The Out Of Towners (1970)

A small town Ohio businessman (Jack Lemmon) accompanied by his wife (Sandy Dennis) goes on a business trip to New York where he is a candidate for a prestigious position at corporate headquarters. However, they're not even off the plane before the New York visit turns into a nightmare of epic proportions. As in Murphy's law, everything that could go wrong does go wrong. Written by Neil Simon and directed by Arthur Hiller (AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY). This cornucopia of laughter may be Neil Simon's finest cinematic hour. Lemmon and Dennis have mannerisms that are problematic in that they can often be annoying however it's those very mannerisms that often infuse their work (in the right roles) to acting heights. Here, Lemmon's exhausting high strung act fits in perfectly and this is my favorite Sandy Dennis performance (some of her line readings are priceless). Manhattan doesn't come across very nice (it's okay, it can take it) but it's all in good fun. Remade in 1999 with Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn but they monkeyed around with it and lost their way. With Anne Meara, Billy Dee Williams, Paul Dooley, Sandy Baron, Ron Carey, Ann Prentiss and Anthony Holland.