris that her husband has been murdered.
Who's Got the Action?
A lawyer begins to win after his wife secretly becomes his bookie to save their money.
Lonely Are the Brave
A fiercely independent cowboy arranges to have himself locked up in jail in order to then escape with an old friend who has been sentenced to the penitentiary.
Strangers When We Meet
A suburban architect loves his wife but is bored with his marriage and with his work, so he takes up with the neglected, married beauty who lives down the street.
Voice in the Mirror
Jim Burton, chronic alcoholic, is cared for by Ellen, his incredibly patient, sexy, hard-working wife. A doctor's warning that Jim could become mentally ill strikes enough fear into him that he really wants to cure himself...but can't. One night, he meets William Tobin, a fellow drunk, and finds that he helps himself by trying to help Tobin.
Ride a Crooked Trail
Fugitive bank robber Joe Maybe assumes the identity of a dead marshal after he rides into a town whose judge asks Joe to act as town marshal, but an old flame almost betrays his real identity, forcing Joe to claim she's his wife.
King Creole
Danny Fisher, young delinquent, flunks out of high school. He quits his job as a busboy in a nightclub, and one night he gets the chance to perform. Success is imminent and the local crime boss Maxie Fields wants to hire him to perform at his night club The Blue Shade. Danny refuses, but Fields won't take no for an answer.
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
A rookie assistant DA is assigned to investigate the murder of a longshoreman, killed for exposing gangster involvement on the piers, and meets up with a "code of silence" amongst all potential witnesses.
A Face in the Crowd
"A Face in the Crowd" charts the rise of a raucous hayseed named Lonesome Rhodes from itinerant Ozark guitar picker to local media rabble-rouser to TV superstar and political king-maker. Marcia Jeffries is the innocent Sarah Lawrence girl who discovers the great man in a back-country jail and is the first to fall under his spell
Bigger Than Life
Bigger Than Life is an American film made in 1956 directed by Nicholas Ray and starring James Mason, who also co-wrote and produced the film, about a school teacher and family man whose life spins out of control upon becoming addicted to cortisone.
The Kentuckian
A frontiersman and his son fight to build a new home in Texas.
The Indian Fighter
A scout leading a wagon train through hostile Indian country unwittingly gets involved with a Sioux chief's daughter