Explaining Walter Matthau Disease
Back in 2015, I started a movie podcast with former Rockford Register Star colleagues Will Pfeifer, Kevin Haas, and Ben Stanley. The podcast, called Out of Theaters, had a simple premise: Will would introduce old ("""classic""") films to his younger co-hosts, and then explain to us how and why we were simpletons for not appreciating the film.
It was a fun and intensely time-consuming project.
We did a couple of pre-production test episodes which were never been released to the public. That was for good reason: They were awful. We shared a single mic. We had no format or structure. It was a free-for-all. But the enduring legacy of those tests? The concept of Walter Matthau Disease.
One of films we tested was 1974's The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, which stars the aforementioned Matthau. I don't remember much of the plot of that movie. I'm sure I said it was fine. But what I can tell you is that despite being 53 years young at the time of filming, Matthau looks exactly the same as I had always known him. There was essentially no difference between Matthau's appearance in the early 1970s and his appearance in the late 1990s.
Once we started talking about the concept, we realized there are many other people who suffer the same debilitating condition. Eugene Levy. Betty White. Morgan Freeman. James Cromwell. Steve Martin. Even Matthau's The Taking of Pelham One Two Three co-star Jerry Stiller suffered from Walter Matthau Disease.
Once you're aware of this serious and unfortunate condition, you'll see it everywhere. Please do what you can to spread awareness.