Movies: Save the Tiger

Today marks the 50th anniversary of Paramount’s LA businessman drama

Smog, then steam from a swimming pool, captures LA’s grayness to set the tone of Save the Tiger starring Jack Lemmon. The camera slowly pans up to a Tudor-style house. Inside, a man’s in bed having a nightmare. The bedroom is in disarray with an edition of Women’s Wear Daily lying beneath the bed. Lemmon as Harry Stoner looks startled, even alarmed, as he awakens and slowly steps out of bed, removing his clothes and getting into the shower. Afterwards, it’s clear there’s a wife, too, though she’s detached, showing concern for her husband, if always and only from a distance.

Save the Tiger, directed by Rocky director John Avildsen, is based on a novel by Stephen Shagan, who wrote the script as well as other screenplays, such as Primal Fear featuring Edward Norton’s stunning performance. This is the rare, modern movie to portray the U.S. war veteran who feels both haunted and hunted; he’s lost in gray.