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The Prisoner of Second Avenue
Directed by
Melvin Frank
PG
1975
1h 38m
Comedy
6.7
48%
66%
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A suddenly-unemployed company executive suffers a nervous breakdown, and his supporting wife tries everything to console him and pick up the slack.
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Where to Watch The Prisoner of Second Avenue
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Cast of The Prisoner of Second Avenue
Jack Lemmon
Mel Edison
Anne Bancroft
Edna Edison
Gene Saks
Harry Edison
Elizabeth Wilson
Pauline
Florence Stanley
Pearl
Maxine Stuart
Belle
Ed Peck
Man Upstairs
Gene Blakely
Charlie
Ivor Francis
Psychiatrist
Stack Pierce
Detective
Patricia Marshall
Woman Upstairs
Dee Carroll
Helen
Ketty Lester
Unemployment Clerk
M. Emmet Walsh
Doorman
F. Murray Abraham
Taxi Driver
James McCallion
Mr. Cooperman
Fat Thomas
Bus Driver
Arlen Stuart
Elevator Passenger
Sylvester Stallone
Youth in Park
Alan DeWitt
Wayne Morgan
Harry Ray
Man with Dog
Lonnie Burr
Man on Street (uncredited)
Eddie Garrett
Elevator Passenger (uncredited)
Ben Lautman
NYU Student (uncredited)
Dave Michaels
Radio Newscaster (voice) (uncredited)
Gary Owens
Radio Newscaster (voice) (uncredited)
John Ritter
Elevator Passenger (uncredited)
Cosmo Sardo
Subway Passenger (uncredited)
Norman Stevans
Elevator Passenger (uncredited)
Joe Turkel
Man Upstairs (voice) (uncredited)
Melvin Frank
Director / Producer
Neil Simon
Writer
The Prisoner of Second Avenue Ratings & Reviews
Arizona Republic
Phil Strassberg
It's too grim for most filmgoers to attempt to extract the juicier laugh lines.
Baltimore Sun
R.H. Gardner
There are not as many laughs as in the original, but it is considerably more bearable.
Boston Phoenix
Carolyn Clay
The Prisoner of Second Avenue is deftly put together.
Newsweek
Paul D. Zimmerman
The action is essentially mechanical, since none of the events proceeds from character.
New York Magazine/Vulture
Judith Crist
It is a joy to see two top professionals at work, with no indication that it's work for them.
Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Wayne Harada
Melvin Frank's direction is sure and steady, letting Simon's comedy flow from the special performers assembled here.
Los Angeles Times
Charles Champlin
"Prisoner" is most impressive when it is least funny; the laughter comes out of a painful craziness.
Miami Herald
Hunter George
The sight gags and one-liners could have come burlesque if Lemmon and Bancroft hadn't restrained themselves -- but they did, and it works.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Bob Lundegaard
"Prisoner" may be inferior Simon, but that still puts it way above almost anything else being written.
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Emerson Batdorff
The big difference between this and previous Neil Simon works is that the gags are not quite so funny, and no less obtrusive.
Boston Globe
Kevin Kelly
Under Melvin Frank's direction, it's all pretty close to being tedious, the tedium enhanced by Marvin Hamlisch's borrowed music.
Chicago Tribune
Gene Siskel
Neil Simon's rapid-fire gag plays simply don't translate well into film.
New York Daily News
Ann Guarino
Simon's art in arousing humorous reactions to traumatic situations is to be applauded, as is Melvin Frank's direction.
Orlando Sentinel
G.J. Fleming
There are some laughs... and some interesting insights, but the overall result is a disappointingly shallow and unfunny comedy which even the fine talents of Anne Bancroft and Jack Lemmon cannot bring to life.
Philadelphia Inquirer
Desmond Ryan
Melvin Frank's stolid and unimaginative direction keeps us incarcerated in the flat with Mel and Edna, a perspective that leaves one alternately highly amused, depressed and ultimately unbelieving.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Joe Pollack
Lemmon is playing the same role he has played in many comedies, perhaps thinking that if it worked before, it will work again. It doesn't.
TIME Magazine
Jay Cocks
The movie is blank, unimaginative -think of every joke you have heard about New York over the past decade and here it is-and Bancroft cannot make much of the bits and scraps she is given.
The New Yorker
Pauline Kael
There are no layers of meaning in The Prisoner of Second Avenue; it's a big-screen sitcom.
Variety
Variety Staff
The film is more of a drama with comedy, for the personal problems as well as the environmental challenges aren't really funny, and even some of the humor is forced and strident.
New York Times
A.H. Weiler
With a cast whose members appreciate what they're saying and doing, the gnawing problems of "Second Avenue" become a pleasure.
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