Week 9 (Part 2): The Apartment!

The Apartment is perhaps Billy Wilder's most famous film (or is at least tied with Some Like It Hot), and definitely Jack Lemmon's most famous role. Lemmon plays a middling employee of an insurance agency who rents his Manhattan apartment out to senior management for their trysts, in exchange for promotions. On the "way up," (wink) he meets and falls in love with Shirley MacLaine's elevator operator character, who herself is romantically involved with one of the soulless company execs.

It's a wonderfully written movie. The Apartment starts as a playful satire of high-powered womanizing, but then delves headlong into the dire consequences that such callous behavior brings for its victims. These consequences give Lemmon's character the opportunity to step in and be a hero. He's eventually given the choice between the corner office job and retaining his soul (and getting the girl as a result). 

The style of the movie is really something else. As someone watching this movie for the first time in 2015, I have to say that it's remarkable to see just how much the TV show Mad Men owes to Billy Wilder's version of 1950's/60's New York. Interviews with Matthew Weiner confirm that The Apartment was a major influence on the style and themes of Mad Men. I would say it goes beyond being an influence. Mad Men, in my opinion, comes close to being a complete homage to The Apartment. Which is not a bad thing.

A room full of typewriters, overcoats, hats... where is Don Draper?

The Apartment won Best Picture in 1960 over four films that I have not yet seen. I have a feeling it was the right choice. Score: 8.8