This weekend the Redford Theatre has a real treat for Detroit classic movie fans, one of my favorite films of all time, The Apartment (1960). Jack Lemmon stars as C.C. "Bud" Baxter, a drone at a giant insurance company. In an attempt to get ahead, he lets various married executives use his apartment for meetings with their girlfriends. It's not the greatest arrangement…he has to find a way to occupy the time between the end of the business day and 8 p.m., when his "tenants" are supposed to be out, and they eat all his food and leave their dirty dishes around. But it all pays off apparently, when he gets promoted on the basis of all the execs' recommendations. Summoned to the office of the big boss, Jeff Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray), Bud is offered and accepts a promotion. There is just one condition…Bud must now lend the key to the apartment to Sheldrake only, which Bud readily agrees to do. Soon after, Bud discovers that the girl Sheldrake is dallying with is the lovely company elevator operator Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine). Bud is in love with Fran, though he may not know it. When he starts to figure that out, his life really gets complicated.
Billy Wilder directed and co-wrote this film, so you know it's top-notch. Much of the time, the film has the trademark seriocomic vibe he imparted to another film he wrote and directed, Sunset Boulevard (1950). The Apartment is both a satire of American corporate society, which doesn't seem to change much, and a romantic comedy that'll leave you with a lot of food for thought. The acting is uniformly great; Lemmon and MacLaine, one of the best on-screen couples ever, are perfect as the neurotics who don't realize right away that they're perfect for each other, and Fred MacMurray is astonishingly effective as one of the worst cads in a movie ever. I guess you could think of The Apartment as an ancestor to Mad Men in both setting and theme.
The Academy recognized The Apartment with 10 Oscar nominations, of which it won Best Picture, Director, Screenplay (Written for the Scree), Art Direction, and Editing. Lemmon and MacLaine were both nominated as well, but competition was tough that year. Burt Lancaster, Trevor Howard, Laurence Olivier, and Spencer Tracy also got nods for Best Actor, while MacLaine had to contend with Elizabeth Taylor, Greer Garson, Deborah Kerr, and Melina Mercouri. (Lancaster and Taylor were the winners. MacMurray wasn't nominated at all, which I find inexplicable.)
In short, The Apartment is worth your time. I am especially looking forward to seeing the scenes set at the office in super-wide Cinemascope. The emphasis on the facelessness and isolation of the modern corporation will probably be that much stronger. Enjoyment-wise, you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be glad you spent $4 to see one of the best movies ever as it was meant to be seen.
The Apartment is showing in Cinemascope at 8:00 on Friday, February 17 at 8:00 p.m. and on Saturday, February 18 at 2:00 and 8:00 p.m. at the Redford Theatre, 17360 Lahser in Detroit. Tickets are $4. For more information, call 313.537.2560.
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