The Apartment (1960)

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The Apartment (1960)

7/10

Starring

Jack Lemmon

Shirley MacLaine

Directed by Billy Wilder

The Apartment is one of the most straight forward movies I have seen. From the acting to the killer final line at the end of the movie “shut up and deal” were all exquisite. With no hidden message, cliff hangers or sub plot, The Apartment made its claim that a simple straightforward plot is best.

The Apartment is delivered in black and white, and it was Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond next best thing after the 1959 hit, Some Like It Hot. Some Like It Hot starred Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, with Wilder looking forward to working with Lemmon again. That led to Wilder casting him as Calvin Clifford (C. C.) "Bud" Baxter, the lead character who owned “The Apartment” where most of the movie went down.

The movie begins with a slight introduction of C. C. Baxter (known as Bud or Buddy Boy) who loans his apartment to his bosses at work for them to have their illicit affair. What he looked to gain from this was a promotion at work, as the five senior colleagues were giving him a good report.

Everything was going on well and good, with his plan and structure, until he fell for a girl Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine). Fran was the elevator attendant in the office who also happened to be a girl one of his bosses was seeing. The boss brings her to his apartment and left her there heartbroken, causing her to make an attempt on her own life. Baxter returns home to find a girl almost dead in his bed, he came to her rescue, but now has to find a way to keep the matter silent and be sure of his promotion at work.

Let’s not forget he has also fallen for this girl and thrown in the dilemma, love or promotion.

How Baxter handled it, is enough reason for you to see the movie.

Although during its release it was seen as a controversial plot, due to the case of infidelity being made to seem funny, common and women made to be mere tools of affection, the movie was still well received and took in more than 7 times its production cost in the box office.

The movie also went ahead to win 5 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. It also won the BAFTA Award for Best Film and Lemmon and MacLaine both won a BAFTA and a Golden Globe each for their performances.

The movie can be found on numerous list of one of the best movies of all times, and it is a definite must see.