Save the Tiger (1973) Jack Lemmon Eng

Just over twenty-four hours from morning to morning the next day in the life of middle aged Angelo Harry Stoner, a WWII vet who was stationed in Italy, and now owns and operates outwardly successful Capri Casuals, a women's wear manufacturer, which allows his him to live in comfort in Beverly Hills, is presented. Those twenty-four hours show the disillusionment with how his life has turned out as he deals with one crisis after another while the stress of the day brings up memories of the war. He and his wife, Janet Stoner, who is heading off today for a week long personal trip to New York, have a rather emotionally cold relationship now and are drifting apart. He finds that he has to mediate a dispute between two of his employees, old school Meyer, a skilled cutter and a traditionalist, and young Rico, a designer who feels that the world should be at his feet with him being the reason for the company's success, despite admitting that he rips off designs from others. Harry and his business partner, Phil Greene, are preparing for their season's fashion show to their buyers, which should be a sense of optimism in sales, and while they go through the motions of organizing the event, which includes arranging for female "company" for one of their out of town buyers, Fred Mirrell, behind the scenes they are trying to figure out how best to keep the company afloat as they are deep in debt. They have already previously cooked their books, which would easily be discovered if they were ever audited. While Phil favors the route of borrowing from the mob, Harry contemplates hiring Charlie Robbins, the best in his business, to torch one of their factories for the insurance money. The one seemingly bright light this day for Harry is meeting early twenty-something Myra, a free spirit who spends her day hanging out along the Sunset Strip. Their time together may just further highlight the divide between their respective generations.