The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975)

“I don’t need an analyst I need lost and found.”

            Anyone who has ever gone through a period of depression knows how much it sucks. You feel like you are not in control and you think irrationally and way too emotionally. You do not want to go through the day you just want to stay staring on the couch looking into nothing. Well, I know I did not want to do any of these. No matter what anyone says to you, you just want to stay the way you are. In The Prisoner of Second Avenue we see a man going through all the whole process and then finally seeing the light of day.

            The story begins in the middle of the summer during a bad heat wave. Mel Edison (Jack Lemmon) has a tough time getting to work. Once he gets there he finds out that another executive in the company has been fired. When he gets home Mel is tense and angry and cannot sleep that night. His wife Edna (Anne Bancroft) wants him to talk to her about what is making him so tense. It seems just about everything in his life is bothering. He explains that he is able to hear things more like the neighbors having a party or the smell of garbage. Everything just bothers him.

            Edna tells Mel that she said yes to his brother Harry’s invitation to come up to his house in the country for the day. Mel is not happy his brother drives him crazy. At the house Mel and Harry talk. Mel confesses to Harry that he has lost his job and he has not told Edna yet.

            Eventually Mel tells Edna what happened. He actually tells her after their apartment was broken into. She goes out and gets a job which really leads to Mel’s downward spiral. He gets jealous and angry that she has a job and he does not.

            One day Mel is out for a walk when he and a young guy bump into each other. Mel freaks out thinking the guy stole his wallet and runs after him. He catches up with the guy by jumping over a stone wall in Central Park and knocking him down. After that Mel feels like he has gained his confidence back he stood up to someone and got them. Edna tells him that he left his wallet at home on the dresser. She actually had a really rough day and is in a bad mood close to where Mel was at the beginning of the film. Mel handles a situation well and Edna sees they will finally be alright.

            I need to just completely nerd out over Anne Bancroft in this film. Oh my god she was wonderful! I absolutely adore this woman she was such an amazing actress. She was the best part of the film. Her faces cracked me up. Bancroft was great in the scene where she had to explain to Mel how they were robbed she looked so stumped. Her face when Mel asks her how she has enough energy to go to work for her boss. She closes the door then walks back in and goes “What did you say?” her face was so scary it was great! Bancroft piled on her New York accent and Italian temper and I loved it. With Anne Bancroft you were never watching an actress you were always watching the character.

            Jack Lemmon I cannot stand I usually avoid his films like a plague, well except for Some Like It Hot I love that film. He was alright here he was not as annoying as he usual is to me. I liked his character though because I knew what he was going through.

            The young guy that Mel accidentally mugs is Sylvester Stallone. He looked so handsome.

The Prisoner of Second Avenue was good. I liked the story because I can relate a bit to what Mel and Edna go through. I went through the whole job loss and depression thing for a few months and it was terrible. But I think this film proves that there is always a light at the end of the darkness once your confidence comes back everything falls into place. I definitely suggest watching The Prisoner of Second Avenue especially for Anne Bancroft.

Some Like It Hot (1959)

“Will you look at that! Look how she moves! It's like Jell-O on springs. Must have some sort of built-in motor or something. I tell you, it's a whole different sex!” 

            The first I ever heard of Some Like It Hot I was young and I saw it as a high school play. To this day I can remember sitting in the high school auditorium and being a little overwhelmed because I was in a high school seeing older cool kids put on a play. Flash forward several years later to when, as a classic film buff, I finally see the film version of Some Like It Hot. I cannot remember if I had bought the DVD or saw it on TV first but I do know I have had the DVD for years. Some Like It Hot is a flawless comedy. The story and the acting are truly funny from beginning to end.

            Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) are struggling musicians in 1929. They have a job at a speakeasy that is disguised as a funeral parlor. The club is owned by a well known gangster named Spats Colombo (George Raft). Joe and Jerry have no money whatsoever. They keep borrowing money from the girl in the show at the club, they are two months behind their rent, and owe a lot of money to the butcher. One night the club is raided by the police. Joe and Jerry manage to avoid being arrested. Joe comes up with the idea to pawn their jackets to get money to bed on a horse race. Joe, naturally, loses all the money. They go searching for a job at every talent agency they can think of. The only job available for a saxophone and a bass player is for a traveling women’s orchestra headed down to Florida called Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopators.

              Their luck depending on how you see it changes either for good or for worse. Joe has managed to borrow a car from a secretary he has been seeing in one of the talent agencies. The car is in a garage where Spats just so happens to be as well. Spats and his men have found out that another gangster named Toothpick Charlie was the one who ratted their club out to the police. He rounds up Charlie and some of his men and shoots them (a la the St. Valentine’s Day massacre). Joe and Jerry took cover by the side of the car but are given away when the gas tank is full and the pump is pushed out. They manage to get away unharmed but now they have run out of town if they want to keep their lives. As Joe sees it the only way out is for them to head down to Florida.

            The next scene is Joe and Jerry dressed as women. Jerry is panicking because the clothes are bothering and he keeps tripping on his heels. Joe is calm and just goes with it. Of course they had to change their names along with their appearances- Joe goes by Josephine and Jerry was supposed to go by Geraldine but at the last minute changed his name to Daphne.

            On the train they are introduced to lead singer Sugar Kane Kowalczyk (Marilyn Monroe). Both Jerry and Joe’s jaws drop when they get their first look at Sugar. Joe is quickest to react and gets some alone time with Sugar in the bathroom, not as a man but as Josephine. Sugar tells Joe that she has not had the best luck with men. Her last two boyfriends had been saxophone players and when they play a certain song she falls apart at their feet. She also mentions a few things about men with glasses and yachts.

            When the band arrives in Florida, the hilarity of the film begins. Daphne is hit on literally the moment she/he walks through the door by a man named Osgood Fielding (Joe E. Brown). Joe has stolen the band manager’s clothing and glasses and pretends to be an heir to Shell Oil so he can get some time with Sugar.

            Unfortunately the boys have not gotten far enough away from Spats and his gang. Spats arrives in town for a meeting of gangsters and they are all staying at the same hotel the band is at!

            Every single actor is this film was perfectly cast. I am not fan of either Jack Lemmon or Tony Curtis but they are fabulous as Joe/Josephine and Jerry/Daphne. Lemmon steals the film. He is constantly talking a mile a minute and always worrying until he gets on the train with all the women. His laugh cracks me up it is so silly and giggly. Curtis looked awesome in drag. I love the way he carried himself as if he was a pro (he was way better than I ever could be in heels and a dress) and even had a face of a masculine woman. He  does a spot on impression of Cary Grant that if you were not looking you would swear Grant was on the screen. This was the first time I ever saw Marilyn Monroe in a film. At first I was not thrilled with her at all she drove me up a wall with her voice and she is not the greatest actress. I have since seen several of her films and I have come to like her somewhat. Joe E. Brown steals the film along with Jack Lemmon. Their scenes are so hilarious because his character constantly chases Daphne and then Lemmon almost forgetting he is a boy gets engaged to Osgood! George Raft looked good as Spats. He was older but I think he was more handsome older than when he was younger (I find Raft to be oddly handsome). Since had played several variations of gangsters in the 1930s Raft was great as Spats.

            The last time I watched Some Like It Hot was a few years ago. At the time I was just getting into classic films so I did not really appreciate the story or the acting or the direction. Billy Wilder to me was just the name of the director of the film. I have seen several of Wilder’s films and appreciate his talent so much. It was nice to go back and watch this film with appreciation for Wilder’s storytelling and direction. His humor is dark and dry and quick. Wilder to me was a man ahead of his time with his screenplays and direction. I could not believe how much he was able to get away with in the film as far as the story and the content.

            Some Like It Hot is flawless in every way. Marilyn Monroe could be seen as a flaw but she is not once the film gets going because of all the other characters and actors around her. I think Sugar is a character all women can relate, we are all looking for Mr. Right particularly one who is rich, good looking, and smart. There is a scene for everyone to laugh at with its smart dialogue and sassy characters. Some Like It Hot is a film that should not be overlooked by anyone.

 

Good Neighbor Sam (1964)

“No, I didn't take a shower at Jan... What do you think I am? Some kind of a sex maniac?” 

            Before I start my review of Good Neighbor Sam I must give a huge thanks to Monty over at All Good Things for suggesting this movie. I saw that he was on a Romy Schneider kick so I asked him which of her films I should see and this along with The Trial were the ones he highly suggested. So thank you very much Monty for the suggestion I had a good time watching the movie.

            Good Neighbor Sam has the type of plot I am completely not fond of- mistaken identity and the screw ups that go along with it. Ever since I first saw Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers’s film Top Hat a few years ago I have absolutely despised the mistaken identity story. I feel they get so dragged out and just ruin everything for me. I am giving a big “but” for Good Neighbor Sam because I was laughing at a lot of the scenes and I enjoyed all the performances (even though I cannot stand Jack Lemmon… more on that later). This plot was just silly and goofy and completely funny because no one really got mad and broke up over something ridiculous, it came close, but a split did not occur.

            Sam Bissell (Jack Lemmon) lives in a suburban area of San Francisco in a nice quiet neighborhood with his wife Minerva, two daughters, and two ducks. His life is nothing to exciting. Every day he travels into the city with his neighbor where they both work for an advertising agency. Sam works in the art department where he feels after so many years there he is getting nowhere and also feels he should be getting a raise. He asks the office manager if he could speak to the head of the company but that will not work.

            The heads of the company and their yes men are having a problem with their latest client Mr. Nurdlinger (Edward G. Robinson). Mr. Nurdlinger sells dairy products and he is not happy with the way the company has sleazed his company in their ads they came up with. Nurdlinger wants a nice wholesome family man to run the campaign because he feels that is the type of man who will create a wholesome add that the ordinary people will see and associate with. The only man who one of the yes men can think of is Sam. As Sam was asking for his raise the office manager tells him that he is wanted in the boss’s office. Sam is given the account based on his apparent family values.

            While Sam is at work she picks up her old college friend Janet Lagerlof (Romy Schneider) from the airport. The two friends have no seen each other in years. Over lunch Janet tells Minerva that she was married to a man named Howard, “a man every girl should be married to once.” When Sam comes home all happy he walks into the bathroom where he thinks his wife is taking a shower but he embarrassingly finds out that Janet is the one in the shower. The three of them go out on the town for drinks that night to celebrate Sam getting the big account. Sam gets totally wrecked drinking so much champagne.

            Janet has rented the house next door to Sam and Minerva while she sorts out her grandfather’s will with her money hungry cousins. Janet stands to inherit fifteen million dollars from her grandfather only if she is happily married. This news is horrible for her because she does not love Howard at all she hates him. Her lawyers tell her that in California it takes six months to get a divorce so technically she is still married things should be fine for her to get the money. The cousins unexpectedly come by the next morning while all her grandfather’s belongings are being moved into the house. Sam has come by in his pajamas and robe to see where Minerva was since she was not in the bed when he woke up. Janet pretends that Sam is Howard and that they are very happily married. The cousins are still outside in their car when Sam has to leave for work. To make everything look legit Minerva brings Sam his clothes and Janet drives him to work while the cousins follow them. Before Sam walks away from the car he sees Nurdlinger and his bosses outside. They think Janet is Sam’s wife so to keep up appearances they kiss. This image comes back to haunt them when Nurdlinger wants to put their pictures on their billboards since they are a clean cut wholesome husband and wife.

            Things really start to hit the fan the next morning when Janet notices a privet eye’s van parked in front of the house. Also, the real Howard comes to the house looking for Janet.

            All ends well though. Hopefully you have seen some movies in your life that you can guess that Janet gets the money with Sam’s help. In return she gives Sam and Minerva a million dollars for the trouble she caused.

            There were so many funny moments in the movie that I really cannot name just one and I really do not want to give them away. The whole situation never really went overboard it just stayed level and witty and perfectly silly.

            Jack Lemmon I actually enjoyed he usually drives me nuts in his movies but I really liked him here. To me he is too much the bumbling idiot or the push over and after a while that gets to be way too much and I cannot stand that. But his bumbling works perfectly here because that is the character this poor guy is thrown into this complicated situation and he bumbles through it the best he can for a few days.

            Romy Schneider I have kind of seen in a film before. I have to say kind of because I rented a DVD on Henri-Georges Clouzot’s unfinished movie The Inferno (let me just put it out there that the only reason I even rented this documentary was because Berenice Bejo acts out a few parts of the script with another French actor and I love Berenice so much that I just had to see it for her. I am glad I did I would up loving it). Parts of the movie was actually filmed and it survives. It was supposed to tell the story of an older man who married a younger woman and they live in a hotel at a seaside resort. The husband begins to become jealous of anyone that speaks her including women and children and when he was to go in a fit of jealousy the film would go from black and white to color. There are hours of test shots of Schneider showered in glitter, filmed under different lighting and special effects. As a documentary the DVD was fantastic. The movie would have been one of the best psychological movies ever but Clouzot was taking so much time to film the movie and get everything together that production stopped after he had a heart attack in the middle of filming. There was no sound on the film it is basically silent. Schneider in her scenes either from the movie or the test shots looks gorgeous. I had heard of Schneider before I saw this documentary so I figured now that I have seen a little something of her I would like to see an actual movie of hers. Once Monty recommended Good Neighbor Sam and The Trail I immediately found them to view. Good Neighbor Sam was the first one to finish and Monty raved about it so I thought why not give that one a try first. I am so glad I did because Schneider was so adorable and so good. She was so pretty with her blonde hair and incredibly light green eyes. I loved her accent especially when she got angry. She was a very good actress I look forward to watching The Trial and whatever of her films I can find.

            Good Neighbor Sam, though a type of film I would not normally enjoy, I had a great time sitting through it. All the performances were fantastic. The best part is that the plot did not get out of hand or over the top. Good Neighbor Sam is one of those almost perfect comedies or movies (I say “almost” because some parts dragged) that I plan on watching over and over again. I also plan to show some of my friends which I do not normally do with older movies.