This fall, I met some Toronto film critics who’ve been really supportive of my blog and loved the opportunity to discuss about their favorite classic films with someone who loves Classic Hollywood. A lot of them were films I’d seen before, but there was one critic whose favorite I hadn’t seen. Even though it was directed by Billy Wilder and starred Jack Lemmon, it had somehow slipped through my radar! When I discovered it on Netflix, I watched it straight away and now it’s probably one of my favorites.
The Apartment (1960)
C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) is a young and single office clerk who punches the clock at an insurance firm in Manhattan. He’s pretty unremarkable…except that the executives use his apartment on a rotating basis as a place to take their dates and girlfriends. In exchange for the key and keeping his mouth shut, he gets treated slightly better at the office. His little black book isn’t so little and its express purpose is to keep track of his bosses’ dates. He’s willing to go on like this until he meets a new secretary named Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine), a down to earth charming girl who’s had some tough times in the past but is hoping her luck will change with this new job. She quickly becomes the next scheduled date in Baxter’s apartment - and it’s not with him.
Why You Should Watch:
This story may sound familiar. And it should! It was a play before it was a movie and became a Broadway musical, book adapted from Wilder’s screenplay by Neil Simon (playwright, not musician) with music written by Burt Bacharach, Promises Promises, six years later. Funny trivia tidbit: Jerry Orbach, who was not only the lead in Law and Order, but also voiced Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast, played Baxter in the original Broadway cast!
As I mentioned back when I wrote about Some Like It Hot, this carried on the tradition of Wilder-Lemmon collaborations from the 1950s into the 1980s. I also mentioned that Jack Lemmon is known by people who grew up in the 1990s as one half of the Grumpy Old Men franchise. But here, he’s young, and isn’t hamming it up with his pal Tony Curtis. He finally gets to shine as a leading man. He makes Baxter so believable and pathetic, but still undeniably likeable.
You might remember her from Terms of Endearment, and Shirley MacLaine is also incredible in this movie. I can’t say I’ve seen a lot of her films, but I do remember seeing her in Around the World in 80 Days (1956) as the Indian princess Auoda (this is a real thing, people). She does such a stunning job in The Apartment playing a vulnerable young woman just trying to keep her head above water and giving in to her impulses, be they good or bad.
While watching, you might recognize Fred MacMurray as Mr. Sheldrake. He also played Walter Neff in Double Indemnity (1944), an archetypal film noir, also directed by Billy Wilder, and probably one of the best of the genre. Apparently MacMurray was also contracted to Disney during the filming of this movie, and was very hesitant about playing a “morally ambiguous” character, but Wilder managed to convince him.
The Apartment has a very high Oscar count - it was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won five: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction (in a Black and White Film), and Best Film Editing. Both Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine were nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress respectively! Another interesting tidbit: this film was the very last black and white film to win Best Picture! (Who knows, maybe this year, that’ll change if The Artist does as well as I’m predicting…)
And of course, one of my favorite directors, Billy Wilder, hits it out of the park again. I’ve written on a bunch of his movies, including Sunset Blvd (1950), Some Like It Hot and Sabrina. Odds are, if he’s involved, you should see it.
Scenes to Look Forward To:
This movie takes an shocking turn partway through. So shocking, in fact, that when Wilder gave Shirely MacLaine her script, he didn’t give her the entire thing. She thought it was unfinished, but he just wanted her to be surprised. For that reason, I’m a bit reluctant to tell you about some of the best scenes. But I’ll do my best!
As with most Billy Wilder scripts, there are a ton of great one-liners. One of my favourites is when Ms. Kubelik reflects on her love life and gives the following advice: “When you’re in love with a married man, you shouldn’t wear mascara”
Every character, even the minor ones like the co-workers, secretaries, and neighbours are so integral to the story. There are no small parts and even if they aren’t major, they all serve incredible purposes. Think of the nosy neighbours who live next to Baxter. Think of the secretaries who’ve been shuffled around in the company.
I absolutely love everything about the scene where Baxter is straining his spaghetti with a tennis racquet. That, my friends, is the genius of Billy Wilder’s imagination.
Happy watching!!
