jblowzir Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Recently Robert Osborne introduced a screening of Bullitt and mentioned that Walter Matthau had an unbilled bit part in the film. Curious, I tried to find the scene. Folks online pointed to a scene where Bullitt requests a car from the auto pool and is informed by a desk clerk (presumably Matthau) that no cars are available. The scene takes place at about the 75 or 80 minute mark. I can’t deny that the clerk looks a bit like Matthau, but I have a hard time believing that he’d have taken such a nothing role at that point in his career. By 1968 he’d already played a bunch of important lead roles (The Odd Couple was in the can, The Fortune Cookie, Charade, Lonely are the Brave, and many more.) Can anyone confirm or deny that Matthau appears in the film, and if so, in what scene? Edited by: jblowzir on Nov 14, 2012 7:28 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 I can't confirm it. But I can't find it hard to believe, either. Matthau had a gamling problem and wasn't above taking anything that might have helped pay off his debts. Witness his comic relief non-speaking role in *Earthquake* . That and all that plaster-of Paris his wife put on her face must have cost a FORTUNE! Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markfp2 Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 I don't know about this one, but it not all that uncommon for well-known actors to do a little uncredited "bit" in some movie. Often it's as a favor to the director who may be a friend or just as a inside joke between them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 In the realm of "free association", are you aware that Dean Martin had an unbilled cameo as a bum in Sinatra's COME BLOW YOUR HORN? I didn't notice him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 And what was the name of that Bob Hope comedy/western where during the gunfight scene, all sorts of noted "western" stars have cameos in where THEY were the ones providing the dead-eye shooting? Even BING CROSBY shows up claiming, "This kid needs all the help he can GET!" I have other examples in the back of my head, but can't come up with the details. HATE when that happens. Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Thank you. Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 I heard a similar rumor about Jack Benny appearing as an extra in *Casablanca* (1943). I've never been able to spot him though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo2 Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Okay, I've just checked IMDb's complete(including the uncredited) list of cast and crew for the movie in question here, and there were two "clerks" listed...one says "Desk Clerk" and it was played by actor Al Checco here.. ...who I suppose might be considered to look a little like Matthau. The other just says "clerk", and it shows an actor by the name of Thomas Duncan playing that part, though unfortunately I could not find an internet picture of that gentleman. And so, unless Matthau might have used the pseudonym of "Thomas Duncan" in this baby, much as Steve McQueen used to sometimes race motorcycles under the name of "Harvey Mushman" in order to hide his identity from the starstruck and the movie honchos who didn't particularly care for the idea of their star actor racing motorcycles, I'd say it was probably Mr.Checco who has been mistaken for Matthau over the years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfpcc1 Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 I really don't see the resembelence to Walter Matthau. The only thing I see in common in the weary **** of look in their faces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 By way of comparison, Paul Newman used to race automobiles under the name "Paul Newman". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo2 Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 sfpcc1 wrote: I really don't see the resembelence to Walter Matthau. The only thing I see in common in the weary **** of look in their faces. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (I just can't resist the following here now...and so taking a page out of Bob Hope's playbook when he said that now famous line about Democrats in The Ghost Breakers and which has gone viral in YouTube the last few years...) OH! You mean just like a lot of Republicans have on THEIR faces now after the last election??? ROFL Sorry, but like I said, I JUST couldn't resist this one...especially 'cause your setup was just SO freakin' PERFECT for it, sfpcc1...thanks dude! (...continuing to ROFL) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo2 Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 And NOW...finance wrote: By way of comparison, Paul Newman used to race automobiles under the name "Paul Newman". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, that's true finance, EXCEPT for those times he'd blacked out one of his front teeth and raced under the name "Alfred E." Newman! (...betcha didn't know THAT, did ya smart guy?!!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo2 Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Oh, btw finance ol' buddy. Ya wanna hear MY Matthau impression here? NO?! Well, here it goes anyway... "finansh! You're drivin' me CRAYSHE, finansh!" (...pretty good, huh?!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo2 Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Yep, that's a good catch, clore! (...yep, nothin' says "Hangdog" like BOTH Matthau AND Shull there, alright!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Since calling someone a "poor man's Matthau" implies that he wasn't as good-looking as Matthau, I imagine that his face could have, as they say, stopped a truck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo2 Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Well, not to nitpick here finance, but while I HAVE heard the expression that someone was SO homely that their face could metaphorically "stop a clock", I'm wonderin' here how or why someone would say a person's face "COULD have stopped a truck"? Now, not that I doubt someone somewhere HAS said that, but wouldn't it make a little more sense if that someone would say somethin' like THIS instead?: "That guy/gal's face MUST have stopped a truck!" ? You see, especially in the case of Messrs. Matthau AND Shull here, as it pretty much appears that both these gentlemen just MIGHT have INDEED "stopped a truck" with their face SOMETIME in the past...RIGHT?! (...the issue of "past tense" being the operative here, you see!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfpcc1 Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 When it first stated as short on the Tracy Ullman show Homer's voice sounded kind of like Walter Matthau's. The voice changed a season or two into the show long run. Watch an episode from season One or Two and compare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo2 Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Yep, very true, sfp. Early on Homer did indeed slur his speech with that "-sh" sound added, and just as did Matthau. (...and like I did earlier when I was doin' my "impression" of him to finance) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo2 Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 LOL Gotta say I like the way you split the difference here, finance ol' buddy! (...ya know I'm thinkin' those fellas in Washington just might be able to use your help to avoid this here whole "Cliff" thing that's comin' up, huh!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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