The Apartment

A young man (Jack Lemmon) climbs the corporate ladder by loaning out his apartment to company executives for extramarital affairs.

The Apartment is one of the best movies ever made. It’s funny without being corny, it’s touching without being sappy, and it’s thought provoking without being preachy.

Most of the credit has to go to director Billy Wilder. With his writing partner I.A.L. Diamond, Wilder created an extraordinary script that seems as relevant today as it did almost fifty years ago. Further, Wilder’s impeccable sense of composition helps create a visually splendid film full of memorable images, each a reflection of loneliness, be it Jack Lemmon alone, yet surrounded by countless workers typing away, or Shirley McLane alone, yet surrounded by revelers at a New Year’s Eve party, these images stay with you long after the credits roll.

For their part, the performers rise to the occasion. Jack Lemmon is the perfect everyman who realizes that, in trying to please everyone and get ahead, he’s lost his soul in the process. Opposite him, Shirley MacLaine is simply charming, effortlessly winning over the audience with a performance that never feels forced. Finally, there’s Fred MacMurray who, as in Wilder’s earlier Double Indemnity (1944), plays against type in a role that could have easily been reduced to one-dimensional, but in Wilder and MacMurray’s hands, is much more.

Like all truly great movies, The Apartment gets better with age, as new details in the compositions and performances emerge with every viewing. This is about as good as movies get, folks.