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The Apartment Details

1960 Certificate PG
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 10,185 members

Winner of numerous Academy and BAFTA Awards, Billy Wilder's THE APARTMENT blends his customary harsh cynicism with a humane streak that appears only fleetingly in his films. The movie stars Jack Lemmon as C.C. Baxter, an office clerk who curries favor with the executives in his office by giving them the key to his small .. Read more

Starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston
Director Billy Wilder
Genres Drama

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The Apartment

Winner of numerous Academy and BAFTA Awards, Billy Wilder's THE APARTMENT blends his customary harsh cynicism with a humane streak that appears only fleetingly in his films. The movie stars Jack Lemmon as C.C. Baxter, an office clerk who curries favor with the executives in his office by giving them the key to his small apartment for the odd afternoon dalliance. Among them is his callous boss, J.D. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray), who Baxter eventually learns is using his place to sleep with Miss Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine), the sweet elevator operator the clerk has loved from afar. When Sheldrake coldly dumps the vulnerable young woman, she tries to commit suicide, but is saved by the intervention of Baxter. As the clerk lovingly nurses the young woman back to health he begins to realize, with the help of epigrammatic neighbor Dr. Dreyfuss (Jack Kruschen), exactly how much of a fool he has been. Wilder brilliant depiction of the average American office as a place of brutality, coldness, and alienation conjure up Kafka and Marx. The director seduces the audience into what appears to be an unusually frank sex comedy, but turns the tables in displaying the consequences of the executive's cold indifference. Lemmon and MacLaine both give career performances and MacMurray is memorable as the blandly smiling snake.

Starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston, Jack Kruschen, David Lewis, Joan Shawlee, Naomi Stevens
Director Billy Wilder
Studio MGM ENTERTAINMENT
Run time DVD: 2 hrs
Certificate Certificate PG
Genres Drama
Language DVD: English
Dubbed French, German, Italian, Spanish
Hearing-impaired English
Released DVD: 26 Nov 2001
Production year: 1960
Format DVD

  • Critics' reviews (6) of The Apartment

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  • 5 stars out of 5

    When he saw David Lean's classic Brief Encounter, director Billy Wilder was intrigued by the man who gave Trevor Howard the use of his flat. That germ of an idea eventually led to The Apartment, in which Jack Lemmon is a schmuck who loans his home to his philandering superiors in return for promotion. With its marvellous script and flawless performances by Lemmon, Fred MacMurray as his slimy boss and Shirley MacLaine as an elevator girl, this satire of office life has real bite as well as a feel-good glow. A timeless classic that won five Oscars, including best picture, direction and screenplay.

    • Radio Times
    • Posted 29 Jan 2006

  • Most of the time, it's up to director Wilder to sustain a two-hour-plus film on treatment alone, a feat he manages to accomplish more often than not, and sometimes the results are amazing

    • Variety
    • Posted 18 Jun 2008

  • Most helpful member's review of The Apartment

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  • 15 out of 15 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Bud Baxter is an ambitious drone at a major insurance company, and he has a problem. The senior executives have got in the habit of borrowing his apartment for their extra-marital trysts, leaving him out on the streets. His cooperation ensures a series of promotions, but things become more complicated when his boss begins using the apartment for dates with Fran Kubelik, the girl he loves.

    The Apartment is a classic comedy with sadness at its heart, and a model of economy and timing. The quickfire dialogue is classic Billy Wilder, such as when Fran describes a severe hangover as having a head ?like a big wad of chewing gum.? The plot is intricate and precise, veering close to farce with a host of coincidences and misunderstandings. Jack Lemmon is funny and moving by turns, and Shirley MacLaine is tender and tough, a girl you can truly imagine throwing everything away for.

    However the beauty of The Apartment is in its brutal honesty. The film works overtime to convince us that the characters live in a cynical, money-driven world, where fidelity is pass? and love and sex are commodities. Bud and Fran are an active part of this, the only difference being that they dream of something better.

    What?s surprising is the way the film manages to stay light and breezy while delving into some of the darkest places imaginable. In this respect it has much in common with It?s A Wonderful Life, which also uses Christmas as a double-edged backdrop; in this case the happiest time of year for those with families, the loneliest for everyone else.

    The Apartment won five Oscars in 1961 including Best Picture, and is Billy Wilder?s finest achievement. There has never been a film quite like it, which is as fine a tribute as Hollywood makes.

      • davehaviland#1 from LONDON
      • Posted 29 Dec 2003 19:51

  • Most recent members' review of The Apartment

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  • 2 out of 2 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars

    Classic Film

    An all time classic film with a story line that could still happen today - 45 years later. I saw this years ago when I was younger and watching it now can relate more to the subtleties of the film (like the office party - have they 'always' been like that?). Fantastic acting and directing. Its the first B/W film I have watched in a while and I kept thinking - was it really that bland in the fifties or did they have colour! Rent it now...

      • Yorkshireman from lancashire
      • Posted 04 May 2005 22:07

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Rating breakdown

10,185 Member ratings
  • 100
1,692
  • 90
1,344
  • 80
2,257
  • 70
1,776
  • 60
1,383
  • 50
722
  • 40
376
  • 30
259
  • 20
260
  • 10
116

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      • Winner of numerous Academy and BAFTA Awards, Billy Wilder's THE APARTMENT blends his customary harsh cynicism with a humane streak that appears only fleetingly in his films. The movie stars Jack ...