I wish I had come into this movie not knowing what happens, because I have a feeling I would have enjoyed it even more. As it was, I still loved it.
The idea on which this movie is based is so clever, it's hard to understand why they hadn't made it before. A young man named C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) allows the executives of the company where he works to use his apartment for pleasure, usually with women other than their wives (figures). While this is going on, Baxter finds he is in love with a certain elevator girl at the company named Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine). I'm going to go ahead and stop there so I don't ruin anything for you. The plot is too creative to waste in a comment.
It is hard to pinpoint exactly why The Apartment succeeds so well. Perhaps it is because the characters ring so true. This is the first movie I've seen Jack Lemmon in, and I have to say I like him a lot. He manages to be funny without breaking away from his character, something I admire in the actors of the Golden Age and something the actors of this age need to learn. There was not a moment in this movie when I felt like Bud wasn't doing what he felt was the right thing. In fact it seems to me like this movie is about Bud and Fran discovering what "the right thing" actually is. Fran is played by Shirley MacLaine in what could have been an over-the-top, whiny performance. MacLaine manages to turn Fran into a wonderfully sympathetic and strong-willed woman, despite the fact that she's stuck on the wrong guy. Fred MacMurray has a nice turn as a man who never quite understands the girl he brings to Baxter's apartment, and ends up selfishly pushing her over the edge.
Of course, Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond have written such a witty and character-driven screenplay, it must've made the actors' jobs easy. This is more than just a comedy, and while at first glance it seems to be very simple, the more you think about it, the more you realize how much is really there.
The idea on which this movie is based is so clever, it's hard to understand why they hadn't made it before. A young man named C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) allows the executives of the company where he works to use his apartment for pleasure, usually with women other than their wives (figures). While this is going on, Baxter finds he is in love with a certain elevator girl at the company named Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine). I'm going to go ahead and stop there so I don't ruin anything for you. The plot is too creative to waste in a comment.
It is hard to pinpoint exactly why The Apartment succeeds so well. Perhaps it is because the characters ring so true. This is the first movie I've seen Jack Lemmon in, and I have to say I like him a lot. He manages to be funny without breaking away from his character, something I admire in the actors of the Golden Age and something the actors of this age need to learn. There was not a moment in this movie when I felt like Bud wasn't doing what he felt was the right thing. In fact it seems to me like this movie is about Bud and Fran discovering what "the right thing" actually is. Fran is played by Shirley MacLaine in what could have been an over-the-top, whiny performance. MacLaine manages to turn Fran into a wonderfully sympathetic and strong-willed woman, despite the fact that she's stuck on the wrong guy. Fred MacMurray has a nice turn as a man who never quite understands the girl he brings to Baxter's apartment, and ends up selfishly pushing her over the edge.
Of course, Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond have written such a witty and character-driven screenplay, it must've made the actors' jobs easy. This is more than just a comedy, and while at first glance it seems to be very simple, the more you think about it, the more you realize how much is really there.