As a writer, I’ve always marveled at people who adapt books for the screen. On the upside, the scriptwriter gets the benefits of an established story, characters and dialogue. But there are plenty of downsides: How can you turn a beloved novel into a film that fans of the original will accept, along with the moviegoers who simply want to be entertained? How do you capture the magic of the printed page on celluloid? Which parts do you cut and which do you keep? It had to have

Walter Matthau was Jack Lemmon’s frequent co-star and best friend. Lemmon gave the eulogy at Matthau’s funeral, and a year later, was himself laid to rest near his pal in the same cemetery. Leave it to Matthau to capture Lemmon’s essence, which he did at the actor’s AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony: “He allows us to see the tragedy and the comedy of the world through the eyes of someone we know. Someone, he hints, we may even be.” Much as fans love his work in comedies lik