Jack Lemmon Can't Save Himself in "Save the Tiger"

Title: Save the Tiger Director: John G. Advilsen Starring: Jack Lemmon Studio: Paramount Pictures Genre(s): Drama Rated: R

You only need 1,000 signatures on a petition to save a tiger, but can a man save himself? That is the question that we have for Harry Stoner (Jack Lemmon), a businessman who lives life by loose rules because nothing he planned for has ever worked out. He had dreams of becoming a pro baseball player, but those dreams went away when he fought in the war. The war is long behind him but he still wonders what his life would have been like if he followed those dreams. What's more, the war may be behind but the memories have followed. 

Because of these memories, he wakes up from panic attacks and has difficulties being intimate with his wife. She wants him to see a therapist. He wants to continue life the way he always has: living it day-to-day. That method may finally be catching up with him, as he and his partner Phil (Jack Gilford) have been cooking the books to keep their apparel store afloat. They may be facing an audit and the bank won't give them the money needed to stay afloat, so what do they do? For Phil, he is doing what he can to help keep the company around, even if he has questions about the methods they are using. 

Harry isn't thinking too hard about the morals of what he is doing: keeping his business alive is a battle he must win, and if he survived a real war he can survive a personal battle like this. Yet as we in the audience know, he can not win. Every new idea is worse than the last, and we watch in hopelessness as we see him try to convince himself that he has control of everything in life when he seems to be in control of nothing. This is also why Jack Lemon is so good in the role; he must play a man who walks and talks with confidence, yet shows an inner turmoil that is difficult for most actors to pull off.

His conversations with Jack Gilford's Fred (who is the unsung hero in all of this) are the most emotional parts of the movie, as Fed tries in desperation to talk his friend out of going down the path he's going and taking himself along with him. "Save the Tiger '' remains a fine showcase of just how great of an actor Lemmon was. Sure, he may have been best known for his comedies with buddy Walter Matthau, yet Lemmon was a committed actor who was able to go from comedy to drama so effortlessly it was scary. Though he may be remembered as a funny man, movies like "Save the Last Tiger" remember that he was a Shakespearian actor hiding in plain sight.