Simply Perfect

i must have seen a different film!!

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

A Jack Lemmon and Shirley Maclean treat! A great original concept, with both laughter and more serious moments.

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. The Apartment has 2 talented actors as it's main 2 protagonists unfortunately the same can not be said about it's terrible pacing and just god-awful of a script and story that is neither interesting or just remotely fun and nice. The film also is a bit too long than it should and that has turned into a big issue for me since i started watching all those bad movies that IMDb has listed as good on their list of 250.... (0/10)

My local cinema does "Secret Movie Night" once a month, you just show up and watch a "classic" of their choosing, you just don't know what it is until it starts.One of the reasons that I enjoy this is that I end up viewing films that I might not, otherwise, choose to watch. Case in point is the selection for May - the 1960 Oscar winner for Best Picture, THE APARTMENT - a "love story" with some comedy and some dark dramatic moments and themes. A very tricky combination of items that are bundled together, brilliantly, by a master of the craft.THE APARTMENT tells the story of nebbish office worker C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon in an Oscar nominated performance, more on that later) who is talked into lending his apartment to higher-ups in his company so they can carry out extra-marital affairs. When one of the affairs goes wrong, Baxter is forced to "clean up the mess".Written and Directed by the GREAT Billy WIlder (SOME LIKE IT HOT, SUNSET BOULEVARD), The Apartment is more than a love story, more than a look into the vacuous lives of those anonymous office workers, it is a look into the lives of those who are victims of abuse of power. Wilder, rightfully so, won the Oscar for Best Director and Best Screenplay for this film. The Apartment is strongly written and directed not flinching at the deep subject matter while also balancing things out with moments of comedy and joy, turning what could have been a dour, dark subject into a more joyous exploration of true humanity and love rising through the corruption and abuse of power heaped upon them.In the lead role of CC Baxter, Lemmon is perfectly cast. Starting as a pure comedic character who is set upon by a world too strong for him, his character slowly turns sharper, deeper, more serious and more real as the film progresses. Lemmon was nominated for the Oscar for his performance - and rightfully so. I had to look up who beat him out for the statue and found out it was Burt Lancaster's powerhouse performance in ELMER GANTRY, so I can't really argue about this (but I digress).Matching Lemmon beat for beat is Shirley MacLaine, the wronged girl who's "issues" (I'm not going to spoil what happens, if you haven't seen this) are at the heart of this film - and at the heart of Lemmon's character. MacLaine is charming and tragic in this role and she, too, was nominated for an Oscar (for Best Actress losing to Elizabeth Taylor for Butterfield 8). Rounding out the cast was a pre-MY 3 SONS Fred MacMurray (as the Exec who abuses both Lemmon's and MacLaine's characters). He was terrific as this cad, and thought for sure that he would have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor, but that honor went to Jack Kruschen as Lemmon's neighbor in the apartment building where they both lived. I am fine with that but preferred MacMurray's performance. Also showing up are such great character actors as Ray Walston (MY FAVORITE MARTIAN), David Lewis (GENERAL HOSPITAL), Willard Waterman (THE GREAT GILDERSLEEVE) and David White (Larry Tate in BEWITCHED) as other Execs using The Apartment for their purposes.This is a terrific motion picture and if you haven't seen it (or if you haven't seen it in quite sometime), I highly recommend you check it out (it is shown on the Turner Classic Movie channel on a fairly regular basis). It certainly shows a slice of life during the MAD MEN days that just doesn't exist anymore - and also presents a type of film, and a type of filmmaker, that just doesn't exist today.Letter Grade: A+10 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank (ofMarquis)

Billy Wilder proved himself to be one of Hollywood's titans, winning 6 Academy Awards during his lifetime with films like "Sunset Boulevard" or "Some Like It Hot" which have become classics of the American cinema. Out of his 27 credits as a director "The Apartment" seems to be his most lasting film, and it is also a personal favorite of mine. Jack Lemmon plays the part of an employee (C.C Baxter) of a big corporation in New York. His superiors, who call him "Buddy-Boy", praise his performances at the place of work. He is intelligent and creative, and he also spends extra-hours at work. This is the result of his apartment becoming the nest were his superiors hide their mistresses, a fact unknown by Baxter's neighbour's who think he's a real ladies' man and are bothered by the noises coming from his apartment. Shirley MacLaine plays an elevator operator, Fran Kubelik, who's love life is just as empty as Baxter's. She's just one of the victims who fell into the pit of summer-affairs just to find out love's not as easy as it seems. Baxter on the other hand never had the guts to refuse someone, especially a superior. He catches a cold after one of the "visitors" gives him back the wrong key and he has to spend the night out in the rain, but the thought of a promotion never lets him say a bad word to his superiors. When the promotion arrives, so does the courage to invite a certain Kubelik to dinner. I will not develop the story further, because I'd steal away the magic of the film. But the real magic is how realistic the whole story actually seems, not the story itself. The widescreen format allows us to feel the power of the empty spaces which surround the characters, or the emptiness they feel when they're surrounded by other people. The black-&-white image is beautifully made, and it's probably one of Billy Wilder's most visually stunning films. Even with that, Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine are the main reason why you should watch this film. Two actors who wer at the most important point of their carreer, and they made the best out of it. It's amazing how real their characters feel, how much emotion they transmit. The film speaks about how we fall for our bosses, about how we comfort ourselves with the thought of succes and we accept misery in order to be recognized by our society. We are victims, but we want to be the victims and nobody forces us to be one. The film is also about how we want to be loved, but we're afraid to fight for love. We get used to loneliness and we use it as fuel for our everyday actions. We use for promotions, to avoid scandal or to keep us in our comfort zone. "The Apartment" is not a period-piece, it is actual and it's still as powerful as it was in 1960. This film is a must-watch and it's probably Billy Wilder's best work.