Though Jack Lemmon received a Best Actor Oscar for "Save the Tiger"--a film on which that honorable performance was wasted--perhaps his finest performance was the character of Mel Edison in this contemporary-for-its-time dramedy. One of the only films that I have seen him in where I genuinely "feel his pain"--study his expression after the deserved dousing with water he receives on his "growth on the side of the building they call a terrace"--Lemmon progresses from disgruntled advertising executive, to desperate unemployed victim of robbery and "the plot", then through a nervous breakdown and his eventual recovery. Perhaps this film's only flaw is its subject matter, as unemployment nowadays is virtually extinct, but it does not warrant anything less than a perfect 10 on my scorecard. Make this a Lemmon-must-see, along with "The China Syndrome", "Mister Roberts", "The Odd Couple", and "Glengarry Glen Ross".
Review of The Prisoner of Second Avenue
