Synopsis: Winner of five 1960 Academy Awards® including Best Picture, The Apartment is legendary writer/director Billy Wilder at his scathing, satirical best, and one of the “finest comedies Hollywood has turned out” (Newsweek).

C.C. “Bud” Baxter (Jack Lemmon) knows the way to success in business… it’s through the door of his apartment! By providing a perfect hideaway for philandering bosses, the ambitious young employee reaps a series of undeserved promotions. But when Bud lends the key to big boss J.D. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray), he not only advances his career, but his own love life as well. For Sheldrake’s mistress is the lovely Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine), elevator girl and angel of Bud’s dreams. Convinced that he is the only man for Fran, Bud must make the most important executive decision of his career: lose the girl… or his job.
***********************************************************************

The Apartment 8.5

Featured on many lists as one of the greatest comedies of all time (ex: #19 according to Premiere, #20 according to the AFI), and sometimes also on lists of the greatest films of all time (ex: #80 according to the AFI, #96 according to the IMDB), ‘The Apartment’ is undoubtedly a classic.

Worst thing is… I almost didn’t get it.

I picked it up on VHS, second-hand in a local music shop, based on the elogious box art. I was wavering between this and a new edition of ‘American Grafitti’ (both in widescreen format – a must for cinematic classics, and a rare find on VHS!) and eventually decided on this one simply because I had yet to see it.

I promptly watched it that night, from what I recall, with nary a laugh filling the room. I thought it was a nice film, but hardly a comedy, and didn’t really understand what the big deal was. I highly regretted not buying ‘American Grafitti’, because I knew that I liked it and would watch it time and again (sadly, it was not to be, as the tape was sold to someone else by the time I returned to the store!).

But it was enjoyable enough and, whenever I was having a hard time sleeping and needed some sort of ambient accompaniment, I would pop the tape in – figuring that it wouldn’t distract me enough to prevent me from falling asleep.

And, as it was for ‘Dr. Strangelove’ and ‘The Princess Bride’ (and a few others!), it’s by doing this that I finally clued in.

Because, as strange as it might seem, whenever I would roll over to sleep, I would start focusing more on the dialogue. And, in the dialogue, I started to hear the nuances that made the film so rich; it was as though, after removing the distracting images, the essence of the script finally came to the surface.

Then I started to be distracted by the film when I should have been busy falling asleep; I started to chuckle to myself and would look over from time to time to see what was going on. I would still fall asleep eventually, but the movie no longer had a passing interest: I was actively involved in the enjoyment and wanted to watch longer and longer bits of it – to the point that I started watching it in full and relishing every morsel.

Because ‘The Apartment’ is completely full of little moments – in the dialogue, and in the performances, too.

By that point, Jack Lemmon had been leading man in many of Billy Wilder’s films and they clearly had their game mastered: Lemmon’s strengths were fully used by Wilder to bring to the fore the enthusiasm, mindless ambition and loneliness of the main character. Lemmon is masterful in his approach here and it’s the way he expresses himself physically, the subtlety in his delivery, the little touches he adorns his performance with, that are wonderful to see.

But it took me a few times before I was able to truly savour the full flavour of his performance.

Now I get it. Now I hold the key to ‘The Apartment’.

Nota bene: from personal experience, I know that I’m not alone in reacting to the film this way. So I suggest that everyone watch this film, and at least give it another 2 or 3 viewings – let it sink in, let its soak in your mind for a while, and then see if you don’t eventually keep returning to ‘The Apartment’.