The Apartment

Blindly going into The Apartment back in 1960 you would be surprised to find that it is not a light hearted comedy as outward appearances would suggest. After all, it stars such noted comedic talents as Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine and Fred MacMurray, who at this point was just beginning to become a fixture at Disney with The Shaggy Dog the year prior and the Flubber series already under production. My Three Sons was on the air already, too, and would be a television staple for many seasons to come. But looks can be deceiving and The Apartment tackles some very serious and amoral topics that, just a few years prior, would not have been allowed in cinemas because of the Hays code; topics such as suicide, depression, and adultery. The Apartment not only addresses these things, the whole film is about them. This tricky subject, coupled with Billy Wilder’s talented writing and directing, was enough to secure ten Academy Award nominations, including a win for Best Picture.

C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) is a lonely schlub working at an insurance corporation in New York City. Lately, though, he’s become popular amongst the managers by allowing them to use his apartment for their many extramarital affairs. He manages to juggle all their galavanting schedules but the steady influx of women has his neighbors convinced that he, himself, is a real player. When all the good performance reviews from his managers start coming in he is summoned to Jeff Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray), the personal director’s, office. Jeff dangles a promotion in front of him but also solicits the use of Baxter’s apartment for his own affairs. Baxter takes the offer rationalizing it as a means of bettering his own life.

Baxter has a crush on the elevator girl in his office building, Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine) but when he asks her out she is unavailable that evening on another date. She is seeing Sheldrake who has promised her that he will leave his wife for her. But he has a long history of affairs and making that promise and when Fran discovers this she confronts him while the two of them are in Baxter’s apartment. Sheldrake insults her with a “present” of $100 before leaving to return to his suburban family. Distraught, she swallows sleeping pills in an attempt to kill herself. When Baxter arrives back at his apartment and finds her, he summons a doctor who lives in the same building, persuading the doctor not to call the police over the suicide attempt but to show compassion and allow him to take care of her instead. The doctor reluctantly agrees but, assuming her suicide attempt was because of him, scolds him for all the apparent philandering and tells him to grow up and “be a mensch.” 

Jack Lemmon is simply perfect in playing the schlub, the little man who is compelled to extreme measures to stand out in the crowd of nobodies wishing to move up in the world. He works in a cubicle amongst many identical cubicles populated by people who will probably still be there, unnoticed and unchanged, for many years to come. It’s a dog-eat-dog environment where extreme measures must be used to stand out. Sheldrake will mention another employee who became popular by running a gambling ring in the office. One gets the impression that utilizing unethical measures is about the only way a person can stand out in this business. This is further emphasized by the managers, Sheldrake included, who take advantage of their station by running around with any woman they can find, including their own secretaries. It’s a tad farcical but it makes a brutal point.

Fran, just like Baxter, is in over her head. She has been suckered into believing Sheldrake’s lies and being strung along with a story about a divorce he has no intention of taking. He is simply using her for sexual favors and, when she pushes him to commit, smooth talks his way into bed with her before tossing some money at her and leaving. When she nearly kills herself, he shows no interest in her well being, only in what this could mean to his comfy existence. She is so enamored with him that, even after everything he’s put her through, once his wife finds out and leaves him, she is willing to run back to him again. This is a very real thing where women, and men, too, will keep returning to an abuser even though they know better. It’s a form of Stockholm Syndrome that some people seem incapable of escaping. She knows by the end that Baxter is the better man and loves her, yet her first instinct is to return to Sheldrake.

Baxter will eventually tire of allowing the managers to continue using his apartment. Once Fran is staying there recovering he couldn’t allow it even if he wanted to anyway. Eventually he has to stand up to their insistence, even in the face of their threats. Lastly, Sheldrake gives him an ultimatum. Give him the key to the apartment or be out of a job. Baxter hands over his key, not to the apartment but to the executive washroom. He is finished giving in to this guy and is finally ready to “be a mensch.” 

Billy Wilder tackles this very taboo subject with a level of delicacy without shying away from it in the slightest. There is no pussyfooting around, nor is innuendo used to hide what is going on when the managers are using his apartment, often leaving Baxter with no place to go at night. It’s a tough topic to handle tastefully and Wilder manages it expertly. Jack Lemmon is a talented actor adept at both comedies and dramas and both sides are utilized to great effect when fleshing out Baxter. This could have been a sappy melodrama or a tasteless exploitation piece but with Wilder’s direction and Lemmon’s acting chops neither is the case. Baxter is simply a lowly schlub caught up in something that got out of hand and he’s not quite sure how to get out of it anymore. It’ll take caring for Fran and putting a face to all the affairs to finally give him the kick in the pants needed to stand up for himself and do what’s right.

With the Hayes Code being phased out in favor or a rating system, stories like this became possible again. Throughout the late 30’s until deep into the 50’s topics like sex and suicide would have been strictly forbidden. The unofficial legion of Christian decency and the Hollywood studios’s fear of movie boycotts saw to that. But that was all going away by 1960 which lead to an influx of stories that couldn’t have been told in theaters before. This story, lurid as some of the subject matter is, is an important film. It takes a look at predators and prey in the workforce and how destructive it can be to get involved in such practices, even indirectly. It also sheds a light on mental instability and harassment in the workplace, all things that were not new to the workforce but were beginning to be brought to the attention of a larger audience. The Apartment does all that but it never feels like a movie with an agenda. Only after viewing in and taking some time to digest all that transpired does that message start to creep in. It’s that subtlety that elevates it from a good film to a truly great one.

Academy Award Nominations: 

Best Motion Picture: Billy Wilder (won)

Best Director: Billy Wilder (won)

Best Actor: Jack Lemmon

Best Actress: Shirley MacLaine

Best Supporting Actor: Jack Kruschen

Best Original Screenplay: Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond (won)

Best Art Direction - Black and White: Alexandre Trauner and Edward G. Boyle (won)

Best Cinematography - Black and White: Joseph LaShelle 

Best Film Editing: Daniel Mandell (won)

Best Sound: Gordon E. Sawyer

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Release Date: June 15, 1960

Running Time: 125 Minutes

Not Rated

Starring: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston, and Edie Adams

Directed By: Billy Wilder