The Prisoner of Second Avenue

I must confess I have a bias for films of the seventies. Most of my all time favourite films were made in that decade and this is one of them.

Jack Lemmon is a New York middle executive who is retrenched. We watch as he slides into depression. Their is some fine humour in this film, which, incidentally was not well received critically, but it is really the underlying drama that makes this such a great film. It is an intensely personal film for me and, apart from some overacting, there is little I can criticise. It is an incisive and briskly paced comedy drama which I never tire of viewing.

By the way, watch out for cameos by pre-fame Sylvester Stallone and F. Murray Abraham.

Mel Edison (Jack Lemmon) and his wife Edna Edison (Ann Bancroft) live lives of quiet desperation in an expensive yet shabbily constructed New York apartment with loud and obnoxious neighbors that they do not know nor do they want to know. Then Mel loses his job at age 48 after 22 years with the same firm. He says he was fired, but the modern term is laid off because it was not that he did something wrong, his employer, for whatever reason, just didn't need him anymore. So Mel's quiet desperation becomes louder as weeks turn to months and he can't find employment. Meanwhile, his wife has gone back to work and he feels less and less part of her life as she now comes home with the workplace stories instead of him. Will Mel ever find employment again? Will he ultimately crack up? Watch and find out.

This film just seems to try too hard with the voice over joke news flashes about what was modern urban life in the 1970s and the quirky extended family members. But the parade had passed it by with it seeming to retread ground first broken by All In the Family five years before. What saves it are the performances of the cast, and not just the main cast. Quite a few future famous actors have bit parts in this and it's a delight when they pop up. M.. Emmett Walsh is the apartment doorman. 1984 Best Actor Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham is a cab driver. And probably the funniest cameo appearance is unknown Sylvester Stallone as a young man who is chased through the streets of New York by an angry Mel, who thinks Stallone has stolen his wallet and he is determined to get it back.

When Mel is going to work and noticing that more and more of his coworkers are disappearing to the point where he is the last guy in the office, you might wonder why he didn't see the writing on the wall and go look for another job. After all it's easier to find another job when you still have one. The reason for this inaction is that this was made at a time when the concept of being "laid off" was a new one. From the end of WWII up until about 1970 you either got fired for being incompetent at your job or being dishonest or you had employment until you retired. That's an odd concept today when workers are perpetual - and pensionless - moving targets.

Being a Jack Lemmon fan, I can't help but be biased when it comes to watching his films. But I have to say, even by Lemmon's standards, "Prisoner" is one of his finest performances. He displays a broad range of emotion as Mel Edison, a corporate exec who falls victim to the unemployment crisis of the seventies. Anne Bancroft is nicely cast as his wife, Edna--it's almost hard to believe watching this film that this is the same woman who played in "G.I. Jane" as a crooked senator. And, although another viewer here frowned upon the casting of Gene Saks' as Mel's brother Harry, I always enjoy seeing the director in front of the camera (Saks directed another of my faves, "The Odd Couple"). The direction is pretty tight, and the interludes between acts include humorous voice-overs from a fictional radio announcer (you'll have to listen closely to catch some of the jokes). Look for Sylvester Stallone in a cameo appearance. I heartily recommend this film to all Jack Lemmon fans, as well as to those who enjoy a good comedy that's not all slapstick and guffaws.

Maybe this movie was our rental choice because Anne Bancroft had just died, and "Prisoner" is now on DVD - I'm not sure why we took it, but I'm glad we did! It is definitely comedy toward the dark side, and the mechanisms of life have changed, but the human element is stronger than the 1970's decor and you feel like you know these people. Maybe you don't want to live next to them, but you know them. It's not that dated - aren't we still discussing the prevalence of crime, gay rights, organic food and the effect of talk radio? Anne Bancroft was totally wonderful, it was fun to see Gene Saks - never a big star, but a wonderful actor, and Jack Lemmon was Jack Lemmon, which was perfect.

For some reason, I only think us New Yorkers would appreciate this movie, but maybe not.

Anyone aware of what Manhattan was like in the 1970s will know this movie really nailed it; it terms of location shots, attitudes, Jewish stereotypes, and so on. This was a pre-Koch time in New York (May he rest in peace- he just passed a couple days ago. Great mayor, great person) and city was at the beginning stages of becoming an open sewer.

Street scenes will surprise all modern-day Manhattanites; I watched this movie several times, and there's not a single store or shop around then that survives today. (Near 87th & 2nd Ave.) So sad.

Jack Lemmon's character was funny, from start to finish, without TRYING to be funny. Always a treat- watch for Sly Stallone as a "mugger."