Well, I recently cracked open my Billy Wilder 9-pack. For those of you born beneath a rock, Billy Wilder was one of the greatest film directors of all time. No kidding. I already own Stalag 17 (an interesting look at soldier's in a POW camp during WWII), Sunset Boulevard (an excellent, though somewhat depressing classic), and Sabrina (a light-hearted comedy, unusual for Wilder). That's right, light-hearted is unusual; Wilder shows us the ugly side of people, in a completely comedic way.
C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) is a young admin guy working for an insurance agency. He also happens to be a bachelor, and owns a decent apartment in New York. Now, Baxter has a bunch of philandering bosses, and they all use Baxter's apartment for their trysts with their mistresses (and yes, it is unbelievable that all these mangers would be having affairs, but trust me, that's not the point). These managers are giving Baxter chances at big promotions in exchange for the use of his apartment. Despite being a bachelor, Baxter has eyes for Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine), a cute elevator girl who works in his office. Fran, while pretending to be all business, is actually carrying on an affair with Jeff D. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray), the head of personnel for the company. Of course, Sheldrake gets wind of Baxter's apartment, and offers to not blow the whistle on Baxter's dubious tactics for his new promotion, in exchange for the use of the apartment. Baxter agrees, not knowing that Sheldrake is having his affair with Fran...and when he finds out...things get very, very complicated.
After watching this movie, I thought Wilder bang on nailed everything he was going for. Firstly, there are no "heroes" and "villains" in this movie...just a bunch of flawed people. Lemmon uses his bosses indiscretions to his advantage, MacLaine is having an affair with a man who she knows is married, and MacMurray uses Shirley (and evidently, a lot of women before her) for sex, while refusing to divorce his wife, and carry-on the veneer of a respectable family man. What is really interesting though, is Wilder's portrayal of the bosses. They're all shown as a bunch of opportunistic, insensitive jackasses (much like most managers in real life). They use Lemmon for the use of his apartment, not caring about inconveniencing him (and in one case, forcing him to leave bed and sleep in Central Park for the night), and the first opportunity they get, they screw him over, using the logic "what has he done for us lately?" The way they're shown, while cartoonish in a sense, is very close to my dealings with not just management, but a lot of people in the workplace these days: a bunch of selfish, hypocrites.
Then you have Shirley Maclaine. There's one section where she just agonizes falling in love with a man who is wrong for her. "Why can't I fall in love with a nice guy like you?" She asks Lemmon, at one point. The funny thing is, I've had conversations with women just like that. They fall in love with the wrong man, and then they ask why they did something so stupid, and then pine for him in the next breath. I know men may do this as well, but as I'm only interested in women (in that sort of sense), I'm not privy to those conversations. I won't tell you if she figures things out at the end or not. All I will say is that you'll probably find more women like MacLaine's character, than these fantasy smart, attractive women that you find in most movies.
So, watch this movie, if you're tired of the same old cliched romantic comedy/dramas about the guy who does everything right, and deservedly gets the girl in the end. Lemmon is more of a lackey, too blinded by his own ambition to step up to the amoral power brokers controlling his life, and seize the one thing is his life he truly needs. Wilder is clever though, in making his just likeable enough for the common audience member to sympathize with him. Likewise, though the speeches get annoying, you want MacLaine to end up with Lemmon. You just don't know if it's going to happen. Watch the movie, and find out.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars.
I bid thee a fond goodnight.
- Stephenstein
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