The In-Laws

When Peter Falk died last week, I thought first of a good friend, who adored him. She believes she was the only teenage girl who had a crush on Columbo. We were discussing his most famous film roles. I mentioned The Princess Bride, Wings of Desire, and his participation in the films of John Cassavetes. He was nominated for an Oscar twice for Best Supporting Actor for Murder, Inc. and A Pocketful of Miracles, two movies that are little-remembered today. He had a small role in one of my favorite comedies, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. But my friend had the definitive answer. "Serpentine!"

She was referring to the 1979 comedy The In-Laws, which I hadn't seen since it first opened but have fond memories of. I watched it again the other day and laughed out loud several times. It really is one of the better pure comedies of the last fifty years.

The In-Laws is a particular genre of comedy--the mismatched buddy films. Another example is Midnight Run. It's when two characters who hardly know each other and either dislike or irritate each other are forced to act together to defeat a common opponent.

Falk is paired with Alan Arkin, who plays a mild-mannered dentist, Sheldon Kornpett (dentist is the go-to profession for meek, law-abiding characters). Arkin's daughter is marrying Falk's son, but they haven't met until two days before the wedding. We are led to believe Falk is some sort of criminal, as the film opens with a robbery of a U.S. Treasury truck for engraving blocks for $500 bills. Falk, making dinner conversation, tells some real whoppers, like seeing children carried off by "tse-tse flies the size of eagles," leaving Arkin staring incredulously. Then Falk hides one of the engravings in Arkin's basement.

It turns out Falk is a CIA agent, and gets Arkin involved in a plot to destroy the Western economies. Arkin gets shot at and then flown to a Carribean island, where he and Falk are again shot at, and meet a wacky general, lovely played by Richard Libertini (he has a Senor Wences painted on his hand).

Written by Andrew Bergman and directed by Arthur Hiller, The In-Laws utilizes the best work of the two leads: Arkin, for his wide-eyed panic (there's a terrific scene where he yells at Falk in a New York City diner), and Falk for his chatty obsequiousness, which was part of his toolkit while playing Columbo. The way the two played off each other was simply genius, and it's too bad they didn't make a series of movies.

The "serpentine" reference refers to when Falk tells Arkin how to avoid gunfire--by running in a serpentine patter. Arkin forgets to do so, and Falk yells, "Serpentine!" so Arkin goes back into range and dutifully runs the way Falk has told him to. Funny stuff.