As formulated by Silva [E.A. de B.e. Silva, Linking theorems and applications to semilinear elliptic problems at resonance, Nonlinear Anal. 16 (1991) 455-477] and Schechter [M. Schechter, A generalization of the saddle point method with applications, Ann. Polon. Math. 57 (3) (1992) 269-281; M. Schechter, New saddle point theorems, in: Generalized Functions and Their Applications, Varanasi, 1991, Plenum, New York, 1993, pp. 213-219], the sandwich theorem has become a very useful tool in finding critical points of functionals leading to solutions of partial differential equations. In the present paper, this theorem is strengthened to apply to more general situations. We present some applications. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.