Don't Overlook Prisoner —
Neil Simon's Gem Of A Flick
The Prisoner of Second Avenue
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Anne Bancroft, Gene Saks, Sylvester Stallone
Director: Melvin Frank
Movie Help Web Popcorn Kernels:
Plot Summary: A Madison Avenue executive is shown the door, and must deal with the loss of his job with the support of his colorful wife.
Neil Simon not only deserved his Mark Twain Honor at The Kennedy Center, but critics and the public will one day look at his body of work and marvel at the constant level of output and quality over decades. Simon is much like Paul McCartney in that regard. A hit is the norm for these artists, and a smash hit that creates household awareness if just another day at the office.
Working from Simon's richly drawn characters, Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft lay an ordinary New York (city) couple circa 1975 with a level of intensity that captures the city's essence, society's mores and the creation of the stereotypical Valium-popping, overworked high-rise dwellers who personified American city residents for years. Just like Biloxi Blues captured Simon's views of a young man entering the military and Brighton Beach Memoirs nailed growing up a generation earlier, The Prisoner of Second Avenue marks the plight of city dwellers who fought to avoid the suburban exodus and held their ground in small terraced apartments where doormen stood at attention below and battered yellow taxis roamed the streets.
Perhaps most fascinating is the number of subplots Simon leaves partially exposed. They serve as seasoning for the setting, but many, including familial intervention, are introduced and are integral to the plot rather than window dressing. In many ways, The Prisoner of Second Avenue is a richer version of Seinfeld filmed a generation earlier.
Watching The Show
Films like The Prisoner of Second Avenue and The Out of Towners are where Jack Lemmon honed his perfectly timed jittery character wrestling with internal demons. The move he made in that direction was a smart one and certainly one can see the beginnings of the high strung characters he would play later as early as Lemmon's role as Ensign Pulver in Mr. Roberts (1955). By the time of Lemmon's death in 2001, no one played that type of character better -- something he showed in the star-studded Glengarry Glen Ross. Seemingly competent but splitting under pressure while a thin veneer of civility masked some of his movements became an art form by itself in Lemmon's expressive voice and face.
In The Prisoner of Second Avenue, his Mel Edison character loses his job, but can't bear to tell his wife, Edna, played brilliantly by Anne Bancroft. In this ERA Amendment era movie, Bancroft does a wonderful job capturing the formerly repressed homemaker who is escaping her 1950s shackles. Supportive and nurturing, she is still not above telling Mel to shut up and look in the mirror. Finally faced with only a shell of a relationship, Edna approaches her in-laws for financial help. Somehow Bancroft starts off as Vivian Vance in an I Love Lucy episode and ends up as Liza Minelli in Arthur.
Besides watching two amazing actors at the height of their craft, viewers will enjoy seeing a young Sylvester Stallone a year before Rocky made him an international superstar. The immensely talented F. Murray Abraham is also here in a bit role that is more enjoyable for the charisma he always brings to a camera lens. Even famous New York news radio station WINS gets plenty of screen time with cut-ins although the station's call letters are never used.
The Bottom Line, Popcorn Kernels and All
The Prisoner of Second Avenue is a wonderful period piece so nuanced that future generations of viewers may not appreciate the elements Simon writes about. The film was a popular one, but in the year when One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest swept the Oscars, there was no room at the podium for any of the talented trio that make The Prisoner of Second Avenue so enjoyable.
Those watching on DVD will get extras such as a Making Of reel and a segment of Dinah! featuring Bancroft, apparently an old friend, plugging the film.
Five Things To Remember From This Review
1. Neil Simon tackles city life circa 1975 and nails the setting.
2. Jack Lemmon's alternating over confidence and incompetence are a joy to watch from one of the generation's best actors.
3. Anne Bancroft appears in one of her best roles ever.
4. What Oscars Cuckoo's Nest didn't scoop up were nailed by Jaws and Barry Lyndon. It was a good year for films.
5. The Prisoner of Second Avenue has lots of untapped potential and could easily have been spun off into a television show about urban upheaval like All in the Family.
