grumpy old men

Director: donald petrie

Actor: jack lemmon,walter matthau,ann-margret,burgess meredith

Data Published: Sat Dec 25 1993

Genres: Comedy,Drama,Romance

Key Words: frozen lake,original story,middle age romance,irs,neighbor

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107050/

WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumpy_Old_Men_(film)

Description: Grumpy Old Men is a movie starring Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, and Ann-Margret. A lifelong feud between two neighbors since childhood only gets worse when a new female neighbor moves across the street.

Plot: Retirees John Gustafson (Lemmon), a former high school history teacher, and Max Goldman (Matthau), who was a TV repairman, are childhood friends, longtime rivals and next-door neighbors in Wabasha, Minnesota. Their rivalry began decades earlier when John married Max's high school sweetheart, May. John and May eventually divorced after 20 years. John has a daughter, Melanie (Daryl Hannah), who is having marital problems, and had a son, Brian, who died in Vietnam. Max went on to marry Amy and had a son, Jacob (Kevin Pollak). Max never regretted marrying Amy, and thought their marriage was the best thing that ever happened to him. Despite their differences, both men lead boring and lonely single lives, and share a love for ice fishing, as well as competing, arguing, insulting, and pulling cruel practical jokes on each other. However, John has a problem that Max doesn't: he owes tens of thousands of dollars in back taxes to the Internal Revenue Service, and is going to great lengths to avoid agent Elliot Snyder (Buck Henry). When beautiful college professor Ariel Truax (Ann-Margret) moves in across the street, Max and John's rivalry is renewed as they compete for her attention. Early on, Ariel spends time with Max, which secretly upsets John. While fighting with Max, John inadvertently opens the door to find Agent Snyder and is forced to meet with him. Things do not end all badly for John, however: Ariel decides to cook him dinner and they spend the evening together. As Ariel spends more and more time with John, Max becomes angry, eventually ramming his truck into John's fishing shanty to push it into the lake. John and Max quarrel, with Max accusing John of stealing Ariel away like he did May. John points out May's sexual prowess, arguing that he saved Max from an unhappy marriage and that Max was better off with Amy because she was a loving and loyal wife. Although Max agrees, he notes that John will have no way to support Ariel when the IRS takes his house. Max's attempt at shame works, and John breaks up with Ariel despite having fallen in love with her. Ariel is offended and soon takes up with Max, while John sinks into a deep depression. On Christmas Eve, the depressed John becomes even more upset when he learns that his daughter Melanie has forgiven her husband Michael, whom John dislikes. After trying to convince Melanie to go through with her divorce, he fights with Michael over his mistreatment of Melanie and orders him to leave. John storms out of the house and heads to the local bar. Max's son Jacob witnesses the end of the argument and convinces Max to go talk to John. At the bar, John admits to Max that he loves Ariel and believes Max doesn't understand how depressed he was over letting her go. He tells Max that none of it matters anymore because he got what he wanted in the end. When John decides to go home, Max follows John into the snow, wanting to make things right. By the time Max catches up to John, he finds him in a snow drift, experiencing a massive heart attack. After seeing John in the hospital, Max tells Ariel what happened. She rushes to John's bedside, and the two reconcile as he recovers. Max decides to step aside and let Ariel be with John. Max tries to help John with his taxes, but because of the penalties induced by late payments, Snyder informs him that John owes $57,000, forcing John to sell his house in order to raise the large sum. Angered by Snyder's lack of sympathy, Max pays him back by pulling pranks and by getting his son Jacob, who has just been elected mayor, to block the sale of John's house. Winter turns to spring, and John and Ariel get married. As a wedding gift, Max reveals to John that he was able to get John's tax debt reduced to the just over $13,000 that John originally owed and that Max paid it off himself. Max then goes off to a local dance sponsored by the VFW, while a newly single Melanie who is officially divorced and Jacob, left home alone, begin a new romance with each other.