The Apartment

Apartment, The (1960)

Recommendations: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009), Requiem for a Dream, Dawn of the Dead

Last updated: 2010-05-16 02:06:52 by user07

Movies 365: Day 12 – The Apartment

It’s movies like The Apartment that really typify the “they don’t make ‘em like they used to” sentiment voiced by the older generations of moviegoers. A really great romantic comedy the really and truly don’t make them like The Apartment any more. Perhaps the easiest way to explain why The Apartment is so good, is to explain what most modern day romantic comedies contain, that The Apartment doesn’t contain. No sassy older women talking like the youth of the day, no gross out gags that do nothing to serve the story, no gross out gags that serve the story, no women who whine and bitch about the need for a man in their lives, no women who seems to be otherwise normal acting completely insane in pursuit of men, no men who are trapped in a prolonged adolescence, no extremely wacky best friend for the male lead who is merely there to emphasize how “normal” the male lead is (even though he’s not too normal himself), no weird quirky jobs, no impossibly good looking people (although, having grown up with the older crazier Shirley MacLaine, the younger MacLaine of The Apartment is impossibly good looking in comparison), and though there’s more, I’m sure you get the idea.

So, now that we’ve covered what The Apartment isn’t, let’s talk about what it is. The Apartment is a great little film with a wonderful premise, C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) works in the ordinary policy division at a large insurance agency, he lives in the titular apartment, which he loans out to the various department heads at the agency for them to have someplace to take their mistresses. Baxter has a crush on Fran Kubilek (Shirley MacLaine) an elevator operator at the building who is currently the mistress of Mr. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray) the head of the personnel department. When Baxter is up for a promotion, Sheldrake asks for a key, and permission to use the apartment as well. At the office Christmas party, Sheldrake’s secretary informs Fran of Sheldrake’s previous mistresses, which leads to a fight when the go to the apartment later. Sheldrake leaves Fran at the apartment where she takes an overdose of sleeping pills, when Baxter makes he way home, he finds her passed out on his bed. Calling the doctor who lives next door over, Baxter saves Fran and they spend the next two days together as he nurses her back to health.

The Apartment is cleverly written, with great performances from the entire cast. Jack Lemmon plays his part perfectly, and reminds you yet again why he was such a huge star. MacLaine is beautiful and at times heartbreaking as Fran, and MacMurray plays Mr. Sheldrake with the kind of wonderfully, both as the conflicted family man and the philandering executive.

Director and co-writer Billy Wilder is firing on all cylinders here, the script is great, original, funny, touching, it’s no wonder The Apartment won the Oscar for Best Screenplay. His direction is excellent as well, not a showy director, the set for the insurance agency is shot beautifully, Wilder carefully orchestrates each scene very well and the black and whites are sharp and deep.

The Apartment is a great movie, one that has certainly held up over time, and in fact might play better when compared to the crap being sold as romantic comedy today. A funny and touching film, The Apartment is definitely a movie I recommend.

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The Apartment

Last updated: 2010-02-28 23:09:48 by user01