Every Billy Wilder film I've seen was just so well made... Double Indemnity, Stalag 17, Sunset Blvd., etc... Here I was thinking I've seen the best of this man's work. But that all changed after I finally got around to renting The Apartment. In this film, he decides to drop the straight comic approach and makes a film that is just as funny as it is dramatic (sort of like an echo of what Chaplin did years before). Mr. Wilder's directing captures the greatest out of an already great script. Everything jives here amazingly well; the acting is superb, the characters are very well developed, the black and white cinematography is excellent, and the screenplay is among the best ever written.. it is in my opinion his masterpiece.
Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine are great in some of the greatest roles of their careers. Each of them has something to learn from the other and you just want to see these two connect so much! And Fred MacMurray.... the man has to be one of the most typecast actors of all time.... is it just me or does he always play the innocent looking guy who reveals his true, "evil" intentions by the film's end? But hey, that's not a complaint at all... it's a compliment! ...He's at his greatest when he plays those types of roles, and he's just as great (if not better) in this one.
In any case, this film has a lot to say. It's entertaining, and at the same time it teaches us a little something about human nature. This film is one of my all time favorites and I just cannot recommend it enough...
Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine are great in some of the greatest roles of their careers. Each of them has something to learn from the other and you just want to see these two connect so much! And Fred MacMurray.... the man has to be one of the most typecast actors of all time.... is it just me or does he always play the innocent looking guy who reveals his true, "evil" intentions by the film's end? But hey, that's not a complaint at all... it's a compliment! ...He's at his greatest when he plays those types of roles, and he's just as great (if not better) in this one.
In any case, this film has a lot to say. It's entertaining, and at the same time it teaches us a little something about human nature. This film is one of my all time favorites and I just cannot recommend it enough...