The Apartment (1960) 125 Minutes

After two weeks indoors and one week off, Movienight finally returned to the Back Yard for the first time since Slim’s ‘American Beauty.’ It was a brisk and beautiful night for Netti’s follow up to his vilified ‘Mr. Vengeance Meets Something Terrible with Subtitles’ and if the post film discussion is any indication, he sure seems to have made up for that outing with this Billy Wilder classic.

Our last Pick, ‘Black Sunday,’ despite its Indoor Presentation, had eight people in attendance. Once we were back outdoors for Netti’s Pick we found that number cut in half. Four people saw Jack Lemmon’s Movienight debut. That’s one fewer person than came to Slim’s stinker ‘Road Games.’

Despite the small crowd (Bourbon Cookie, Netti, Nubs and Tooda), ‘The Apartment’ engaged the Crew and reminded the Founders in attendance of Movienight’s early days when it was just the four of us planted in front of the Stucco. Adding to the sense of nostalgia was the return of snafus to Movienight.

It took us months after we began to finally get a snafu free presentation, but since ‘Let it Ride’ marked three straight snafu free presentations we pretty much have had smooth sailing ever since. Except, of course, for Tooda’s ‘Léon’ when the HAL 9000 broke down halting the film five times. Netti’s print of ‘The Apartment’ turned out to be scratched in the midst of a pivotal scene in the storytelling (pictured above), and no amount of mid-screening triage could get the scene to play. Luckily B.C. and Netti could fill in the blanks for Nubs and Tooda who were both watching the film for the first time.

In addition to popping the Movienight cherries of Jack Lemmon and the great Billy Wilder, Fred MacMurray debuted here too. Shirley MacLaine returns here after her first bow in Nubs’ ‘Defending Your Life,’ and Ray Walston goes for three first appearing in MOFO’s ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’ and then in Jaja’s ‘The Sting.’

Since last week was cancelled (sigh) Nubs allowed Netti to keep his Valentine’s Day slot for this Pick. Hence, Nubs will be up next week and then Slim will return us to the regular SELECTOR rotation the following Wednesday.

“Ya know, you see a girl a couple of times a week, just for laughs, and right away they think you're gonna divorce your wife. Now I ask you, is that fair?”

Written by: I.A.L. Diamond & Billy Wilder

Directed by: Billy Wilder

Nubs Comments:

I felt bad that none of us wrote a timely review for Netti’s perfectly twisted and sweet Vday pick, ‘The Apartment,’ especially considering the shit we’ve given Netti in reviews in the past. However, since Netti’s ‘Cria de Crappo’ escaped any reviews whatsoever because we were offline I feel we now are even. Also since the SELECTOR himself never submitted a review, I’m sure he will accept my abbreviated comments.

I have never seen this revered romantic comedy, and ironically, as I had requested, TiVo got it for me the same night, or the night before. This came in very handy for the scenes that we lost in Netti’s gypped copy and the brief moments I took in the inside of my eyelids. I thought Netti once again delivered on Valentine’s and I was glad I traded him the Pick.

With my anticipation for this best picture from 1960, I was surprised at how dark and cynical and blunt this cute comedy’s subject matter turned out to be. Adultery, suicide, sexual harassment and sex for career advancement seem so mature for the sweet, young faces of Hollywood. I was completely in the spirit with our quaint, intimate Crew before our ill-fated snafu and the great performances helped ‘The Apartment’ persevere.

Though I find it ironic that this movie is perfectly titled for a night indoors at Tooda’s apartment, just as Netti’s ‘The Swimmer’ was perfect for any Back Yard and not Tooda’s, I think Netti pulled off a dunk of a Valentine pick, again.

SELECTOR Comments:

I saw ‘The Apartment’ years ago on TCM when I was visiting my cousin in Miami. Whenever, I go there I always experience that west coast to east coast jet lag where I am sitting awake in a quiet house at 1:30 am avoiding the dregs of late night cable with a little TCM. The boy's club moral ambiguity which, as a male I'm very familiar with even in 2008, struck me like a dead-blow hammer. We all have a little fun on the side, huh? Older men of power and doe-eyed younger women who are dazzled by their attention. In order to achieve power, C. C. Baxter has to let power abuse it's privileges. Or so he thinks. This film is very dark, even though it is known as one of Billy Wilder's great comedies. Everyone is complicit in the game, but we find out that everyone is eventually a loser, except for those who recognize that there is always a chance for decency and to act in this world with our best intentions.

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