I Guess That's the Way it Crumbles, Cookie-Wise
The Apartment / Dustin Rowles
This is our second Classics Week, so for the next several days we’ll be reviewing our favorites from the 1960s. And, as in the week we devoted to movies from 1959 and prior, I’m kicking off this week with a movie from my favorite director of all time: Billy Wilder.
The Apartment, a success with both critics and audiences in 1960, was also the last black and white film (with the exception of 1993’s Schindler’s List) to win the Best Picture Oscar (Wilder also won for best director and best original screenplay). But from the perspective of 2008, the miracle of The Apartment is that, despite the fact that it was released 48 years ago, it remains refreshingly new and surprisingly contemporary. Unlike modern romantic comedies, there’s no outrageous conceit, no gimmicky premise, no zingers, dick jokes, or pratfalls. Nor does The Apartment feature gastric humor, zany madcappery, or hijinx. Hell, no one even raises a voice or slams a door in The Apartment. It’s a simple, straightforward, single plotline movie with killer dialogue and amazing performances.
But what really gets to me about The Apartment is that it’s one of the most romantic films I’ve ever seen, yet there is not one single kiss in the entire film — the mushiest thing anyone says, really, is “shut up and deal,” four words that— cinematically speaking —- have never melted my heart more. And the biggest irony of all is that The Apartment is the anti-romantic comedy: A brilliantly dark, caustic tale of adultery, corporate whoredom, and what it takes to get ahead, featuring illicit affairs, sleazy pricks, and even suicide attempts; it takes up space on the film spectrum somewhere between farce, drama, and a morality tale.
In his first real turn at dramedy, Jack Lemmon balances his comic everyman with the sense of desperation he would later (achingly) reveal in Glengarry Glen Ross. I haven’t seen a lot of Shirley MacClaine’s early stuff, but she’s wonderful here, playing a brassy heroine with just a touch of Barbara Stanwyck’s edge. And Fred MacMurrary is a goddamn force; he may be my favorite actor of the black-and-white era, and The Apartment is just one of the reasons why. The man’s range is unreal: a despicable philanderer here, a sympathetic murderer in Double Indemnity, a duplicitous navy man in The Caine Mutiny, and a genial family man in all those ’60s Disney films, in addition to his 12-year-run on “My Three Sons.” There is no modern-day counterpart to MacMurray.
Inspired by Brief Encounter, a 1945 adultery film about a man who borrows his friend’s residence to entertain a mistress, Wilder became fascinated with the story’s unseen friend and his apartment. The result: Bud Baxter (Jack Lemmon), a lonely singleton and old-school cubicle schnook (they worked in typewriter farms back in the day) at an insurance firm with a nose for statistics and the terrible misfortune of having an apartment close to the office. Consequently, when an executive asks if he can use the apartment to change his clothes before a banquet, Baxter unwittingly agrees. The next thing Baxter knows, he is serially loaning his apartment out to a crew of married executives who use it to entertain their mistresses. Despite the inconvenience of having to stay at work long after his work is done, or hanging around outside his apartment in the rain while his colleagues get their freak on in his living room, Baxter nevertheless goes along with it, believing that somewhere down the line a promotion awaits him. Meanwhile, Baxter’s nosy neighbors don’t know that he loans out his apartment, so they all think he’s a hard-drinking womanizer when, in fact, he’s just a mensch with a TV dinner, who spends his evenings getting annoyed at small-screen commercials (“… do you have wobbly dentures?”)
Baxter also has a monster crush on Fran Kubilick (pre-crazy MacClaine), a sassmouth elevator operator with a permanent handprint on her ass, thanks to the hands-on bastards in the world of insurance. Unfortunately for Baxter, Fran is in an adulterous relationship with Mr. Sheldrake (MacMurray), company president and philandering ass. Though she’s wise enough to realize that Sheldrake has put on the long-play edition of “music to string her along by,” Fran nevertheless dances to the tune, blindly hoping that Sheldrake’s promises to leave his wife are not as empty as they sound.
Eventually, Sheldrake approaches Baxter for the key to his apartment, which Baxter exchanges for an executive-level promotion, sleeping his way up the corporate ladder by proxy. The catch, of course, is that Sheldrake uses Baxter’s apartment to entertain Fran. Though there’s an obvious affection between Baxter and Fran, Baxter wants to be Sheldrake’s assistant just as much as Fran wants to be the next Mrs. Sheldrake, so the jaded realist in each of them eschews morality to pursue their own ambitions.
Indeed, The Apartment isn’t just a love story; Wilder’s script presents a fairly damning indictment of the capitalism and sexism of the time. Wilder utilizes the traditional romantic comedy conventions, but he wraps substance around them, crafting likable but morally flawed characters. The exploitative relationships that Sheldrake has with Fran and Baxter represent the ugliness of the patriarchal corporate world. He uses his powerful position for sexual gain and, initially anyway, both Fran and Baxter are complicit: Baxter chooses to ignore love for the promise of climbing the corporate ladder, while Fran does the same for the prospect of ending up with a wealthy, powerful husband. Ultimately, it’s the Christmas holidays, which bring out Baxter’s loneliness, as well as Fran’s suicidal despair at the notion of being the “other woman,” that finally break the spell of Sheldrake’s false promises.
It’s all pretty heavy stuff for a film billed as a comedy.
And the genius of The Apartment, like most of Wilder’s work, is that the complex cultural and ideological stuff lies under the surface — you just have to scratch to get there. But, in other ways, The Apartment is the perfect third-date flick: you can just as well skim off the top layer and appreciate The Apartment on a superficial level: A melancholy comedy that, nearly fifty years on, is as funny as it is heartbreaking.
Dustin Rowles is the publisher of Pajiba. He lives with his wife and son in Ithaca, New York. You may email him, or leave a comment below.
Cloverfield | | Wild Bunch, The
Comments
Classics Week! Classics Week! I'm peein' my pants!!
I haven't even read the review yet. I have to go change my pants first.
Does the banner indicate the movies you're planning to review this week? Whoops, good thing I hadn't changed my pants yet!
P.S. Happy MLK Day to everyone and jealous thoughts to those of you who don't have to work today.
Posted by: Jerce at January 21, 2008 8:26 AM
Quality flick. I remember watching it on the old, pre-Fox WNYW channel 5 New York. They had what they called: The Movie Club, viewers would "join" and write letters (actual pen on paper) and request films. They'd then play them on Saturday afternoons and they'd shout out to members and shit. Good times.
Anyhoo, at the the same time this review warms my heart it saddens me because it just highlights the sorry state of entertainment as of this day. You KNOW that if this were "re-imagined" today, you'd have Scarlett Breasthanssen (or our arch-enemy Skank Cancer) not acting their way through this opposite Josh Hartnett as the heavy and the closeted blandness that is Jake Gyllenho trying to not look gay as the suffering Lemon character.
Everything today sucks.
Posted by: BarbadoSlim at January 21, 2008 8:36 AM
Wow, and to think I had forgotten about Classics week.
And what better way than to start off with one of my favorite films of all time. God bless you, Billy Wilder, they don't make 'em like you anymore.
Posted by: _cG at January 21, 2008 8:41 AM
Now now BSlim...want a cookie? It'll make you feel better.
I love classics week! It always gives me ideas for films to watch. I'm ashamed to say I have not seen nearly as many good films as I should have, so thanks Pajiba, for educating me.
Posted by: joker at January 21, 2008 8:43 AM
I saw the front page, blinked, and wondered if I was still dreaming. I loved Classics Week, and cannot be-LIEVE you've reviewed The Apartment. For a Best Picture winner with some pretty big names attached, it seems relatively unknown.
Favourite bits: When Baxter strains the spaghetti with the tennis racket.
The next door neighbours, and their complete willingness to be assholes to Baxter (deservedly, given what they think).
Wilder's rip into Marilyn Monroe - this was right after Some Like it Hot.
The Christmas party at the office.
Sometimes I wonder what Billy Wilder said to Fred MacMurray. He's quickly becoming one of my favourite actors of all time (I saw The Caine Mutiny just last week), and yet everyone I mention him to says, "Oh! My Three Sons!" And Wilder had him play two of the meanest SOBs ever.
Posted by: Sarah at January 21, 2008 8:44 AM
What a great start to a Monday! I didn't know about the connection between "The Apartment" and "Brief Encounter"; they're both outstanding.
Posted by: LB at January 21, 2008 8:55 AM
I saw The Apartment in August on a plane...I didn't like it much, and I wasn't that enthused by Jack Lemmon's character, though I did like MacLaine and MacMurray (he's fantastic), and it did entertain me for a small portion of that ghastly ten-hour flight in a horribly cramped coach class seat. But now that I've read this review, I have a slightly higher appreciation of it, as well as what Wilder was getting at in making the film. Now it IS kind of clever. Ugh, I need to think more. Well, thanks Dustin!
Hooray for Classics week! Can't wait to see what else the staff has picked!
Posted by: vic at January 21, 2008 8:57 AM
Huh, weird--I looked up to see what Jerce was so excited about, and it appears the banner's not coming up for me. Just a black bar. Unless you're reviewing nothing but Film Noir?
BSlim, your comment both amuses and saddens me. Well, I'm mostly amused...until the inevitable Trade Roundup that confirms your fears.
Speaking of amusing, what the bejeebus was Clay Aiken thinking?!! That's, er, quite the look there, buddy boy!
Posted by: MO at January 21, 2008 9:18 AM
MO-- I am pretty sure that is Aiken's costume for his turn in "Spamalot" on Broadway. The sad thing is, he thought "Monty Python" was a person until just a few months ago.
Posted by: wsapnin at January 21, 2008 9:30 AM
wsapnin: The sad thing is, he thought "Monty Python" was a person until just a few months ago.
*gasp* I say we hand him over to the Knights who say "Ni!".
Posted by: joker at January 21, 2008 9:43 AM
yay classics week. Yes...let's put a truly cynical Pajiba spin on a beloved classic: Let's cast this thing for the 2010 remake!
Baxter: (schlubby "everyman") Mr. Ben Stiller (or Jack Black)- would have said Will Ferrel, but I don't think he pulls of the "ambitious, corporate ladder climbing guy" well.
Sheldrake: (sleazy boss) Screams for Alec Baldwin, but lets think like a studio head here and go with: Jude Law! (oooh, British. no wonder Fran hearts him so much.)
Fran: Jessica (I don't care which one, does it really matter which?) OK, I pick Biel. Done and done.
Posted by: Jay at January 21, 2008 9:46 AM
Great review, great subject matter! I'm excited to see what else Classics Week has in store for us.
Posted by: tt_marie at January 21, 2008 9:46 AM
Oh, and B Slim - do you honestly think Jake Gyllenhaal is gay? It isn't his fault he was born so pretty.
Posted by: tt_marie at January 21, 2008 9:50 AM
I will watch anything with Jack Lemmon in it. He was brilliant.
Posted by: greer at January 21, 2008 9:59 AM
Oh, my favourite movie of all time! WHat a great way to start the morning!
Posted by: Farfalina at January 21, 2008 10:26 AM
I'm assuming you're starting another brilliant classics week because the movie world today has nothing coming out, or at least nothing worth while.
I'm so looking forward to your Breakfast at Tiffany's review(I'm assuming there is one) but damn Audrey Hepburn for letting loose her cat in the rain and making my heart turn to candle wax.
Posted by: Kamakazi Feminist at January 21, 2008 10:29 AM
You forgot to mention the fabulous romantic lead roles that Fred McMurray pulled off with Claudette Colbert early in his career. They were the Hepburn and Tracy of their time.
And regarding, "the exploitative relationships that Sheldrake has with Fran and Baxter represent the ugliness of the patriarchal corporate world," nothing has changed. It may not always be sexual exploitation these days, but nothing has changed.
Posted by: PaddyDog at January 21, 2008 10:30 AM
Jack Lemmon is one of my favorite humans, so I have gleefully added this to my Netflix queue. Now here's hoping someone reviews my favorite classic ever, The Philadelphia Story.
Posted by: Julie at January 21, 2008 10:43 AM
This is my favorite movie ever. It's perhaps not the greatest film ever made, but it's dramatic, funny, romantic (without being too schmaltzy)... and Shirley MacLaine was fucking hot.
And I second Julie: bring on The Philadelphia Story!
Posted by: Gordon at January 21, 2008 10:51 AM
Pre-crazy MacClaine, Crazy MacClaine, any MacClaine is better than no MacClaine at all.
Posted by: Price is Wrong at January 21, 2008 11:11 AM
I remember watching it on the old, pre-Fox WNYW channel 5 New York.
I remember back when Channel 5 was WNEW, "a Metromedia station". Everything I know about movies comes from Channel 5 (Musicals, Cagney, Bogie and the Bowery Boys), Channel 11 WPIX (Danny Kaye, Abbott and Costello, Mighty Joe Young and March of the Wooden Soldiers every Thanksgiving), and Channel 9 WOR (Joe Franklin and the Million Dollar Movie), with just a bit of Channel 7 WABC and their 4:30 Movie.
Everything today sucks.
Amen, brother. Amen.
Posted by: Meander at January 21, 2008 11:22 AM
God I love this movie. Saw it the first time with my parents as the late movie, I was like seven and they let me stay up past midnight to watch it because they loved it so much. I've seen it ten times since then and it never gets even slightly old.
Jack Lemmon does such an amazing job of playing a doormat with a backbone -- who else could have pulled this off, Baxter is entirely used and at the mercy of other people, yet he's a strong, independent, interesting guy who treats his situation with a measure of humor and a whole lot of self esteem.
It shows best in one of my favorite lines from the movie: Sheldrake is trying to get a fed-up Baxter's sympathy for his plight, and says:
"You know, you see a girl a couple of times a week, just for laughs, and right away they think you're gonna divorce your wife. Now I ask you: is that fair?"
And Baxter responds: "No, sir, it's very unfair. Especially to your wife."
One of those jokes where you don't know whether to laugh or cry. Who even writes characters or lines for them like that anymore?
Posted by: BabyTyrone at January 21, 2008 11:22 AM
Brilliant dialog in this - from what I understand much of it was written on the fly.
And let us not forget the brilliant musical score by Adolph Deutsch (with a nod to Charles Williams). I remember pounding that out at a recital or two.
My NetFlix queue just gets longer and longer...
Posted by: funtime42 at January 21, 2008 11:23 AM
Great to see that the classics are back. But, it appears that Pajiba is going to review only movies made in Hollywood. Is there any plan to go beyond that? And just for a quick suggestion, if you review western, I would love to see the review of at least one of the Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood westerns (I hate the phrase "spaghetti western," btw; collectively, those were three of the best westerns; no, best movies ever made.).
No worries on that front, Emran--Phillip and I will be looking abroad this week. And I agree with you about Leone. -- RR
Posted by: Emran at January 21, 2008 11:23 AM
... and Shirley MacLaine was fucking hot.
She was that whole generation's worth of hot.
I would love to see the review of at least one of the Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood westerns (I hate the phrase "spaghetti western," btw; collectively, those were three of the best westerns; no, best movies ever made.).
I would love a Pajiba take on Once Upon a Time In the West.
Posted by: Meander at January 21, 2008 11:28 AM
Classics Week! Classics Week is the best! Thank you, Pajiba!!!!
I love The Apartment, and Jack Lemmon is one of my favorite actors.
Posted by: demondoll at January 21, 2008 12:02 PM
wsapnin--Wow, very relieved that the outfit is a costume. But holy crow, really? He thought MP was a person?? How sad is that!
Gad, I'd love to see Spamalot, but they'll never bring that anywhere near my neck of the woods and I have no desire to go to New York. Wish they'd give it The Producers treatment. Preferably with David Hyde Pierce starring.
Posted by: MO at January 21, 2008 12:03 PM
Yeah for Classics Week! Classics Week always reminds me of films I can introduce to Mr. Pink. As if my NetFlix queue isn't long enough.
(And yet another great thing about Bonus Week is that the comment threads rarely invite the ire of the PC Word Police...)
I shiver in anticipation of RR's review of "Night of the Living Dead" (if my assumptions of authorship are correct).
Can I suggest a move for a future Classics/Forgotten Gem? How about "Bunnie Lake is Missing". Can anyone explain to my why the hell I can't find this movie on DVD?
Posted by: Alabamapink at January 21, 2008 12:06 PM
Correction: "....about CLASSICS Week..."
Fucknuttery.
Posted by: Alabamapink at January 21, 2008 12:07 PM
Not just the tennis racquet strainer, but the adorable song he sings while he does it. And he's so happy just to have her there. A-DOR-ABLE.
Posted by: coveredinbees at January 21, 2008 12:09 PM
Gosh! Are that many people off for MLK Day or is the Pajibaverse just hunkered down, licking their wounds and burying their dead from the Great Battle of Heigldom of 2008? 11:15 am and only 30 comments on a classic film?
Posted by: PaddyDog at January 21, 2008 12:18 PM
PaddyDog: Heigl not only kills rainbows, she sucks out the Pajibaverse's will to comment.
Over 300 for 27 Dresses? Way to pee on my soul, people.
Posted by: Julie at January 21, 2008 12:22 PM
I thought I saw somewhere that Jake Gyllenhaal used Scientolgy freak Johnny T's airplane to rendezvous with his male lover.
Posted by: Pookie at January 21, 2008 12:35 PM
Love,love,love this movie!
Thanks for the review. Men I have to see it again, soon.
Posted by: Yocean at January 21, 2008 12:36 PM
Everything today sucks.
The funny yet sad part is, in about another 20 or 30 years, the same is going to be said about their current films, while folks are going to whine about the bygone days of yesteryear, pretty much making the whole exercise pointless.
Posted by: Vermillion at January 21, 2008 12:52 PM
Bliss! The Apartment is my favourite movie of all time, though for the life of me, I can't remember how I came across it. I have a feeling it may have been in the throes of an almighty hangover, but in case 'The Apartment' produces its effect with amazing subtlety. I love how carefully the darkness of the premise is hinted at - how close the film comes to being a tragedy, without ever quite getting there, and all while maintaining the correct balance of tone. Pl,us, as a dialogue whore, I love how well dialogue is used in this film. It doesn't draw attention to itself, and yet every line says just as much as it needs to say (or perhaps a little more).
Posted by: Fionna at January 21, 2008 1:39 PM
all's I have to say is...
HELL YES to Bonnie and Clyde!!!!!!!!
oh, and SKANK CANCER.
that is all.
Posted by: boo at January 21, 2008 2:39 PM
oh, so I guess we aren't to the point of laughing about that yet, are we...
d'oh.
Posted by: boo at January 21, 2008 2:45 PM
The funny yet sad part is, in about another 20 or 30 years, the same is going to be said about their current films, while folks are going to whine about the bygone days of yesteryear, pretty much making the whole exercise pointless.
I wonder. If people are more affluent now and go to the cinema more (a bigger if with DVD though), and if many people just want to spend an evening out with no expectation of quality, maybe there really is a much bigger market for crap, hence more crap. And maybe with DVD sales becoming more important, and therefore making rewatchability a more important feature, maybe films will get better???
I'll just quote with a line from a film producer in Modesty Blaise in the '68, 'The critics will slay it, but you can wipe away a lot of tears with a 5 million profit' I guess the crap was always there, but maybe the shit:good ratio has gotten worse.
Posted by: ChrisD at January 21, 2008 3:00 PM
I adore this movie. A legitimately funny, intelligent female lead, a sympathetic, non-dirtbag male lead.
It makes me sad to see regular, everyday people living in NYC apartments that only millionaires today could afford.
Posted by: Samantha T at January 21, 2008 3:04 PM
Quite right, Vermillion, but I'm pretty sure that future generations will rhapsodize about Wes and P.T. Anderson, Jarmusch, the great Joss Whedon, Ryan Gosling, etc., the people and movies that are obscure and underappreciated in their own time. I hope I don't live long enough to hear anyone reminisce about the good old days of ScarJo (except for The Prestige, cuz that movie ROCKS) and Josh Hartnett.
Posted by: Pen Dragon at January 21, 2008 3:06 PM
I always read and never comment, but I want to echo the thanks for reviewing The Apartment here: it is, like some other people have said, my Favourite Movie Ever.
Posted by: Tacceber at January 21, 2008 3:06 PM
Unfortunately, I missed the first Classics Week. But, I am quite willing to make up for it with some heavy reading this week. The Apartment is a movie that I had heard of, but have not watched. That could be said about a lot of the movies to come, but my experiences with the "classics" only go as far as The Duke, or any other WWII movie. Wouldn't you know it, I now have a hankering for old WWII movies, thanks Dad! Midway stat!
Posted by: ScarletKnight at January 21, 2008 3:10 PM
Having only recently come upon Pajiba, I have a certain level of respect for all of the posters. I admire the way you all are able to write and debate about all of the intricacies and nuances that every movie presents. I think it is a special talent to be able to watch a movie and examine the vision of the director as it relates to what's on the screen. I truly wish I had the ability to critique a movie the way some of you do, but I guess I'm to busy with having a life.
Posted by: Pookie at January 21, 2008 4:33 PM
Oh Pookie, what would we do without you?
Posted by: ChrisD at January 21, 2008 4:47 PM
Dustin-
If you are still in the mood for some early MacClaine, check out "The Trouble With Harry" if you haven't seen it already. Hitchcock, comedy, a dead body, and John Forsythe. Yep. And she is tremendous in it.
Posted by: Go Big Red at January 21, 2008 5:00 PM
No other movie can make me feel as much as this one. It is damn near perfect.
Posted by: Tori at January 21, 2008 6:45 PM
I actually echo what Pookie said, but without the snarky last sentence. In depth analysis of the finer points of film making is not my strong suit, so I like to read the capable work of the Pajiba writers. Nice job not only being able to write, but to recognize talent when you see it and have them start writing too (I'm looking at you TK, and your review today).
This movie sounds great, and I'll add it to my rental list once I get the courage to face my giant fine at the local video store. I know, I know, I wouldn't have to deal with that by using Netflix, but supporting local business is a virtue. Besides, less rental competition for the rest of you.
Posted by: katy at January 21, 2008 7:29 PM
WHAT IN THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE??!!???
I see that only NINE comments are listed when I've gone through at least two dozen before I could get to the end and add my own. I mean, it was worthless anyway, but PLEEZE don't post nine responses if it is in fact thrice that many I have to wade through to offer a suggestion of my own.
MY word counts, not yours; please warn me of this lack of true counting of comments posted before I bother to add my own (btw, it's 8:06pm where I'm at, so if Pajiba has some kinda delay for whatever reason, please forgive my ignorance)
.
(I'm really sorry, everyone, it's just that I rarely get to post on a Monday, and to find I've come in so late in the game -- arrgghh, it just pisses me off)
Posted by: toopissed2say at January 21, 2008 8:10 PM
...What the hell was that??
Anyway, I love The Apartment,
and The Trouble With Harry sounds great, Go Big Red, thanks for mentioning that! I'm gonna look for it.
Posted by: Loob at January 21, 2008 8:47 PM
Go Big Red: TOTAL agreement about The Trouble with Harry. My favorite Hitchcock comedy!!! Props to you, my friend.
Posted by: boo at January 21, 2008 8:58 PM
Whoa, I thought I was cranky on Mondays...
Better cheer today, I hope, toopissed? Heehee!
Posted by: MO at January 22, 2008 8:01 AM
Whoa, I thought I was cranky on Mondays...
Better cheer today, I hope, toopissed? Heehee! What WAS your comment going to be, anyway, for pete's sake?!
Posted by: MO at January 22, 2008 8:03 AM
Myself, I get the stupids on Tuesdays. Posting without finishing my comments...double-posting in the process...good grief. Hopeless, I tells ya.
Posted by: MO at January 22, 2008 8:05 AM
You know, it became a successful Broadway musical, Promises, Promises.
Remember the song, "I'll Never Fall In Love Again"?
Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at January 22, 2008 12:10 PM
the great thing about Lemmon is that he, to me at least, was THE great Everyman. I loved him. I wanted to protect him because dammit he was just such a NICE guy. The Apartment, while not my favorite Lemmon film (see: Some Like it Hot, The Odd Couple, and the one where he is at a nuclear reactor), is a great example of why he deserves all the acclaim he's gotten over the years.
I just wish he'd been cast opposite Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast - I to this day cannot watch George Peppard w/o expecting him to quip "I love it when a plan comes together".
Posted by: Stella at January 22, 2008 1:00 PM
I was on a Fred MacMurray 'kick' and watched this recently. He's amazing, as is MacLaine, but I found Jack Lemmon annoyingly manic... sort of a prototype Ben Stiller. His constant blathering and hopping around to accomodate his pimp business was distracting.
Posted by: Trilbynhiss at January 22, 2008 1:42 PM
on. queue. now.
Posted by: Soto at January 23, 2008 12:24 PM
The Apartment is great for all the reasons discussed above. And MacLaine is cute as a button. I would be curious to see what people thought of Days of Wine and Roses. Another example of Lemmon at his dramatic best. I found this to be a beautiful, gut-wrenching and ultimately haunting film. In some ways Lemmon's character here could very well be Baxter a few years later (and the film was made a couple years after The Apartment) if he had made some different, but still plausible, choices. I'd love to read a Pajiba review of this one (and when you get to the 1970s, please don't forget about Prisoner of Second Avenue).
Posted by: GCS at January 24, 2008 7:18 AM
I just watched this this weekend, after netflixing it because of all the love here. I have to say, it fully deserved every bit of it. This was a great movie, so full of heart while being light and entertaining. I am very impressed with Jack Lemmon. I was never a b/w classics type of person, but now I'm seeing what I've been missing. I will be looking for more classic Lemmon now to enjoy.
Damn...my netflix queue is getting huge...
Posted by: Shadows of Dakaron at January 28, 2008 9:39 AM