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Grumpy Old Men
Directed by	Donald Petrie
Produced by	John Davis
Written by	Mark Steven Johnson
Starring	Jack Lemmon Walter Matthau Ann-Margaret Burgess Meredith Daryl Hannah Kevin Pollak
Music by	Alan Silvestri
Cinematography	Johnny E. Jensen
Editing by	Bonnie Koehler
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	December 25, 1993 (U.S. release)
Running time	103 min.
Language	English
Budget	$35.1 million
Followed by	Grumpier Old Men
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Grumpy Old Men is a 1993 Warner Bros. comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, and Ann-Margret, with Burgess Meredith, Daryl Hannah, Kevin Pollak, Katie Sagona, Ossie Davis, and Buck Henry.

Directed by Donald Petrie, the screenplay was written by Mark Steven Johnson, who also wrote the sequel, Grumpier Old Men (1995).

Two elderly men, John Gustafson (Lemmon), a retired history teacher, and Max Goldman (Matthau), a retired television repairman live in Wabasha, Minnesota. Both are widowers. Despite having been friends early in life, and living next door to each other for years, the men do not get along and argue incessantly.

Subplots involve John's daughter Melanie (Hannah), who is going through a separation with her husband, Mike; Max's son Jacob (Pollak), who is running for mayor of Wabasha; John's 94 year old father, "Grandpa Gustafson", or "G.W" (Meredith), who enjoys talking about women, drinking beer and fishing; and John's troubles with the IRS, to whom he owes $57,000 in back taxes, late fees, and penalties (which he is determined to avoid).

Ariel, an attractive widow and former art teacher (Ann-Margret) moves into the house directly across the street from Gustafson and Goldman. Both the men find themselves competing to win Ariel's heart, but ultimately Ariel and John find themselves falling in love, which annoys Max. Eventually, the feud reaches a pinnacle when their arguments and pranks get worse. Eventually John gives up and breaks it off with Ariel (thinking that Max deserves her more), and starts to stew inside with things coming to a head on Christmas Eve when Melanie and Mike (who decide to patch things up temporarily) come over and John leaves in a huff to go to a bar.

With Jacob and Melanie's insistence, Max tries to patch things up with John which fails miserably. John leaves, heading for home, but suffers a major heart attack on the way. Max, determined to fix the problems he had with John and Ariel, follows him, only to find him in the snow and being forced to call 911. The heart attack causes Max to realize that John and Ariel are meant for each other. In the meantime, the IRS has obtained a court order to seize John's house to pay off his tax debt, but newly elected mayor Jacob obtains a cease and desist order from the court.

John leaves the hospital and he and Ariel wed, with Max providing a nice wedding gift by paying off John's back taxes. The movie ends with Jacob and John's daughter Melanie appearing to begin a romantic relationship.

Nearly the entire film takes place in the depth of winter, with the final scene in the summer.

• Max: "Morning, dickhead."
  John: "Hello, moron."

• Max: "Why don't you do the world a favor and pull your bottom lip over your head and swallow."

• John: "I've laid more pipe in this town than Wabasha Plumbing!"
• Max: Oh, Slick, you crapped on my newspaper again didn't you?"

• After filming this movie in Minnesota in freezing temperatures, Walter Matthau was hospitalized with double pneumonia.
• Early on Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were considered for the roles of Max & John but due to Martin's poor health nothing ever came of it.

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Grumpy Old Men (film)

• Grumpy Old Men at the Internet Movie Database

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