The Apartment (DVD)

The Apartment tells the story of C.C. Baxter otherwise known as Bud played by Jack Lemmon. Baxter narrates the opening for us giving us facts and trivial statistics about New York and about the office he works in. He’s an office worker in a large room full of office workers. He works extremely hard and seems to be very mathematically minded as he relates everything to different mathematical facts and statistics. He also works an extra hour everyday ...
...to wait around outside in the cold until they’re finished and when he is allowed in his boss admonishes him for not having enough liqueur and cheese crackers. Baxter being the push-over he is apologises and promises more. They leave and he is for going to bed but all of a sudden an other boss needs the flat pronto. Without much choice he has to let them in or risk loosing his job so spends the night on a park bench.

Not all is bad for ... more

The Apartment tells the story of C.C. Baxter otherwise known as Bud played by Jack Lemmon. Baxter narrates the opening for us giving us facts and trivial statistics about New York and about the office he works in. He’s an office worker in a large room full of office workers. He works extremely hard and seems to be very mathematically minded as he relates everything to different mathematical facts and statistics. He also works an extra hour everyday not because he’s over enthusiastic but because during the day his bosses (for he has several) commandeer his apartment for their sexual liaisons with their mistresses in secret.

He goes home and it turns out that his boss isn’t quite finished so he has to wait around outside in the cold until they’re finished and when he is allowed in his boss admonishes him for not having enough liqueur and cheese crackers. Baxter being the push-over he is apologises and promises more. They leave and he is for going to bed but all of a sudden an other boss needs the flat pronto. Without much choice he has to let them in or risk loosing his job so spends the night on a park bench.

Not all is bad for Baxter though, he loves the infamy with which his neighbours regard him as they believe all the noise they hear is his doing. The doctor next door is fascinated as to where he gets the energy from and asks if he’ll leave his body to science after he dies.

He is also very much smitten by the office lift operator Fran Kubelik played by Shirley MacLaine. The top boss of the building has found out about Baxter’s apartment and offers him two tickets to The Musicman and eventually a promotion for its use and Lemmon tries to get Miss Kubelik to go with him but things turn out to be very complicated.

I like Jack Lemmon but I always get the feeling that Jack Lemmon is being forgotten about. Jack Lemmon was an actor known for being in lots of comedy films sort of like Ben Stiller is today but Jack Lemmon was a hell of a lot better than Ben Stiller. In The Apartment he plays the bumbling push-over that’s not an uncommon character for him to play. Baxter is an extremely likeable character who it’s very easy to feel sorry for. He’s set up as someone completely apart from the ruthless career ladder climbing bosses who push him around. Miss Kubelik admires his manners and notes that once the other men get promoted they become arrogant whilst he remains quite a noble and humble character who does the right thing despite the self sacrifice. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance as was Shirley MacLaine for playing Flan Kubelik.

Miss Kubelik is quite a funny lively character at first who is still very pretty despite her short hair. I don’t mean to take away from the credit she deserves for her performance when I say it’s perhaps not Oscar worthy as it was still a very good but I can’t say there’s anything special about it. She was a really nice character however and perfectly cast for the film as was Fred MacMurray as Sheldrake the boss of the company.

It was written and directed by Billy Wilder who regularly cast Jack Lemmon in his films and the two are also responsible for such films as Some Like It Hot, The Front Page and Buddy, Buddy to mention just a few. Wilder won Best Original Screenplay, Picture and Director for the film quite justifiably. The comedy in the film isn’t side splitting but it is quite quirky and it’s more a feel good drama than a laugh out loud comedy but the story is very original. It could be said that the film takes a while to really start going and for the Baxter - Kubelik dilemma to really start but this allowed for the whole interesting state of affairs to be brought to light and gave the film its peculiar context.

Despite the fact that Baxter’s apartment (I keep writing flat and then correcting it) is being used by several people for sexual affairs this is never explicitly stated and the film is relatively conservative in the way the story is told. It’s a PG but I still think this is a bit odd as it’s a film about men having lots of affairs. I suppose children perhaps think they just borrow the house to I dunno… play with each other. Children aren’t going to want to see this film anyway.

I would recommend that you give this film a watch. It’s not necessarily a good buy as it’s not a film that you’re going to watch a lot. It has this “Will they? Won’t they?” element that is eventually resolved and once that’s known by you the film loses a lot. Apart from this it is still light hearted and amusing enough to be a worthwhile watch. The comic neighbours who think Baxter is a stud and his joy at this as well as a few other funny moments; Baxter using the tennis racket to drain the spaghetti being a memorable one coupled with his odd, clumsy dialogue and good natured character and the original story make this a great feel-good film that should appeal to most people. It has a bit more depth than you’re average romantic-comedy today and a lot wider an appeal as this was before the genre was pointed primarily at women. Today’s romantic comedies are generally dumbed down and formulaic. How insulting for women.

Another interesting facet to the film was that as it was partly set in an 1960s office but actually made in the 60s I kept on comparing it with Mad Men and it is very similar. There’s the womanising, the drinking, the office party and the arrogant bosses. Sort of gives Mad Men a bit more creditability.

‘’’DVD extras’’’

There’s a trailer for the film and that’s it.

‘’’Price’’’

£3 for mine. Probably about that in HMV too.

 

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