Coming just a year after Billy Wilder’s smash hit Some Like it Hot, the writer/director
produced The Apartment, a stunning
film which was nominated for ten Oscars and went on to win five, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. All three of those awards
are well and truly justified (although the movie beat a personal favourite Psycho to a couple) and the movie is a
magnificent triumph of comedy, drama and romance.
A young and lonely office worked called C.C. Baxter (Jack
Lemmon) is persuaded to let senior colleagues use his apartment in the evenings
to entertain young women. This often leaves Baxter alone at work or left
outside in the cold streets. When his boss (Fred MacMurray) finds out he too
gains access to the apartment with the promise of a big promotion if Baxter
plays it smart. Eager to please, Baxter does as he is asked but begins to get
second thoughts when he discovers that one of his boss’ girls is elevator
operator Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine) whom Baxter is secretly in love with.
