best film: JFK is actually the best film Jack Lemmon is in and it’s no cameo- though he’s a psoke in the larger ensemble wheel. If you’re going with films that he starred in it would be Some Like It Hot by an eyelash over The Apartment.
best performance: The Apartment. Lemmon has a deep filmography and his 2nd and 10th best performances may be fairly close in quality but to me this wins out by a margain (though he won an Oscar for two other films: Mister Roberts, Save the Tiger) and is best remembered for two others: The Odd Couple and Some Like It Hot. Lemmon is an actor who could do it all and The Apartment has everything. It also gives him back to back great performances in masterpieces in 1959 and 1960. So at a time when you’re thinking about Fellini and the French New Wave– you have Jack Lemmon standing on his head in brilliant Billy Wilder films– haha.
stylistic innovations/traits: Jack Lemmon could do comedy (Mister Roberts, Some Like it Hot, The Odd Couple, The Great Race) , drama (Days of Wine and Roses, China Syndrome, Missing, Glengarry Glen Ross) and films in-between (The Apartment, Avanti). He had 8 oscar nominations over 4 decades (50’s-80’s). He’s known for his pairings with Walter Matthau (10 films but only 5 are in the archives I believe) and Billy Wilder (6 archiveable films). I think his work in the 90’s (Glengarry and JFK is huge to add depth to that resume).
directors worked with: Wilder (6) and the work they did together is worth a close study for sure, Blake Edwards (2) and then John Ford once, along with Oliver Stone and Altman
Top 5 Performances:
- The Apartment
- Some Like it Hot
- The China Syndrome
- Avanti
- Glengarry Glen Ross
Archiveable films
| 1955- Mister Roberts |
| 1959- Some Like It Hot |
| 1960- The Apartment |
| 1962- The Days of Wine and Roses |
| 1965- The Great Race |
| 1966- The Fortune Cookie |
| 1968- The Odd Couple |
| 1972- Avanti |
| 1973- Save the Tiger |
| 1974- The Front Page |
| 1979- The China Syndrome |
| 1981- Buddy, Buddy |
| 1982- Missing |
| 1986- That’s Life |
| 1991- JFK |
| 1992- Glengarry Glen Ross |
| 1993- Short Cuts |
| 1996- Hamlet |
Oops commented on the wrong page lol. This man was brilliant his entire career and is imo a top ten actor of all time if not top three.
@Randy — He was brilliant. Thanks for sharing your opinion here.
probably the greatest of all time.
in my opinion the greatest comic actors ofall time
1. jack lemmon
2. john goodman
3. jim carrey
4. buseter keaton
5.jack black
havent seen enough donald o connor or joe e brown but geniuses as well (so is steve martin and others)
The Apartment is probably the best performance in any film ever. its got humor and emotion you can feel how he is sick with a cold and in love and ll of it comes off so natural. a great from the supreme genius of the cinema, the shakespeare if you will, BillyWilder. Which, by the way, some like it hot is a masterpiece and thanks in part to jack lemmons performance the final sceneis oneof the best scenes in history (Joe E. Brown). one of the funniest films ever!
@m — thanks for sharing. Genre discussions are tough. Clearly there are some films and actors that belong squarely in comedy but the majority of actors worked in both comedy and drama (sometimes in the same film)– Lemmon did a lot of straight drama work, too. He’s brilliant– a great actor. Either way- I couldn’t leave Chaplin or Cary Grant off any comedic actors list (ahead of Lemmon). Bill Murray?
He was by no means limited to comedy (not even close) but Toshiro Mifune definitely belongs in this conversation.
i dont know. the thing about chaplin is i respect himand city lights is an all time great movie but i dont find him as funny as some of the others. i like him more for his drama, the serious emotions of profound sadness and such in his films. i love cary grant and mifune as well.