The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975)

It's not surprising to see some bad scores for this challenging little film. If you know nothing about it, be warned: this is one of the blackest 'comedies' you're ever going to encounter. But it's also one of Neil Simon's best works, cutting much deeper and sharper than simple little farces like The Odd Couple.Prisoner of Second Avenue tells the tale of a man coming totally unglued under the pressures of the modern world. Jack Lemmon plays a modern Job, suffering every trial a sadistic - but very up-to-date - God could imagine. Neil Simon brilliantly weaves in a gleam of underlying humor, which Lemmon brings out with his usual skill. But it's never more than a gleam; you have to be sensitive to it, or this film will seem like a dreary ordeal.In fact, far from being dreary, this is a remarkably joyous, uplifting film. It shows us that hope is always just inches away, if we can only see it. Our crushing problems are largely internal: what matters is how we meet them. Seeing that lesson, of course, is the challenge. Like the song says, when you've been down so long, it starts to look like up to you.Aside from its clever writing and fine performances, Prisoner of Second Avenue features some great New York ambiance, and a real feel for its time. This is a more personal, less-theatrical, less-contrived film than most of Simon's works.The Prisoner of Second Avenue is not just entertaining; it's therapeutic. Open yourself to the slightly masochistic pleasure of wallowing in it, and feel your own aches and neuroses burn away!

Movies like the Prisoner of Second Avenue, from the mid-1970's, make us realize how much the world has changed. New York City was typical of the times with property crime, unemployment, recession, union strikes, power outages, etc. making people feel uncomfortable with the quality of everyday life. When Mel suddenly loses his job after 22 years with the same company, he suffers from the anxiety of a man trying to find an explanation. Going over the edge, he takes to shouting mild expletives from his balcony at the prim and proper neighbours overhead. In those day, words like ass and hell were considered unfit for public use. Mel gets a bucket of water thrown at him for using such language within the earshot of children. The repartee between Edna and Mel is funny and off the wall but not nearly as much as the baby boom humour of the 1970's was to people at the time. The acting of Jack Lemmon as Mel and Anne Bancroft as Edna is outstanding although the lines have lost their zing. His tirades against the world and the plot against the working class is much less targeted than today's politics and the world of the one per cent. In those days, people were lashing out; now they want action against the rich, against ISIS, Not only have times changed but we don't joke about more sinister crimes like mass shootings, or attacks and bombings against innocents by groups far more dangerous than muggers and burglars. Traditional crime is down, only now replaced by fear of more serious crime. One amusing scene shows Mel chasing a young Sylvestre Stallone across the lawns and terraces of Central Park. Eventually Mel tackles and brings down the guy he sees as a young punk. A victory for him against the forces of evil? It is interesting to see his response. It is also informative to see how the couple come to terms with the changed circumstances.

I'll admit from the off, I am slightly biased as I love Jack Lemmon, and Neil Simon seems to bring out the best in him The Prisoner Of Second Avenue is a lot of fun, I really enjoyed it. Plot In A Paragraph: Executive Mel Edison has a nervous breakdown when he suddenly finds himself unemployed. I'm a Jack Lemmon fan anyway, so I enjoy most things that he stars in, and I always enjoy seeing him on screen. It's also fun to see a young pre-Rocky Sly Stallone in another of his early roles. Sly only has the one scene (Available on YouTube) as he attempts to pickpocket Jack Lemmon and a fed up Lemmon snaps, before he turns the tables on him and pursues him through Central Park.

Neil Simon's The Prisoner of Second Avenue ran for 798 performances on Broadway for the better part of two years in 1971-73. Peter Falk and Lee Grant played the parts that movie names Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft took over. Essentially it is a two person play without a lot of character development for anyone else. Lemmon and Bancroft are Mr.&Mrs Mel and Edna Edison and the ever patient Edna as the film opens is listening to one of Mel's patented rants about how the world is just victimizing him. It seems that way as among other things the apartment is robbed, Lemmon loses his job, he becomes a crime victim, and even the neighbor upstairs tired of listening to him, douses Lemmon with a bucket of water. Eventually Lemmon becomes a candidate for the rubber room. Bancroft thinks if they can just get out of the New York City rat race, Lemmon might become a human being.For which task she enlists her brother and sisters-in-law. In the end however the roles are reversed. The Prisoner of Second Avenue doesn't quite succeed as much as Simon's other work like The Odd Couple or The Sunshine Boys. Like them it depends on the skill and chemistry of the leads. Fortunately Lemmon and Bancroft have skill in abundance. Still I came away from watching this wondering exactly what did I just see. The plot is almost non-existent, but if you like both the leads than don't miss this film.