A five “best” list of Lemmon films would look a little different than this, especially 4 & 5, but “favorite” is more fun. Besides, no one has a corner on taste.
1. The Days of Wine and Roses (1962) – There have been countless films since dramatizing the horrors of drug and alcohol addiction, many of them more explicit and visceral, but none ever as emotionally agonizing as this tragic love story of two alcoholics. The first act could be any early 60’s, meet-cute, oh Miss Halbersham you’re beautiful without your glasses romantic comedy. At first, Jack Lemmon plays Jack Lemmon wooing the lovely Lee Remick but then the two martini lunch turns into a living nightmare that ends so sadly it takes your breath away.
“Wine and Roses” brings together the very best of Lemmon; the everyday guy just trying to get a little ahead and the dramatic actor who could use that screen persona to break your heart.
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2. The Apartment (1960) – Anyone who’s ever been a drone trying to get out of the hive of a big corporation should be able to relate to Lemmon’s hapless C.C. Baxter, a nobody in an ocean of perfectly squared desks who lends out his bachelor pad to middle management in the hopes his making it possible for their adulterous trysts will land him an office and key to the executive washroom.
We shouldn’t like Baxter. He’s pathetic, weak, and enabling the worst kind of betrayal, but rather than play the role for pathos, Lemmon portrays Baxter as a man fully and humorously aware of his own failings.
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3. Mister Roberts (1955) – James Cagney must have been in shock watching this for the first time. No one had ever stolen a film from Cagney before and here’s Lemmon, a relative unknown at the time, walking away with the picture and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.
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4. The Out-of-Towners (1970) – The picture that made me a forever Jack Lemmon fan. The scene where he’s oblivious to how close that manhole cover comes to killing him is one of the funniest things ever. Leonard Maltin’s otherwise authoritative “Movie Guide” rates “Towners” with a star and a half. What’s wrong with Leonard Maltin?
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5. Grumpy Old Men (1993) – Probably not the best of the Lemmon/Matthau canon, but the one that most frequently finds its way into my DVD player. Lemmon and Matthau were wonderful together and their late career revival was one of the great cinematic pleasures of the nineties. “Grumpy Old Men” (and its equally pleasant sequel) doesn’t represent genius filmmaking, but there’s a nice holiday vibe and you can never tire of watching a couple veterans squeeze big laughs from every line and plenty of warmth from the expected wrap up.
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