BEST WALTER MATTHAU MOVIES

“The Odd Couple” (1968) You can’t do a list of Matthau’s best without this iconic Neil Simon comedy about mismatched roommates Felix and Oscar (Jack Lemmon, Matthau).

“Cactus Flower” (1969) Goldie Hawn earned an Academy Award as the much-younger girlfriend of a dentist (Matthau) who uses his nurse (Ingrid Bergman) in a relationship ploy.

“Kotch” (1971) Directed by friend and frequent colleague Jack Lemmon, Matthau plays a senior citizen trying to avoid a nursing-home residency.

“Charley Varrick” (1973) Director Don Siegel’s twisty-turny bank-heist drama boasts an excellent Matthau in the title role.

“Earthquake” (1974) He goes by an alias in an extended cameo in this disaster classic, but Matthau is unmistakable as a bar patron virtually oblivious to the place crumbling around him.

“The Sunshine Boys” (1975) Matthau and George Burns (the latter winning an Oscar here) are expectedly solid as uncomfortably reunited vaudeville veterans in another Neil Simon tale.

“The Bad News Bears” (1976) Arguably Matthau’s most popular movie for all ages casts him as the unlikely coach of a struggling Little League baseball team.

“House Calls” (1978) Matthau and Glenda Jackson are delightful together as a doctor and patient who start a personal relationship.

“Hopscotch” (1980) Reunited with the previous film’s Jackson, Matthau has fun in this light espionage tale as a CIA veteran who worries others with his plans for a tell-all memoir.

“First Monday in October” (1981) A properly authoritative Matthau plays a Supreme Court justice who collides with the first female appointee (Jill Clayburgh).

“Grumpy Old Men” (1993) Matthau and Jack Lemmon reunited as neighbors and longtime rivals who are, indeed, grumpy.