After the last Oscar winning movie, “Ben-Hur,” it was no surprise to see that the next Oscar winning picture was something a little smaller and lighter. The 1960 movie “The Apartment” fits that bill perfectly. I had never really heard much about this movie and to be honest my main exposure to Jack Lemmon is the Grumpy Old Men movies. However I knew that he had been an actor well before those movies so I was interested in seeing what he was like as a younger guy. The only other reference point for me was the famous closing line “Shut up and deal.” I knew it came from this movie but it is always fun to see those classic lines in context.
“The Apartment” tells the story of C.C. Baxter, a bachelor living in New York City who lives in an apartment. Being the 1960’s all of his bosses have mistresses and they all use his apartment to conduct their affairs. He uses this to try and secure a promotion at work. However the big boss at the company catches on to this and wants to use the apartment to conduct an affair with the elevator girl that Baxter has a crush on. At first Baxter is okay with the apartment use, but after a bad situation on Christmas, he changes his mind and quits his job so that his apartment can’t be used anymore. In the end this act helps him to get the girl, whom after he tells her that he loves her tells him to simply “Shut up and deal.”
The movie relies on the charms of Jack Lemmon as a leading man. A little too much to hold the movie together though. While Lemmon is charming and funny in the role, no one else really lends him much support. He seems to just be a goofy guy in a serious situation. I am a big fan of “Mad Men” and this movie almost felt like “Mad Men” from the point of view of the office clown. The movie needed something more to better define what it is. Right now it doesn’t feel like a comedy or a drama or really anything in between. Right now it just feels like it is lost. However the film does have some merit. Besides the performance from Lemmon, Shirley Maclaine and Fred MacMurray also put in a very good performance. The directing was also well done, it was a tricky film to shoot since more than half of it is set in the small apartment that Baxter owns. Everything about the film was solid, it just didn’t gel together.
This film would probably flop if released today with no changes. Unfortunately this would probably be changed into a romantic comedy that may make money or may not but would probably not get any Oscar love. Still it’s a fun but incomplete film and I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
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