The Prisoner of Second Avenue

Description

Mel Edison, a soon-to-be-unemployed advertising executive, is driven to the brink of a nervous breakdown by New York City living. In an attempt to escape from a garbage strike, nosy neighbors and an unreliable air conditioner in the middle of a head wave, Mel and his long-suffering wife Edna visit his brother in the country. Unfortunately, the dark cloud of tribulation seems to follow Mel in this comic nightmare.

Customer Reviews:

Shrill Neil Simon Effort.......2007-06-09

Neil Simon's work to me runs hot and cold. This seventies recession era farce was just plain annoying. Like in the worst Simon efforts the characters either scream at each other or tell jokes. Sorry, Neil, you're skating on a thin line on someone's nervous breakdown and you didn't pull it off here. This flick feels claustrophobic, barely transcending it's stage roots. The redeeming factors here are the performances of Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft who manage to imbue humanity into Simon's cartoon characters. Another plus are the radio announcements interspersed throughout the movie.

One of the best comedies ever........2006-07-09

I have watched this movie at least 25 times and it is still laugh out loud enjoyable as well emotionally touching.The comedic timing between Anne Bancroft and Jack Lemmon is unsurpassed by any other actors.You won't be disappointed watching this.

Where Does the Time Go????.......2006-07-09

For some reason, probably because I watched this again shortly after Anne Bancroft passed away, and of course watching the always terrific Jack Lemmon at the top of his game (at my current age!) playing yet another of those wonderful angst driven characters using words created by Neil Simon, for that reason perhaps I was struck by our mortality. This film was made just a few short years ago, and yet all the actors are gone,and they left looking 'old'. My God, where does the time go?
This is not the funniest film you'll see, some of it is sad and human, but it has moments of comic brilliance. Its eminently watchable thanks to the two main actors and their great talent; its sad, its wistful, its a slice of New York that we will never see again, and I plan on watching it again soon.
I'm glad its in my collection although it left me with a bit of a lump in my throat. They were just so good, these comic talents, and it was just a few moments ago, wasn't it?

Another underrated classic. .......2004-08-17

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.

Another knockout for Simon/Lemmon.......2004-05-14

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.

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