The Apartment Poster

The Apartment (1960)

Comedy | Romance 
Rayting:   8.3/10 165.7K votes
Country: USA
Language: English
Release date: 16 September 1960

A man tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, but complications and a romance of his own ensue.

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RanchoTuVu 7 September 2004

A struggling office worker in a giant insurance company lends his apartment to higher ups in order to get a promotion. Set during the Holidays, the theme of infidelity turned a lot of viewers off. The Holiday setting however is what provides a lot of the film's best scenes, as in the fantastic office Christmas party where the secretaries are doing a CanCan on the table and couples are making out in the corner. The one-two punch of Jack Lemmon's classic performance and that of Fred MacMurray is fabulous, and the triangle of sorts that forms with Shirley McClaine makes this much more than the comedy that it is known for.

Det_McNulty 27 October 2006

Fmovies: For me Billy Wilder has always been one of my all time favourite directors and he has not made a single film that has not appealed to me. Billy Wilder sums up perfection all his films manage to succeed in what they set out to do. Billy Wilder is not just one of the greatest directors; he is also one of the finest scriptwriters ever. Creating flowing dialogue like no other and perfectly making his actors and actresses work with the script brilliantly. Billy Wilder has made dark noirs, hilarious musicals and studies of human nature. It is extremely difficult to fully describe a director as versatile and genius as Billy Wilder. His films have held up for generations and will continue to have the same mass appeal that his films have had since their opening days.

On the surface The Apartment might seem like a comedy and yes that's what it is on the surface. Once you start watching The Apartment you realise that actually it is a very dark film underneath and actually has characters that contemplate suicide. The fact is that The Apartment captures the realism of the everyday workman and makes you laugh as well as feel pity. The script is what keeps the film moving and shows how the characters in The Apartment change as the film progresses. The Apartment is about becoming somebody rather than being something that someone uses.

Jack Lemmon creates C.C. Baxter the young aspiring workman who just wants to have a good career and the perfect woman. Though something always goes wrong and he's perfectly able to get a woman, but not the one he wants. At times you pity C.C. Baxter because he's so kind to everyone and never gets the thing he wants in return because something will always get in the way. I think there are times in every man's life where you probably feel like C.C. Baxter in one way or another.

Jack Lemmon perfectly progresses with his character to make himself one of the most distinguishable character actors ever. Jack Lemmon works with an elegant skill at comedic performances and always captures the true essence of his characters. He seems to be one of those actors who are able to find the perfect chemistry with his fellow cast. What makes C.C. Baxter so brilliant is the fact he stands for everything the film is about. He becomes one of the mot uplifting and joyous ever put on screen. Shirley MacLaine is also excellent as the lovable Fran Kubelik (C.C. Baxter's heartthrob). From first impressions you'd think she is a beautiful and happy women, but she's actually very different to what you might expect.

The script is fast paced, memorable and most of all it helps sum up all the characters so well. It's a script that works so easily with its actors and helps to make some of the most superb character situations. The script is realistic as well and actually does feel like the kind of talk that would be used in similar situations in life. The script is extremely natural and the subtle undertones prove Billy Wilder's crafting of intellectual film-making.

The film is actually very similar to that of its A Wonderful Life and you could say Jack Lemmon is very similar to that of James Stewart. The direction is simple and fulfilling. It captures the image of "the apartment" perfectly and though just like any other New York apartment it feels extremely likable and memorable. The film's use of music is another high point and feels perfectly hand picked for the scenes it's used in. The film is actually quite sexually vibrant and does have many sexual un

DukeofPearl 13 January 1999

Billy Wilder's "The Apartment" is a film which can produce some of the biggest laughs and at the same time... can bring many viewers to tears, Billy Wilder's quaint little tale about everyday people who get tangled up in love, jealousy and infidelity boasts a top-notch cast led by the trio of Lemmon, MacLaine and MacMurray who are tremendous. The plot revolves around C.C. (Lemmon) who unknowingly makes the unethical attempt of climbing the corporate ladder by 'loaning' his apartment to members from his management chain to entertain their 'women on the side'. Given the change of circumstances, this premise certainly could even hit home in the current office environment. Although the office party and secretarial gossip scenes could be viewed as dated, the power and attitude of the corporate executive, Mr. Sheldrake (MacMurray) is certainly symbolic. The character of Fran (MacLaine) for today's standards of course seems too submissive and vulnerable but the reward of her finding true, admirable, unconditional companionship is quite enriching and fulfilling to any who see this memorable film.

Primtime 14 August 1999

The Apartment fmovies. Jack Lemmon is the man.

The Apartment really surprised me. The Best Picture winner starts off right in the middle of the action, but yet the first hour seems long and overrun. Too much time seems spent in trying to develop the characters (and oh so many of them) and not enough time is spent on just seeing what will happen. Just when I was about to lose faith, the film picks it up like I have never seen before. The whole sub-plot of the four guys wanting to use Lemmon's apartment for their evening tyrsts is dropped and Wilder smartly concentrates on Lemmon, MacLaine and MacMurray and the film creates true magic.

The Apartment is more of a drama than a comedy and balances the two elements perfectly. Just after one of the more dramatic moments of the film, we see Lemmon straining his pasta with a tennis racquet. The use of the doctor and his wife in supporting roles are completely there for comedy and yet add so much to the film. The ending also rates up there with the best of all time using an old device that doesn't seem at all cliched in this film. Some say that "Some like it hot" was Wilder's best, but now I have to disagree. The Apartment is better and surely would have made my top ten had the first hour not been so predictable.

How Jack Lemmon didn't win Best Actor is beyond me. His is a great performance, getting to act on more than one scale. MacMurray, another Wilder favourite is perfectly cast in the role of a family-wrecker. I wish they would have put a scene in which his wife confronts him with "The News". MacLaine glows on the screen even when she is sick and in bed.

I fully recommend this film to all, it being Wilder's best makes it a must see.

8/10 stars.

Ford-kp 13 April 2006

In the beginning of The Apartment we see C. C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) being lost in a sea of desks within a gigantic office room. He works for a huge New York insurance company employing over thirty thousand souls spread over twenty-seven floors. Sometimes he is working overtime; "It's not like I was overly ambitious..." Baxter tells us defensively. "You see, I have this little problem with my apartmentÂ… I can't always get in when I want to."

The reason are several superiors, to whom he is lending his apartment for their extra-marital escapades. In exchange they promise to give his career a push by passing recommendations to the personnel manager, Mr. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray). Although Buddy Boy (that's his disrespectful yet firmly established nickname) is daily surrounded by hundreds of people, he is drowning in lonesomeness. Apart from his mocking colleagues, there does not seem to be any family or close friends. In fact, the only decent person among his acquaintances is his neighbour, Dr. Dreyfuss (Jack Kruschen), ironically under the wrong impression that the man next door is a womanizing drunkard.

So Baxter meekly adapts to the mercilessness of corporate life, putting all hopes of happiness into his career. His free evenings consist of watching TV, preparing dinner or cleaning up after the occupants of his apartment. Yes, one could say that Baxter does not exactly lead a joyful life.

Yet, there is something, or rather somebody carrying light into the loner's gloominess when he falls in love with the pretty elevator girl Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine). Although Fran likes him for his decency and kindness, she does not quite share the feelings of her ardent admirer. But Buddy Boy refuses to notice any signs of unrequited love and eventually talks her into going out with him. You can imagine how Baxter feels when she fails to turn up, and how things get significantly worse when he finds out that she is actually having intimate meetings with the personnel manager Mr. Sheldrake in HIS apartment. The image of purity Baxter had of Fran is gone. On Christmas Eve, he decides to drown his broken heart in a bar while his apartment is occupied by the cause of his misery. But Fran doesn't feel any happier than Baxter, and with the depressing effect Christmas can have on the lonesome and desperate, the story threatens to take a turn into tragedy...

It is hard to pin The Apartment on a single genre. The sharp, witty dialogue as well as Jack Lemmon's hilarious mimic would hint at a romantic comedy. Yet, one cannot overlook the tragic elements which let us dive into thoughtfulness, but never too deeply. Then again the film works on a satiric level, operating as cynical social commentary on corporate culture in the sixties (which is not very unlike today's business life). The remarkable thing about this film is that these three qualities merge perfectly into each other without ever losing the balance. The Apartment is a most entertaining picture, sometimes rushing from one hilarity to the next, and then suddenly slowing down to leave room for contemplation. Sometimes uplifting, sometimes depressing, sometimes both at the same time. Billy Wilder mixed these contrary moods, and most amazingly, it worked out just fine.

First and foremost The Apartment deals with loneliness and the everlasting search for unaccomplished love. "I used to live like Robinson Crusoe. I mean shipwrecked among 8 million people. And then one day I saw a footprint in the sa

moonspinner55 28 June 2001

One of the finest examples of smart, satiric comedy-drama ever created for the screen. Jack Lemmon (in amazing comic form) plays a working stiff in Corporate America--via New York City--whose bachelor apartment inadvertently becomes a love-nest for amorous, married executives. The film is extremely modern for 1960 and features a non-stop barrage of funny, clever talk. Lemmon is a mad genius at frenzied (yet sympathetic) characterization, and "The Apartment" catches him at his professional peak in the movies. Working alongside huggable neurotic Shirley MacLaine (also at her peak) and shady Fred MacMurray (parlaying his slimeball role with curt persuasion), Lemmon creates a new kind of acting: screwball realism. **** from ****

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