Jack Lemmon's best work.
Added 6/1/2009
The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
When the subject of the greatest director in American history comes up, the usual suspects come out of their holes with the usual assertions. When you look at thousand-best-movie lists and narrow them down to movies made in America, the same two names pop up over and over again: Alfred Hitchcock and Woody Allen. While Hitch, obviously, was British, most of his films were made in America, and so I hope I can be forgiven for calling him American when it comes to his movies. As with Hitch, then, obviously, with the German director Billy Wilder. Wilder, despite having made some of the best-loved films in American history, always seems to get overlooked when this debate comes up. I have no idea why; pretty much everything that the man did is a classic. I have yet to see the Wilder film that isn't brilliant, and The Apartment is no exception.
C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) is a hack at an insurance agency, a bachelor who works long hours simply because he has nothing better to do. One evening, he allows a work colleague to use his apartment for a tryst with a woman who is not his wife. Word gets out, and soon Baxter's apartment is the place of choice for colleagues in the same situation. Things get a bit complicated when his boss (Fred MacMurray) finds out about the arrangement and starts using the apartment as well. Meanwhile, Baxter has struck up a friendship with attractive elevator girl Fran (Shirley MacLaine), and he hopes to take it farther. Then he finds out that his boss' girlfriend is none other than Fran. How many more ways can his job be in jeopardy?
It's a nasty topic, and in 1960 it was positively scandalous. Wilder offsets the outrage of the thing by turning the material into a comedy, and a very funny one it is. When, of course, it's not playing your heartstrings. Baxter, as the film begins, is a truly pathetic individual, and Wilder and his longtime collaborator, screenwriter IAL Diamond, initially play this for all the comedic value they can. But as Baxter runs into conflict after conflict, basically forcing him to grow a spine, his character's pathos is played more and more seriously. After all, such a tenuous situation is bound to induce some serious incidents. When they occur, they never feel forced, and more impressively they never feel out of place. Everything here grows organically out of what's come before. Nothing is too convenient or too precious; it all hangs together perfectly.
And then there is the acting. Wilder was a genius at taking the A-list actors of his day and managing to coax them into giving performances that were just that little bit better than they'd ever managed to come up with before. MacLaine was still, relatively, the new kid on the block, and no one really knew what to expect from her, especially when put up against such heavyweights as Lemmon and MacMurray (both of whom had teamed successfully with Wilder in the past, Lemmon the year before in Some Like it Hot and MacMurray, of course, in Double Indemnity). To say she held her own would be quite the understatement; she was nominated for Best Actress, losing to Elizabeth Taylor. (The movie did take home five Oscars, including Best Picture of 1960; it was nominated for ten.) As well, aside from the three leads was a wealth of talent in the supporting roles, including Ray Walston, Jack Kruschen, and Edie Adams, among others, all of whom turn in performances as impressive as one would expect in a Billy Wilder movie.
As with every Billy Wilder movie I've seen (save The Lost Weekend), I simply can't say enough good things about this movie. Want a romantic comedy with real bite? Skip whatever's playing at your local cinemaplex and rent The Apartment instead. It is a superlative example of the genre, arguably the best romantic comedy ever made in America. **** ½
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DVD Spotlight Error
Added 5/26/2009
The new 30-minute "DVD Spotlight" documentary inexplicably identifies co-star Edie Adams as character actress Naomi Stevens, a real shame considering this was Adams' last appearance before a camera, filmed in the final months of her life.
0 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Enjoyable
Added 1/31/2009
This movie deserved the Oscar for Best Picture in 1960. Loved the acting from Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon. Don't be put off by the black-and-white. A good movie is a good movie regardless if it's not in color. A fun and charming romantic comedy.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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3 stars out of 4
Added 1/27/2009
The Bottom Line:
Though probably not as shocking as it was in 1960, The Apartment is still an entertaining and amusing romantic comedy with a sharper edge than most in the genre; though it runs a bit long at 2 hours, the 1961 Best Picture winner is well worth a view.
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A Mensch Is A Guy Named Billy Wilder
Added 1/15/2009
Few Hollywood film-makers have been nominated for Oscars more times than Billy Wilder. In his stellar career Wilder recieved a total of twenty one nominations. He walked home with the coveted statue six times. And he's one of a very select group to have pulled off a "hat trick", by winning Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenwriter Oscars, all for the same film. The year was 1960 and the motion picture was The Apartment. In fact The Apartment was nomiated for ten awards and won a total of five Oscars.
Much has been made of the film being dated today. Of course, the corporate workplace of 1960 seems antiquated when compared to today's automated, computerized technology. But the same holds true of hospitals, colleges & universities and even your modern supermarket. If anything, there's a quaint charm in revisiting corporate America circa 1960. But have office politics changed in almost fifty years? Just because typewriters have been replaced by desk-top computers, has human nature changed? Is the skirt chasing executive, who goes home to wife and kids in the suburbs, a different breed today than he was back then? You know the answer.
Billy Wilder's greatest asset as a film-maker was his keen understanding of human nature. Wilder, the director knew the characters up on the screen inside out...Why?...Because, as co-screenwriter, along with longtime collaborator I.A.L. Diamond, he not only put the words in their mouths, but also had an innate knowledge of what made people tick. Wilder could size up situations and knew instinctively how to play them with the utmost dramatic effect. Yet he never overstates and in almost all situations he never looses his masterful comic touch.
What makes this film so delightful for me is watching C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) make the transformation from "nebbish" to "mensch". For those who don't know, a nebbish is one who has no backbone. He will readily compromise his principles, in order to please those in a position of authority. A mensch, on the other hand will always stand up for what he believes in. He has deep convictions and a moral compass to boot. A mensch will never alter his sense of right and wrong. So when C.C. Baxter hands over the key to the executive wash room to the philandering, J.D. Sheldrake (Fred McMurry), he makes that miraculous transformation from nebbish to mensch.
It's hard not to love this movie. It really has it all...The classic love triangle, corporate back-stabbing, near tragedy and loads and loads of Wilder's unique brand of subtle humor. True, times have changed. There may not be anymore elevator operators, typists or junior executives....But a nebbish is still a nebbish and a mensch is a guy named Billy Wilder!
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Jack Lemmon's best work.
Added 6/1/2009
The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
When the subject of the greatest director in American history comes up, the usual suspects come out of their holes with the usual assertions. When you look at thousand-best-movie lists and narrow them down to movies made in America, the same two names pop up over and over again: Alfred Hitchcock and Woody Allen. While Hitch, obviously, was British, most of his films were made in America, and so I hope I can be forgiven for calling him American when it comes to his movies. As with Hitch, then, obviously, with the German director Billy Wilder. Wilder, despite having made some of the best-loved films in American history, always seems to get overlooked when this debate comes up. I have no idea why; pretty much everything that the man did is a classic. I have yet to see the Wilder film that isn't brilliant, and The Apartment is no exception.
C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) is a hack at an insurance agency, a bachelor who works long hours simply because he has nothing better to do. One evening, he allows a work colleague to use his apartment for a tryst with a woman who is not his wife. Word gets out, and soon Baxter's apartment is the place of choice for colleagues in the same situation. Things get a bit complicated when his boss (Fred MacMurray) finds out about the arrangement and starts using the apartment as well. Meanwhile, Baxter has struck up a friendship with attractive elevator girl Fran (Shirley MacLaine), and he hopes to take it farther. Then he finds out that his boss' girlfriend is none other than Fran. How many more ways can his job be in jeopardy?
It's a nasty topic, and in 1960 it was positively scandalous. Wilder offsets the outrage of the thing by turning the material into a comedy, and a very funny one it is. When, of course, it's not playing your heartstrings. Baxter, as the film begins, is a truly pathetic individual, and Wilder and his longtime collaborator, screenwriter IAL Diamond, initially play this for all the comedic value they can. But as Baxter runs into conflict after conflict, basically forcing him to grow a spine, his character's pathos is played more and more seriously. After all, such a tenuous situation is bound to induce some serious incidents. When they occur, they never feel forced, and more impressively they never feel out of place. Everything here grows organically out of what's come before. Nothing is too convenient or too precious; it all hangs together perfectly.
And then there is the acting. Wilder was a genius at taking the A-list actors of his day and managing to coax them into giving performances that were just that little bit better than they'd ever managed to come up with before. MacLaine was still, relatively, the new kid on the block, and no one really knew what to expect from her, especially when put up against such heavyweights as Lemmon and MacMurray (both of whom had teamed successfully with Wilder in the past, Lemmon the year before in Some Like it Hot and MacMurray, of course, in Double Indemnity). To say she held her own would be quite the understatement; she was nominated for Best Actress, losing to Elizabeth Taylor. (The movie did take home five Oscars, including Best Picture of 1960; it was nominated for ten.) As well, aside from the three leads was a wealth of talent in the supporting roles, including Ray Walston, Jack Kruschen, and Edie Adams, among others, all of whom turn in performances as impressive as one would expect in a Billy Wilder movie.
As with every Billy Wilder movie I've seen (save The Lost Weekend), I simply can't say enough good things about this movie. Want a romantic comedy with real bite? Skip whatever's playing at your local cinemaplex and rent The Apartment instead. It is a superlative example of the genre, arguably the best romantic comedy ever made in America. **** ½
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
DVD Spotlight Error
Added 5/26/2009
The new 30-minute "DVD Spotlight" documentary inexplicably identifies co-star Edie Adams as character actress Naomi Stevens, a real shame considering this was Adams' last appearance before a camera, filmed in the final months of her life.
0 out of 2 people found this helpful.
|
Enjoyable
Added 1/31/2009
This movie deserved the Oscar for Best Picture in 1960. Loved the acting from Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon. Don't be put off by the black-and-white. A good movie is a good movie regardless if it's not in color. A fun and charming romantic comedy.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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