Rating: 
Summary: Ballad of a sad New Yorker
Review: ***POSSIBLE SPOILERS***Every day he goes for a stroll. He likes to watch the chess-players in Central Park. After 43 visits to the zoo he is on intimate terms with the monkeys. But Mel Edison (Jack Lemmon) doesn't bless his stars for his idle life: he has lost his job. He saw it coming but he tried to blink all signs of upcoming desaster, and now his old friends have no time for him and he drags himself to the labour exchange. Mel is so ashamed to be out of work ("I still have values! I still have worth!") that he tells his wife Edna (Anne Bancroft) the truth only after their apartment has been ransacked. While she re-enlists in her old job as production assistant, Mel becomes virtually a prisoner in his own apartment where he develops a persecution complex and starts to pester his wife with grotesque insinuations. "The prisoner of second avenue" is a central New York film. For all his desperation, it never occurs to Mel to trade New Yorks smog for the country air, despite his brothers hymn on rural life ("In two years we had just 4 burglaries, 2 attempted rapes and one completed rape") While in "the out-of-towners" Simon told the small-towners: if you can't cope with the life in New York, go back to Ohio!, his message here is very different: Stay and fight! ("This is MY city! We're gonna stay in MY city!"). In fact Lemmon's Neil Simon films make perfect viewing for those long-suffering citizens who cannot identify with Woody Allen... Not only is "the prisoner of second avenue" a raving, insane and terribly funny madhouse of a film, but it offers a real showcase for the talents of its two wonderful stars. For Anne Bancroft it's her finest part since "the miracle worker". Here, at last, she doesn't have to gratify some misogynistic phantasy and play the devouring spider female against a powerless, mumbling male (The Graduate!). Hers is an emphatic and passionate performance. She's alarmed when she notices her husbands changed attitude. His heart-rending wailing keeps her awake all night long, and what can a loving wife tell her husband if he invites her to inhale ("Hey Edna! Wanna smell the garbage?"), or when he embarks on a guerilla war with his neighbors? When he goes into knife-brandishing hysterics before his crack-up, her anxiety is authentic and extremely painful to watch. For Lemmon, this was one of four towering performances in the seventies (The others were "Save the Tiger", "Avanti" and "The China Syndrome"). In fact, this was Lemmons most phenomenal piece of grand-guignol since "Some like it hot" and "The Great Race" and without make up! And yet - this film wasn't a hit. I suspect that he and Neil Simon were just too smart for their own good. This is, after all, a gag-filled comedy, wisecracks are nearly thrown away, and so quick! and the most profound truths are mentioned in passing. Sure, Lemmon was the master of timing. But who asked for timing in 1975? Those were the years when method-acting took completely over. No need for the perfect delivery of a joke. If you know one - stretch it for as long as you can. Lemmon could tell more with a glimpse in his eye than DeNiro with half an hour of staring and molar-clenching. But who cared for it? An unselfish actor like Lemmon worked hard to make his smart performance look easy. Let them see how VERY HARD you work instead... This said, I found Lemmons portrayal of a man who suffers a nervous breakdown accurate in a clinical way. He starts with nervous disorders and imaginary pains, and his performance is so urgent and intense that we can almost smell his writhing discomfort and mental anguish. When he comments the "Want ads" in the newspaper, or when he drops a hint that his wife might be having an affair, his mockery bites. He snickers at himself, laughs in his sleeve and steals a glance at his wife, as if there was a secret truth that only he knows...Later, under the influence of sedatives, he is so self-centered that he barely becomes aware of his company. Lemmons monumental performance was ignored by the academy-members. Why? Well, his psychiatrist's therapy in this film consisted of sedatives and conversations for $50 per hour. He should have seen Jack Nicholsons doctor instead. This one would have prescribed electro-shocks and lobotomy...
Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly the plot is so realistically current again
Review: Being a 70s movie, it had a slow start but then as scene rolls in, the story line suddenly sparkles in the dark and jitters through the nurve with uncanny current realities of recent years. Great flowing script and its a privilege to watch two Maestros (Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft) playing it out in perfect harmony with perfect tune till the very end! Amazing!
Rating:
Summary: Melvin Frank made a masterpiece comedy
Review: It's incredibkle this movie has been so underestimated.
The plot is plenty of laughable situations. A well script and above all the presence of this wonderful couple.
The unique Jack Lemmon and the lovely Anne Bancroft an extraordinary gifted actress. (Miracle worker)
Under no circunstance you should doubt about the virtues of that film, because if you edit the twenty best american comedy films in any age, this film deserves to be in that list.
Rating: 
Summary: A Little Known Neil Simon Gem!
Review: It's really too bad that more people haven't seen or heard of this Neil Simon comedy, because their missing out on one of Simon's best films. This film in ways is like a sequel to Simon's "The Out-Of-Towners". What would of happened to the two lead characters in that film. Played wonderfully by Denise and Lemmon had they stood in New York? I think this is the answer. After Lemmon's "big lawsuite" lol, he probably would have went crazy from the big apple. Wonderful comedy teaming by Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft, I really can't think of anyone else in these roles! Simon, as always delivers a heartfelt, and extremely funny script that will please many. Several funny gags make this a must for Simon gags, and fans of good comedy. A little extra note: Try and spot Syslvester Stallone and F.Murray Abraham in two brief roles. Top notch Simon!
Rating:
Summary: A Little Known Neil Simon Gem!
Review: It's really too bad that more people haven't seen or heard of this Neil Simon comedy, because their missing out on one of Simon's best films. This film in ways is like a sequel to Simon's "The Out-Of-Towners". What would of happened to the two lead characters in that film. Played wonderfully by Denise and Lemmon had they stood in New York? I think this is the answer. After Lemmon's "big lawsuite" lol, he probably would have went crazy from the big apple. Wonderful comedy teaming by Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft, I really can't think of anyone else in these roles! Simon, as always delivers a heartfelt, and extremely funny script that will please many. Several funny gags make this a must for Simon gags, and fans of good comedy. A little extra note: Try and spot Syslvester Stallone and F.Murray Abraham in two brief roles. Top notch Simon!
Rating:
Summary: Quintessential Neil Simon comedy
Review: My favorite team strikes again in this wonderful adaptation of the stage play, that team being Neil Simon and Jack Lemmon. First there was "The Odd Couple", then "The Out-of-Towners", both classics in my opinion. But "The Prisoner of Second Avenue" may be the finest of the three because it allows its players to flex every bit of acting muscle they've got. Lemmon displays a broad range of emotions--convincingly--and has the viewer alternately laughing and crying as the movie progresses. Anne Bancroft is good as his steady, patient wife Edna, who remains true to Mel as he battles his crises. This is a must see, and unless you purchase the video, you'll probably encounter difficulty finding it at the local video store.
Rating:
Summary: Another underrated classic.
Review: This is one of my all time favorite movies. It shows the funny side of people only concerned about themselves. You have Jack Lemmon as a recently unemployed adman, and Anne Bancroft as his sympathetic yet let's be practical wife. I feel that this is both thier finest hours in this movie as the chemistry shows that they really enjoyed working with each other. I find Lemmon's character is one who just can't believe that his career is over, and he's nowhere near the age of retirement, and plus he's from the old school where the woman stayed at home while the man goes out, and gets the meat. When Bancroft's character goes to work it causes a breakdown in Lemmon's character as his perfect world continues to crumble making him hostile towards everyone; his family, friends, his wife, the upstairs neighbor(which the arguments between them are simpily hilarious), and Lemmon's own character's desire to get even, and win one for his own glory; so he ends up mugging a man in Central Park (played by Sylvester Stallone)because he thought it was the other way around. Bancroft's character is also becoming unglued by the constant work, and then she's laid off. There's also Lemmon's character's brother who's in love with hearing himself talk about how analytical his thinking is, and don't forget that upstairs neighbor who just wants peace and quiet in his perfect world because he has his own worries to deal with. Filmed in New York City I guess Neil Simon would know what NYC is like from a personal experience which is why this is so funny, and let's not forget the narrator who takes us through the news stories throughout. Should be allowed to come back on the t.v. again, and give America something funny to watch.
Rating:
Summary: Another knockout for Simon/Lemmon
Review: This is the third in a trio of classic comedies written by Neil Simon and starring(onscreen) Jack Lemmon. This movie delivers laugh after laugh without slapsick, and without the cheesiness of some of Simon's later works. (The Goodbye Girl) This movie earns five stars from me not only because it's a great comedy, but this movie gives the viewer a heartfelt lesson in humanity as well. See it at all costs. Worth owning, too, I've all but worn my copy out.
Rating:
Summary: Another knockout for Simon/Lemmon
Review: This is the third in a trio of classic comedies written by Neil Simon and starring(onscreen) Jack Lemmon. This movie delivers laugh after laugh without slapsick, and without the cheesiness of some of Simon's later works. (The Goodbye Girl) This movie earns five stars from me not only because it's a great comedy, but this movie gives the viewer a heartfelt lesson in humanity as well. See it at all costs. Worth owning, too, I've all but worn my copy out.
Rating:
Summary: A little but incredible comedy
Review: This movie is among the greatest twenty american comedies in any age.
Lemmon is superb and the lovely Anne Bancroft(Miracle worker) makes a great couple.
It's incredible how this work has been so underestimated.
A must for everyone.
A lot of laughable gags.
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