Review of The Apartment (1960) by Brian R — 02 Aug 2010

Billy Wilder makes another masterpiece while sneaking in taboo themes that involves extramarital liaisons which was considered hush-hush for the judges at the MPAA boards. Wilder is very smart in taking on a taboo subject and turning it into something funny and real. You got three very interesting characters, Jack Lemmon as CC Baxter, Shirley MacLaine as Fran Kubelik, and Fred McMurray as the vicious businessman Mr. Sheldrake.

Each character is unique, Baxter is a lonely office employee who gets promoted for lending his bosses his apartment for the night since the extramartial men cannot go to a hotel incase of getting red handed by the police. MacLaine's Kubelik is also a lonely a lonely yet cheery girl who is having an affair with Mr. Sheldrake(Kubelik does not like the feeling of being treated as a whore) and Sheldrake who is a typical businessman slimeball who only cares for himself and takes advantage of others such as Baxter and Kubelik.

"The Apartment" has many commical moments but deep down I think Wilder was more on the drama side then on the comical adding strong themes of real life. The visuals looks great to look at, never outdated, the music sets the tone for the comical and the dramatical. After Wilder's success with "Some Like It Hot" Wilder teamed up with co-writer I.A.L. Diamond managed to successfully smashed another great picture out of the park.