The Apartment (1960)

A tiypical Billy Wilder comedy. Fun and with great script and performance from Jack Lemmon.

A must to see.

Essential viewing once a year for soul maintenance

**It's a good movie, but Best Picture at the Oscars? Frankly…**

I really enjoyed this film, largely thanks to the lightness of its story, and the funny way in which the film plays with the situation in which the protagonist finds himself intertwined. The film was, in fact, the big winner of the Oscars in its year, with ten nominations and five statuettes (Best Editing, Best Art Direction in Black and White, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director and, the icing on the cake, Best movie). However, if we observe that that year were also nominated for much more memorable films such as “Spartacus” or “Psycho”, it is questionable whether this film really deserved to be considered the best film of the year.

The script is based on the difficulties experienced by a simple office worker of a large insurance company from the moment he begins to lend his own apartment to several superiors in the firm, so that they can take their mistresses and girlfriends there. With the situation, he gains a bad reputation among the neighbors and with the landlady, in addition to not being able to go to his own house when he wants and thinks he should, being always limited by the arrangements that he is, from a certain moment, coerced into keeping. , as you progress in the firm thanks to the exchange of favors. Of course, there's going to be a very complicated romance midway through the story, and everything will end well, as it does in these comedies.

The cast is half the recipe for this success. Jack Lemmon gives us a very good performance, perhaps the best of his career as an actor, along with his enormous acting exercise in “Some Like it Hot”. Fred McMurray was also very good in this film, giving us with commitment and great charisma an unpalatable character (a married man, very important in the company, who betrays his wife and will take advantage of the ambition of a minor employee). Without disapproval for the good performance of Sirley MacLaine, who gave life to a fragile young woman who is the main love interest of the protagonist, the film is not especially sympathetic to any element of the female cast.

The film has a very pleasant pace and time passes without us noticing it, if we give the story a chance to get involved. I think the good editing and the fact that the film doesn't stop at dead moments helped a lot at that point. Good sets and costumes, especially the office set, with all the details we can imagine, make for a film that is good, although I can consider that there are far superior films.

"Baxter" (Jack Lemmon) has hit on an unique way to work his way up the greasy pole. He sublets his apartment, by the evening, to his bosses at work so they can entertain their lady friends - all in the hope that promotion from his $90-a-week job will result. This policy frequently ends up with him standing around in the cold whilst they polish off all his liquor. Promises, and more promises - will he every get that better job? His only bright spot in the day is the mysterious but jolly lift operator "Fran" (Shirley MacLaine) but it turns out that she is involved with another big-noise executive. It's this man "Sheldrake" (Fred MacMurray) who could really make a difference for "Baxter" but at what cost? He's undoubtedly a bit of a rake as he plays rather callously with the affections of the loved-up "Fran". Finally, she feels so very despondent and she takes drastic action that luckily our hero is able to thwart, and with her still dazed, confused and upset the scene is set for what you might think is a predicable denouement. This isn't one of my favourite Billy Wilder stories. I felt the first half hour verged too closely on a sort of intellectual slapstick for me and much as I did like his effort, I couldn't warm to Jack Lemmon's character at all. MacLaine and MacMurray, on the other hand, presented me with ones I could sympathise with and detest in equally affecting measure. The dialogue is a testament to what can be written without resorting to endless Anglo-Saxon, yet still convey sentiments of aggressiveness, frustration and yep - even affection. It's all set around Christmas which also proves quite useful as it shines a light on many of the hypocrisies that prevail around this time of so-called "good will". The supporting cast deliver strongly too, especially his neighbourly doctor (Jack Kruschen) and wife (Naomi Stevens) who think he's constantly womanising his way through his evenings next door and by the end it's a stinging indictment of office politics and their peccadilloes. Ultimately, this is down to three strong acting performances delivering a pithily poignant script that ought to suggest you never give your spare key to anyone!