As you’ve hopefully been notified by a letter from the government, the interruption of news broadcasts, or a series of terrifying premonitions, this Friday sees the release of “Pixels,” in which aliens attack the Earth pretending to be ’80s video game characters, for reasons surely scribbled on the back of a napkin by a screenwriter. It’s notable partly for being one of the more unpromising movies of the summer of 2015, but also because it is the seventh film in which Adam Sandler and Kevin James have paired up.
Both are talented comic actors (Sandler is great in “Punch Drunk Love” and “Funny People,” and James is legitimately charming in “Hitch”) who’ve become to a certain audience a modern-day Hope and Crosby, thanks to movies like “Grown Ups,” “I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry” and now this film, in which James plays the President (!) who enlists an old friend (Sandler) to help battle the alien invasion. But to us, they’ve become a sign that a film is going to be no fun at all.
Nevertheless, the film’s release this coming weekend got us thinking about some of the other frequently-paired actors and actresses from cinema history: two stars with their own independent careers but who became doubly famous as a duo. Here are ten of our favorites, from pre-code detective to modern-day comics —we have avoided pairs who only appeared in sequels together (i.e Danny Glover and Mel Gibson). Take a look below and let us know your own personal faves in the comments.
Myrna Loy/William Powell
Shared Filmography: “Manhattan Melodrama” (1934), “The Thin Man” (1934), “Evelyn Prentice” (1934), “The Great Ziegfeld” (1936), “Libeled Lady” (1936), “After The Thin Man” (1936), “Double Wedding” (1937), “Another Thin Man” (1939), “I Love You Again” (1940), “Love Crazy” (1941), “Shadow Of The Thin Man” (1941), “The Thin Man Goes Home” (1945), “Song Of The Thin Man” (1947), “The Senator Was Indiscreet” (1947)
The old studio system made it easier for stars to be paired up together in the long term: if you were contracted to the same bosses and proved to be a profitable duo, you were bound to have a bunch more projects lined up. But few partnerships, especially platonic ones, had the longevity of Myrna Loy and William Powell. From the Clark Gable co-starring “Manhattan Melodrama” (the movie that John Dilllinger saw just before he was shot to death) through to “The Senator Was Indiscreet” thirteen years later, the pair starred in fourteen films together, including six in the “Thin Man” series of detective movies based on Dashiel Hammett’s book. Though the two made other good movies (‘Melodrama’ and musical classic “The Great Ziegfeld” perhaps the best among them), they’re probably still best known as Nick and Nora Charles, the booze-soaked, fast-talking married sleuths of “The Thin Man” movies. They look heavenly together, each beautiful in a vaguely goofy way and sharing a sort of Platonic ideal of screen chemistry —you believe that the Charleses are perfectly matched, both the best of friends and the greatest of lovers. Even in the weaker movies in the series, their fizzling pairing is enough to justify a watch.
Best Film Together: “The Thin Man” just edges out “The Great Ziegfeld” for us.
Typical Quote:
Nick (Powell): “Oh, it’s all right, Joe, it’s all right. It’s my dog. And, uh, my wife.”
Nora (Loy): “Well, you might have mentioned me first on the billing.”
Richard Pryor/Gene Wilder
Shared Filmography: “Silver Streak” (1976), “Stir Crazy” (1980), “See No Evil, Hear No Evil” (1989), “Another You” (1991)
Pryor and Wilder were actually first due to work together in 1974, on Mel Brooks‘ “Blazing Saddles,” for which Pryor gets a co-writing credit. But apparently due to Pryor’s unbackability after a string of notoriously caustic and controversial stand-up shows, Cleavon Little was cast in that role instead. So it was a couple of years later that this onscreen partnership was established, via the train-based comedy thriller “Silver Streak.” Apparently in their very first scene together, Pryor improvised and Wilder responded. He was “not trying to be clever,” he said later, “which is the death trap of improvisation” but it worked and they continued. “He’d say a line, and I’d say a line and he’d go back to the script and come away again, and everything we did together was like that,” said Wilder. But their partnership was not untroubled: Pryor’s addictions impeded the production of “Stir Crazy” —he’d be late, unreliable and truculent, and by their final disappointing team-up, “Another You,” Pryor’s physical deterioration due to MS was noticeable. Still, probably because of the improvisatory vibe as well as the inherently comical clash of their personas, there’s an alchemy to their best moments that transcends the sometimes subpar material.
Best Film Together: “Stir Crazy”
Typical Quote:
Skip (Wilder): This filthy, roach-ridden reality is inspiring… what did that second policeman say to you when he grabbed you by the throat?
Harry (Pryor): Man, I don’t fucking believe you!
Skip: “Man, I don’t fucking believe you!” Fabulous!
Al Pacino/John Cazale
Shared Filmography: “The Godfather” (1972), “The Godfather Part II” (1974), “Dog Day Afternoon” (1975)
We’re bending our own non-sequel rules a little here because a) it’s the greatest sequel of all time and b) Cazale only made five features (all Best Picture nominees, three won), three of which co-starred Pacino. The two had been friends for a while, working at Standard Oil and living together when both were struggling actors, and when their break came in the roles of brothers Michael and Fredo Corleone in “The Godfather” movies, it was an onscreen partnership that would typify their complementary styles: Cazale, perhaps one of the greatest reactors ever in cinema playing the weaker, resentful older brother to Pacino’s brooding, volatile, cunning Michael. But there’s an inherent humanity to Cazale’s Fredo that helps us feel for him —it was a soulfulness he brought to every role, and was enhanced by contrast to Pacino’s quicker, more mercurial presence. Pacino would later say “I learned more about acting from John than from anybody” and the legacy he built prior to his death from cancer at 42 suggests he’d now be in a simlar pantheon to his friend had he lived. And we also must wonder what Pacino’s career would have been in that case, with the actor saying “All I wanted to do was work with John for the rest of my life. He was my acting partner.”
Best Film Together: All three are obviously stone-cold classics, but the one that showcases their chemistry most prominently is probably “Dog Day Afternoon”
Typical Quote: [apparently this exchange was improvised]
Sonny (Pacino): There’s no coming back, so if there’s anybody special you want to say goodbye to, do it now. Is there any special country you want to go to?
Sal (Cazale): … Wyoming?