The Apartment (1960)

No, but I watched every one of them a couple of years ago. Not a fan of gangster-type films so while I recognize that The Godfather is culturally relevant, it ain't my scene.

 

THE APARTMENT is one of my very favorite movies. Top five easily.

 

A "gangster film"! Oh well, different strokes. What about Casablanca, A Man for All Seasons, The Best Years of Our Lives, Lawrence of Arabia, On the Waterfront, and maybe a half dozen more? I love The Apartment, but it would probably be no higher than 10 or 12 on my list of top Oscar winners. Great, great movie though

 

What can I say? I don't always align with the conventional wisdom on this stuff. I do put Casablanca and Best Years just behind The Apartment, though.

 

Awesome movie!

Love how it is not so predictable. Shirley is so cute in this movie, it is almost sickening...!

 

in my top 10 fav films easy.

 

Yes, a favorite of mine as well, one of my three or four favorite comedies.

As an aside, when I first saw it, I was working for a very large firm and living a half-block (literally) from the office, which everyone knew. I was never asked for keys, but there wasn't an "executive washroom" anyway.

As many I'm sure know, but which I did not see posted above, the idea for the film came from David Lean's "Brief Encounter," where the male and female leads are discovered by the actual tenant of the borrowed apartment, who is appalled. That film of course has quite a different mood (and one suspects that irrespective of the discovery, nothing scandalous was ever going to happen), and it's interesting to think of the connection.

 

My favourite movie of all time. The Blu-ray is decent.

 

Went to a showing of the film last night at the Avon Theater in Stamford, CT, which 20 or 30 years or so ago when I lived around here was a dump, showing mostly garbage, but recently reopened as a made-over non-profit. Nice place to see a movie, with a good-sized screen in the main theater. Last night's presentation was from a 2K DCP. Looked very good, though not perfectly crisp.

A local professor made some opening remarks and led a discussion afterward. One of the most interesting bits of trivia I learned about the picture is that the huge bullpen where Baxter is first working was a set designed with forced perspective -- the room is actually not quite as large as it's made out to be, but the set designer chose smaller and smaller desks, and smaller and smaller people, for each receding row, until the last row was occupied by children!

Regardless, it's one of the greatest, movie-wise.

 

I recently got the BD watched it for the first time. I had the same experience as you. It is undoubtedly a very well-crafted and acted film, but the subject matter is very disturbing, and trying to present parts of it as comedy was grating.

 

I love the mix of comedy and drama - the bittersweet nature of it all. The viewer sees the ending, however you wonder how things will REALLY work out for the main characters.

 

I watched it again with the commentary, which not only provided a lot of production details, but pointed out some of the themes and Wilder's approach to mixing drama and comedy. It made me appreciate the film more.

And, I've always enjoyed films that successfully mix drama and comedy. In the case of The Apartment, I just found it disturbing that he tried to make humor out of those horrible executives who treated their young female employees as playthings, with no regard for their own rights. I'm sure it was perceived differently in 1960.

I've been on a Wilder binge for the past year or so, watching a lot of his films that I had never seen before. I was familiar with Sunset Boulevard and Double Indemnity, but have now watched Ace in the Hole, The Apartment, and most recently Stalag 17. In all of these films, he skewered contemporary society and seemed to relish outraging the audience with dark, bitter themes. When Stalag 17 was released, the War had been over for only 7 years. I wonder what the reaction was to his film that portrayed Nazis as buffoons and injected humor into a prison camp?

 

I imagine his other films "A Foreign Affair" and "One, Two, Three" would have been accused of trivializing the politics of their era as well.
"Stalag 17" on the other hand came out eight years after the end of the war so there is a bit more distance there.
The key historical event in "Some Like it Hot" would not have been seen as a launching point for comedy either, but it remains a high point in the genre.
At the same time films like "Sabrina," "Love in the Afternoon," and later films such as "Avanti" and "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" are much less cynical about their characters, though maybe not about the world they live in.

 

I first saw this probably 45 years ago and it was my first experience at seeing Fred MacMurray in a bad-guy role. A fine movie!

 

Here are three pieces about this great, 'seasonal' movie:

http://fridaynightboys300.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/billy-wilders-apartment-best-non.html



In my humble opinion, one of the greatest American films ever and in Wilder's top ten, along with Double Indemnity, Ace in the Hole, Sunset Boulevard, The Private Lives of Sherlock Holmes, Some Like It Hot, Stalag 17, One, Two, Three (not fashionable, I know...), The Lost Weekend and The Major and the Minor.

 

Yes! Only really discovered it in 1991 or so. I think it 'starts' around Hallowe'en. Liked the arc in it(timewise).

 

A very favorite of mine. I show this and Blow Up (totally unrelated) to people who come over my house and have never seen either of them. Two of my all time favorite films. Billy Wilder was a genius.

 

Cheers for the merge. I did check first but I guess I missed the other thread. Thanks anyhow.

 

Just thinking about it warms my heart - yes, a true and absolute classic!

 

I make a point of watching it around New Year's every year. Wonderful film.

 

A masterpiece and alongside Ace in the Hole it is Wilder's finest hour.
It is probably impossible to not associate with CC Baxter in every way.

 

In my quest to watch all my DVDs and Blu-Rays, I have just watched The Apartment. I've had the DVD for a few years but never got around to watching it (I bought a bunch of Jack Lemmon films a few years ago).

I had assumed it was just a typical Jack Lemmon comedy but really wasn't expecting what I saw, which is one of the best films I've seen in a long time. Although there are comedic moments throughout, it's really quite a dark film, which I guess was the point. The accompanying extras give a bit of insight into the concept and seems groundbreaking for the times. The casting of Fred McMurray was against type considering the Disney connections which I remember from my youth. I especially liked Shirley MacLaine, who had most of the best lines and looked absolutely beautiful. Of course, Jack Lemmon is great too. I hadn't realised it won so many Oscars (and many others eleswhere), but in my opinion, well deserved. I'm looking forward to watching it again in a few years, when it'll be fresh again.

 

One of my favorites. I first saw it trying to watch everything on the first AFI Top 100 list, and seeing Billy Wilder (ah, Sabrina, some like it hot) and Jack Lemmon, I also assumed it would be a light fluffy comedy. Great movie, and Shirley mcLaine is also great in it. TCM showed it last night and I watched a big chunk of it

 

First class movie. Everybody in it is excellent. I also like that it is in b&w which adds to the mood of the film. This is a perfect example of a movie that is dark and serious but has so many little funny comments and things happen that it is still a positive movie. It also stands up to repeated viewings because there are many subtle things being said and some of the actors do things with their expressions and body movements that seem so normal yet add to what they say. A beautiful movie and I enjoy hearing from someone who has just discovered it.

 

Interesting timing for this thread - The Apartment was on TCM last night & I watched part of it & recorded the rest for later. I've been curious to see this for years but never got around to it. Looking forward to seeing it from beginning to end soon.