Trivia / Out to Sea

• Actor Allusion: At one point, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau both allude to the other's respective better-known Rom Com:

  Herb: Now that you got this girl, how long is it gonna be before she finds out you're not the man she thought you were?

  Charlie: Well, by then, she'll be in love.

  Herb: In love with a lie.

  Charlie: Nobody's perfect. (smiles)

• All-Star Cast: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Dyan Cannon, Elaine Stritch, Donald O'Connor, Hal Linden, Rue McClanahan, Gloria DeHaven, Edward Mulhare, and Brent Spiner.
• Awesome, Dear Boy: Brent Spiner jumped at the chance of working with Lemmon and Matthau before he even read the script.

  Brent Spiner: When I go to the old folks’ home, I’m gonna be sitting in a rocking chair, telling everybody how I worked with Jack and Walter.

• The Cast Showoff: Brent Spiner does all of his own singing in the film.
  • Donald O'Connor dances his own version of "The Hustle" in one scene. And it is awesome.
  • Elaine Stritch gets a chance to show off her own dance moves with O'Connor when Mavis kicks out Jonathan's dance partner.
• Casting Gag: Edward Mulhare as Cullen Carswell, as his best known role was as sea captain Daniel Gregg on the sitcom The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, a character who also had affections for a blonde woman in a nautical-related setting.
• Critical Dissonance: While Siskel & Ebert gave the film an enthusiastic two thumbs up, it was met with negative-to-lukewarm reviews from other critics, netting a 36% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In contrast, the film currently has a more favorable 52% audience rating and is generally remembered fondly by Matthau and Lemmon fans today.
• Looping Lines: It's painfully obvious that Brent Spiner's Precision F-Strike is redubbed to "freaking" when Gil confronts Herb about Charlie not returning from the restroom.
• Playing Against Type: Brent Spiner, best known for playing the kindly, self-aware android Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation, plays Gil Godwyn, the cruise ship director from hell.
  • Donald O'Connor, generally known for his sunny musicals and comedies in the 1940s and 50s, plays still sweet-faced but salty-talking Jonathan Devereaux.
    Jonathan: I used to have an ass like that.
• Posthumous Credit: Edward Mulhare died of lung cancer on May 24, 1997, less than two months before this film's release.
• Romance on the Set: Brent Spiner and director Martha Coolidge were in a relationship for a few years after filming.
• Special Effects Failure: While still good for the time, the lighting of the actors will give away the obvious Green Screen providing the backgrounds for the scenes of the eclipse and later when Charlie and Herb are in the lifeboat.
  • The film's main poster (seen on the main page) has Walter Matthau's head obviously pasted onto a stand-in posing with Jack Lemmon (the difference in sharpness and obvious fake shadow give it away).
• Technology Marches On: Charlie diverting Carswell with a ship-to-shore call via the ship's phone booth would be done via cell phone today.
  • Gil would have been fired from his job a lot sooner had someone recorded one of his nasty speeches or his last insulting outburst with their phone, as many people have had their behavior exposed this way in Real Life.
• Underage Casting: Elaine Stritch (born 1925) was only 12 years older than her onscreen daughter Dyan Cannon (born 1937), though it's not stated what ages their characters are supposed to be. It's most pronounced when Mavis is playing Mama Bear against Charlie, as Walter Matthau was nearly five years older than Stritch.