Billy Wilder directed many a great film : Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, Sunset Boulevard, Some Like It Hot, Sabrina and among others. As for me, I love all the previously mentioned and more, but I would have to offer up his Oscar-winning 1960 film The Apartment as perhaps my favorite. A sentimental choice, I initially saw The Apartment on KTLA Channel 5, an independent Los Angeles station, in 1971. When we see a film at an impressionable age it's impact is all the greater. I was only 12, but the theme of the film, that a man is not what he seems, that people will use others to get what they want, resonated within me and still does.
Miss Kubelik and Mr. Baxter
Jack Lemmon, in what has to be one of his two or three defining performances, plays C.C.Baxter { "C for Calvin, C for Clifford, however most people just call me Bud "} an employee in a large insurance company called Consolidated Life of New York. Along with the other 31,259 employees Baxter slaves away at his job in " ordinary policy department, premium accounting division, section w, desk #861 ". Baxter learned long ago that doing favors for executives in high places doesn't hurt one's chances at a promotion, so he lends his apartment out two or three times a week to four men who are married but fool around on the side. Eventually Baxter's boss, Mr. Sheldrake the President of the company { a perfectly reptilian Fred MacMurray }, finds out what has been going on and arranges for Baxter to get promotions in exchange for use of the apartment. Complications ensue when Baxter learns that Sheldrake has been taking Fran Kubelik { an absolutely irresistible, never more appealing Shirley MacLaine }, an elevator girl who Baxter has a huge crush on, to his apartment for a little " ring-a-ding-ding ". So we are in Man In The Gray Flannel Suit, The Best of Everything, Executive Suite-land. Mad Men before there was such a show, but also Rat Pack territory, which comes thru in the dialogue, martini's, the portrayal of women { no feminine execs here } and the cheating executives who have absolutely no shame or remorse in their philandering. Grown men behaving like boys. Still not that uncommon today I would venture, though perhaps more subtle.
Sheldrake sweet talks Fran back into his bed for a little "ring-a-ding-ding"
In the 1940's Wilder saw David Lean's Brief Encounter, a rather chaste film about an extramarital affair, and the idea occurred to him : what about a " movie about the guy who climbs into the warm bed left by two lovers ". The idea was ahead of it's time, but by the late 50's Hollywood's production Code had been showing the strain and the cracks were starting to break through that antiquated system, so Wilder, along with writing partner I.A.L { Izzy } Diamond , dusted off the idea and came up with The Apartment. Upon release some critics found the story line and it's characters morally reprehensible. Today the film looks both fresh and dated. Many things have been rendered obsolete such as elevator girls, { itself a rather crude reference to women being in charge things going up and going down } onlymale executives, no people of color are seen except for a black janitor, and so on. What I do find fresh is the prevalent use of Jewish and Eastern Europeans and their ancestors. Dobisch, Kirkeby, Matuschka, Kubelik, Eichelberger, Vanderhof, Dreyfuss; I love these names and the lingo of Baxter's landlady Mrs. Lieberman { who references " all that mishigas at Cape Canaveral " }, his neighbor Dr. Dreyfuss, who perceives Baxter to be a playboy { " Live now, pay later, Diners Club!" } because of the loud music and female giggling he and Mrs. Dreyfuss hear next door night after night. This, of course, this is not Baxter, but the execs and companions he loans his place to. It is the good Doctor who tells Baxter to be a mensch { " What is that, Doc?" , " A mensch! A human being.!! " }
Dr. Dreyfuss and Baxter try to revive Fran after her suicide attempt.
The music in the film By Adolph Deutsch deserves a big shout out and in this establishing scene it is especially spot on. Deutsch had worked with Wilder the year before on Some Like It Hot, he was one of many Wilder had worked with on previous films, for like most of the great filmmakers both past and present, they have a team of regular collaborators they try to corral together on every film : Diamond had worked with Wilder since 1957's Love in the Afternoon and would continue to co-script every Wilder film to his last one, the abysmal Buddy, Buddy; cinematographer Joseph LaShelle's work on the film was his first for TeamWilder, and would continue with Irma LaDouce; Kiss Me, Stupid and The Fortune Cookie. LaShelle had lensed several film noir's in the 1940's { Laura; Fallen Angel; Road House } and The Apartment is shot in a noir-like style, which suits the film perfectly because, though it's a Rom-Com, it has a dark sensibility with a pessimistic outlook on mankind. Alexander Trauner, a legend of art direction, worked on several Wilder films. Besides The Apartment, Trauner contributed to Love in the Afternoon; Witness For The Prosecution; One,Two,Three; The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes and the underrated Fedora. These men, and so many others, helped Wilder achieve the effect and perfection he desired.
Baxter, unaware that Fran has taken almost fatal dose of sleeping pills, wants her to get up and "o-u-t. OUT!!" of his home and bed.
My identification with the film comes in the form of Baxter. The quintessential "lonely guy", Baxter is everything I have perceived myself to be, and more. He is a decent person, the mensch Dr. Dreyfuss exclaims he should be, not the no good lady-killer without a conscious he is perceived to be, with a deep sense of honor and chivalry. Baxter has a personal code, yet it is a code he has corrupted. Unlucky in love, Baxter has put all his focus and energies on getting ahead in the world of big business. By lending out his bachelor pad as a place for married men to tryst with their lovers, Baxter has become a pimp, essentially pimping out himself, and his self-disgust is palpable. His loneliness is made painfully aware to us at the film's beginning as he prepares his typical night at home, after Mr. Kirkeby and his phone operator mistress, Sylvia, have vacated Baxter's place. Alone with his TV dinner and old movie , which keeps getting postponed by the film's host who keeps hawking his wares { " Friends, do you have wobbly dentures? " }, Wilder paints a portrait of Baxter we can't help but sympathize with. He is the poster boy for loneliness. Along the way we also get suicide attempts which is fairly heavy waters for any romantic comedy to dive into but is precisely what gives the film it's timeless quality. Though technology has changed and people of color and gender have come a long ways since this film's release, The Apartment gets the basic human needs and emotions perfect; this is romantic comedy of the highest order. Along with Double Indemnity; The Lost Weekend; Sunset Blvd and Some Like It Hot, The Apartment is Billy Wilder at his caustic, cynical, yet humane, best. I leave you with one question : Why can't life be more like a romantic comedy?? Maybe I should just " shut up and deal ".
Sources : Books - On Sunset Boulevard by Ed Sikov
Conversations With Wilder by Cameron Crowe
Internet : Wikipedia
IMDB
YouTube
Viewing : Blu-ray disc of the film
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