esrosedotblog

THE APARTMENT(1960)

Today's movie; NYTimes 1000 Best; Billy Wilder (shown) wrote, directed and produced--a one man band. John and I have a theory that the best films are the ones that one or two people wrote. Here we have all three stakeholders in one. Wilder never had to answer to anyone after a certain point in his career and everything he did is marked with his deft hand. This film is no exception.

Wilder's work was always funny in serious way. The themes were not trivial. In the inevitable comedy there was always the dark side. Here, amid the frivolity are the shades of infidelity, corporate corruption, personal dishonesty, and both subtle and overt forms of self destruction.

Jack Lemmon does the honors as the shlemiel; Shirley MacLaine as the girl that takes him out of his sorry groove; and Fred MacMurray plays the cad, a role he had patented prior to his My Three Sons days. As usual in Wilder every character actor and their act is a small jewel.

This film has one of the best endings that I have ever seen (spoiler warning). After nearly two hours of the Apartment Theme (which is not bad at all) the music swells and crescends and accelerandos as MacLaine runs to meet Lemmon only for it all to crash at the peak of excitement. Then, we have the real climactical moments; a gin game. A Wilder ending, indeed.

I will give it a 5 out of Netflix 5.