NEIL SIMON
Neil Simon started out writing the The Sid Caesar Show with greatest comedy writing team of all time which included Mel Brooks,Carl Reiner, Larry Gelbart and later on Woody Allen and these were the ones who went on to become household names. The show had a dozen or so other great comedy writers as well.
So Neil went on to write plays which became movies and the biggest one of the 60's was THE ODD COUPLE. I can't sit through it, it's just two guys screaming at each other for 90 minutes. ( The Tv series is far more watchable)
In the 60's he also wrote BAREFOOT IN THE PARK. The film starred Robert Redford and Jane Fonda and was much better and had less screaming. But most of his other stuff was just unfunny screaming but he got accolades for it.
Finally around 1981 he wrote a film called MAX DUGAN RETURNS which was very good and he he followed it up with a few other good films like BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS and BILOXI BLUES which were more subtle than his earlier work.
I read or heard him say once that he couldn't understand all the fuss about Woody Allen and that was just as successful. There was a big difference.
When he passed away Brooks, Reiner and Allen had very little to say about him or condolences which made me think he wasn't all that likeable.
