The Cinematic Dustbin: Special "Buddy Buddy" Edition

In the inaugural post of What Makes Jeffy Run's new "Cinematic Dustbin" series, I listed "films that probably shouldn't exist, but do" as the only criteria for inclusion.  To argue that any film directed by the legendary Billy Wilder shouldn't exist seems foolish, especially when said film was co-written by Wilder's long time collaborator I.A.L. Diamond.  But we're making an exception for 1981's "Buddy Buddy", Wilder's final film, due to the following:

1. Wilder himself has disavowed the picture.  Whether wistfully declaring that "you hate to strike out on your last picture" or flatly stating that if he met a personified group of his pictures on the street he'd ignore "Buddy Buddy", it's clear that Wilder had little affection for the film, even looking back at it years later.

2. Klaus Kinski disavowed the picture, and he was insane(for evidence of this see the documentary "My Best Fiend" or read the memoir "Kinski Uncut"). Kinski had a supporting role in the film and proclaimed: "The only good thing about Buddy Buddy is that very few people saw it."

3. It pains us to say it, but Billy and Klaus are correct.  In spite of the presence of famed comedy duo Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, the film never manages to wrest more than an occasional chuckle from its grim subject matter.  Matthau is a hired killer setting up shop in a hotel room across the street from the courthouse so he can take out a mob informant.  Lemmon has checked into the room next door and is distracting Matthau from his work with his repeated attempts to kill himself.  Meanwhile, Lemmon's wife has checked herself into a sex clinic run by a lunatic doctor played by Kinski.  Some of this might have been funny if it were handled properly, but instead nearly all of it falls flat.

4. The film has never been released in the U.S. on DVD, and now Netflix has apparently decided to squelch it completely.  In a very odd turn of events, I happened to be looking around for a copy of this film for some research into Billy Wilder's last few films.  I was able to track down a VHS rental copy from the fabled Eddie Brandt's Saturday Matinee in North Hollywood, and then have it bumped up to DVD.  After all this, I came home to discover, two nights ago, that suddenly "Buddy Buddy" was available on Netflix instant streaming.  Having been warned that the VHS was a pretty scuzzy pan and scan version, I was excited to discover that Netflix was streaming the film in its original widescreen format.  Fast forward to the next evening, less than 24 hours later, and "Buddy Buddy" seemed to have vanished entirely from the Netflix site.  The only trace of it I was able to find was when I looked in my Instant Streaming history.  The title had been entered incorrectly as "Buddy, Buddy" and there was a grey box in the corner of the screen which read "unavailable."

I can think of three potential reasons for this.  Netflix is constantly forging new licensing deals for instant streaming on their site and it's possible that the license for this film may have expired.  Why a license would expire on September 8th, I don't know, but I suppose it's possible.  The second possible reason is that MGM, who produced and distributed the film, has been fighting a losing battle with bankruptcy for the better part of two years, and maybe "Buddy Buddy" fell victim to those negotiations.

But I prefer to think that Billy Wilder, Jack Lemmon, Klaus Kinski, and Wather Matthau were sitting around playing poker in the afterlife and all agreed that it was time for "Buddy Buddy" to join them.