Review of The Apartment (1960) by Kevin J — 11 Jan 2011

People think nowadays are depressing? There to focused on peoples problems? That's nothing compared to some of these old classics including Gone With The Wind and Casablanca. The Apartment is stated as a comedy, and Jack Lemmon's performance as the nervous worker who can't say no to his bosses gives it that comic side to the film, as well as other characters. But at heart it digs deep into people's forgotten problems that come back round as supressed, life-threating weapons. Perfect combo.

C.C.Baxter is a nobody who everybody loves to take advantage of, so they can be with their mistresses for evenings at his apartment (Phone call's scene). It becomes more and more difficult for him to maintain this since his clients are running overtime making him ill and therefore having to change other clients appointments, this is the main section of comedy as his neighbour cries to his wife "Mildred he's at it again".

But when elevator girl Fran (Shirley MacLaine) comes into the picture all his trust on his clients becomes to crumble, and his personality and outlook on life changes dramatically which makes him stand up for himself and express his true feelings when needed.

So when you really dig deep into this motion picture there's a lot of hidden messages and powerful life lessons throughout, and coupled with out of this world performances and a load of classic comic scenes that only something like Billy Wilder could have come up with The Apartment is stronger than most comedies nowadays and it's plot is more interesting. It is and always will be on of the greatest films ever made. Period.

RECOMMENDED.

5/5.