A businessman's professional struggles begin to conflict with his personal life over the course of two days.
Acting
Lemmon's Oscar-winning spiral is physically painful to witness.
Direction
Avildsen builds dread from fluorescent lights and silence.
Director
John G. Avildsen
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Lemmon funded the film himself when studios balked at its bleakness. He then won Best Actor over Brando, Pacino, and Nicholson.
The film predicts 2008's financial crisis by 35 years—Harry's 'creative accounting' and too-big-to-fail desperation feel ripped from later headlines.
US
