The Oscar Project #33: The Apartment (1960)

by Chris Marshall:

I don’t know what the deep and profound significance of this is, but the first year of each decade produces some pretty great movies. So far, years ending in 0 have brought us All Quiet on the Western Front, Rebecca, All About Eve, and now The Apartment. That’s a pretty fine list there.

There is just so much to like about The Apartment, not least of which is the fact that it’s directed by Billy Wilder. I’ve seen four of his films now (this, Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, and Sunset Blvd.), and I’ve loved them all. That is a pretty disparate group of genres to attain mastery in. When Michael Hazanavicius won Best Director this year for The Artist, he said, “I want to thank Billy Wilder, I want to thank Billy Wilder, and I want to thank Billy Wilder.” It’s easy to understand why.

There is such depth in his filmography that it almost defies belief. In addition to the aforementioned films, he also directed Some Like It Hot, Ace in the Hole, Stalag-17, Witness for the Prosecution (and so on). I stop there lest this entire article turn into a list of movies, but Wilder’s filmography merits a mention. He’s made more great movies than most directors make decent ones.

Of course, Billy Wilder isn’t the only reason that The Apartment is successful. A great deal of credit belongs to Jack Lemmon, an actor who had an uncanny ability to make you like him. Can you imagine anybody in the world, ever, saying, “I hate Jack Lemmon”? It’s an impossibility. Yet he’s playing a character that is meek, timid, and somewhat pathetic. He’s the kind of guy you might feel sorry for, but Lemmon turns him into something more. You like him despite his flaws, and you’re rooting for him because you feel like there’s a fundamental decency to him that deserves to be recognized.

Lemmon’s character is just another faceless employee in a huge insurance company (which has as many employees as Natchez, Mississippi, has residents, he helpfully points out). He makes a little extra money on the side, and gains brownie points with his higher-ups, by renting out his apartment to them at night for their sordid affairs. He gets a promotion based on this, and in the process, falls for one of the elevator girls, played by Shirley MacLaine.

Hey, that's Warren Beatty's sister!

This is all well and good, except that his new boss has been taking her to, you guessed it, Lemmon’s apartment. As you might imagine, this does not sit well with Lemmon, but hey, it’s the boss, so what can he do? However, soon a Major Event happens and changes the dynamic for everybody. I won’t spoil what it is, but it’s a little dark for what seems like a fun comedy.

The Apartment is a perfect example of a film that purposely subverts your expectations. You go in expecting comedy, and yes, you get it, but there’s more to it than that. There is some value to comedies that exist solely for laughs, but Wilder proves that you can make a movie that is simultaneously funny and “important” in the sense that it explores complex characters and themes.

And finally, a tidbit that may not be of interest to anybody but me: this was the last “true” black and white film to win Best Picture. I have no problem at all with black and white movies, but it is nice to introduce color into the project, even if Hollywood thinks that musicals should win the Oscar every year from here on out.

That’s a slight exaggeration, but it hardly feels like it at the moment, when I’m slogging through My Fair Lady. Some of the winning musicals are pretty good, but enough is enough. I never thought I’d look forward to A Man for All Seasons so much.

Oh, one last thing that I just thought of right before I hit "publish." I believe this was the first Best Picture winner to reference another Best Picture winner. On a night when Jack Lemmon finally has his apartment to himself, he watches Grand Hotel on television, which won the award in 1932. That seems like ancient history, but the difference in years between Grand Hotel and The Apartment is the same as the difference between Amadeus and The Artist. You know, for whatever that's worth.