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The Apartment

  • 19601960
  • ApprovedApproved
  • 2h 5m
IMDb RATING
8.3/10
178K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
3,142
224
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
The Apartment (1960)
On this IMDbrief we unwrap some holiday films that might land you on Santa's Naughty List.
Play clip2:35
Not-So-Family-Friendly Holiday Movies
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99+ Photos
  • Comedy
  • Drama
  • Romance

A Manhattan insurance clerk tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, but complications and a romance of his own ensue.A Manhattan insurance clerk tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, but complications and a romance of his own ensue.A Manhattan insurance clerk tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, but complications and a romance of his own ensue.

IMDb RATING
8.3/10
178K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
3,142
224
  • Director
    • Billy Wilder
  • Writers
    • Billy Wilder
    • I.A.L. Diamond
  • Stars
    • Jack Lemmon
    • Shirley MacLaine
    • Fred MacMurray
Top credits
  • Director
    • Billy Wilder
  • Writers
    • Billy Wilder
    • I.A.L. Diamond
  • Stars
    • Jack Lemmon
    • Shirley MacLaine
    • Fred MacMurray
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 397User reviews
    • 239Critic reviews
    • 94Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Top rated movie #105
    • Won 5 Oscars
      • 24 wins & 8 nominations total

    Videos2

    Not-So-Family-Friendly Holiday Movies
    Clip 2:35
    Not-So-Family-Friendly Holiday Movies
    What to Watch: Dating Dealbreakers
    Clip 5:40
    What to Watch: Dating Dealbreakers

    Photos139

    Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, and Billy Wilder in The Apartment (1960)
    Shirley MacLaine and Billy Wilder in The Apartment (1960)
    Jack Lemmon and Billy Wilder in The Apartment (1960)
    Billy Wilder in The Apartment (1960)
    Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine in The Apartment (1960)
    Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray in The Apartment (1960)
    Jack Lemmon in The Apartment (1960)
    Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray in The Apartment (1960)
    Jack Lemmon and Fred MacMurray in The Apartment (1960)
    Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine in The Apartment (1960)
    Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine in The Apartment (1960)
    Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine in The Apartment (1960)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Jack Lemmon
    Jack Lemmon
    • C.C. Baxteras C.C. Baxter
    Shirley MacLaine
    Shirley MacLaine
    • Fran Kubelikas Fran Kubelik
    Fred MacMurray
    Fred MacMurray
    • Jeff D. Sheldrakeas Jeff D. Sheldrake
    Ray Walston
    Ray Walston
    • Joe Dobischas Joe Dobisch
    Jack Kruschen
    Jack Kruschen
    • Dr. Dreyfussas Dr. Dreyfuss
    David Lewis
    David Lewis
    • Al Kirkebyas Al Kirkeby
    Hope Holiday
    Hope Holiday
    • Mrs. Margie MacDougallas Mrs. Margie MacDougall
    Joan Shawlee
    Joan Shawlee
    • Sylviaas Sylvia
    Naomi Stevens
    Naomi Stevens
    • Mrs. Mildred Dreyfussas Mrs. Mildred Dreyfuss
    Johnny Seven
    Johnny Seven
    • Karl Matuschkaas Karl Matuschka
    Joyce Jameson
    Joyce Jameson
    • The Blondeas The Blonde
    Willard Waterman
    Willard Waterman
    • Mr. Vanderhoffas Mr. Vanderhoff
    David White
    David White
    • Mr. Eichelbergeras Mr. Eichelberger
    Edie Adams
    Edie Adams
    • Miss Olsenas Miss Olsen
    Dorothy Abbott
    Dorothy Abbott
    • Office Workeras Office Worker
    • (uncredited)
    Bill Baldwin
    Bill Baldwin
    • TV Movie Hostas TV Movie Host
    • (uncredited)
    Paul Bradley
    • Office Workeras Office Worker
    • (uncredited)
    Benny Burt
    Benny Burt
    • Charlie - Bartenderas Charlie - Bartender
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Billy Wilder
    • Writers
      • Billy Wilder
      • I.A.L. Diamond
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

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    Storyline

    Edit
    As of November 1, 1959, mild mannered C.C. Baxter has been working at Consolidated Life, an insurance company, for close to four years, and is one of close to thirty-two thousand employees located in their Manhattan head office. To distinguish himself from all the other lowly cogs in the company in the hopes of moving up the corporate ladder, he often works late, but only because he can't get into his apartment, located off of Central Park West, since he has provided it to a handful of company executives - Mssrs. Dobisch, Kirkeby, Vanderhoff and Eichelberger - on a rotating basis for their extramarital liaisons in return for a good word to the personnel director, Jeff D. Sheldrake. When Baxter is called into Sheldrake's office for the first time, he learns that it isn't just to be promoted as he expects, but also to add married Sheldrake to the list to who he will lend his apartment. Dobisch, Kirkeby, Vanderhoff and Eichelberger are now feeling neglected as Baxter no longer needs their assistance in moving up. —Huggo
    • christmas
    • apartment
    • mirror
    • evidence
    • catching a cold
    • 235 more
    • Plot summary
    • Plot synopsis
    • Taglines
      • Movie-wise, there has never been anything like "THE APARTMENT" love-wise, laugh-wise or otherwise-wise!
    • Genres
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Romance
    • Certificate
      • Approved
    • Parents guide

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      To create the effect of a vast sea of faces labouring grimly and impersonally at their desks in the huge insurance company office, designers Alexandre Trauner and Edward G. Boyle devised an interesting technique. Full-sized actors sat at the desks in the front and children dressed in suits were used at tiny desks toward the rear, followed by even smaller desks with cut-out figures operated by wires. It gave the effect of a much larger space than could have been achieved in the limited studio space.
    • Goofs
      The layout of Baxter's apartment makes no sense, especially in relation to Dr. Dreyfus's apartment. Dreyfus lives next to Baxter, which means their walls should be adjoining the full length of both flats. However, from inside Baxter's living room, one can see windows in both his kitchen and bedroom facing directly where the Dreyfus apartment should be (and there would likely be a window in the bathroom between the kitchen and bedroom). Dreyfus's apartment would have to veer immediately off to the extreme right when one enters it and be no more than a couple of inches wide in order to allow the kind of set-up seen in Baxter's apartment. This is clearly unrealistic, if not downright impossible.
    • Quotes

      C.C. Baxter: The mirror... it's broken.

      Fran Kubelik: Yes, I know. I like it that way. Makes me look the way I feel.

    • Connections
      Featured in Hollywood: The Gift of Laughter (1982)
    • Soundtracks
      Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful)
      (1782) (uncredited)

      Music by John Francis Wade

      English lyrics by Frederick Oakeley (1852)

    User reviews397

    Review
    Top review
    10/10
    A classic in every sense of the word
    My local cinema does "Secret Movie Night" once a month, you just show up and watch a "classic" of their choosing, you just don't know what it is until it starts.

    One of the reasons that I enjoy this is that I end up viewing films that I might not, otherwise, choose to watch. Case in point is the selection for May - the 1960 Oscar winner for Best Picture, THE APARTMENT - a "love story" with some comedy and some dark dramatic moments and themes. A very tricky combination of items that are bundled together, brilliantly, by a master of the craft.

    THE APARTMENT tells the story of nebbish office worker C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon in an Oscar nominated performance, more on that later) who is talked into lending his apartment to higher-ups in his company so they can carry out extra-marital affairs. When one of the affairs goes wrong, Baxter is forced to "clean up the mess".

    Written and Directed by the GREAT Billy WIlder (SOME LIKE IT HOT, SUNSET BOULEVARD), The Apartment is more than a love story, more than a look into the vacuous lives of those anonymous office workers, it is a look into the lives of those who are victims of abuse of power. Wilder, rightfully so, won the Oscar for Best Director and Best Screenplay for this film. The Apartment is strongly written and directed not flinching at the deep subject matter while also balancing things out with moments of comedy and joy, turning what could have been a dour, dark subject into a more joyous exploration of true humanity and love rising through the corruption and abuse of power heaped upon them.

    In the lead role of CC Baxter, Lemmon is perfectly cast. Starting as a pure comedic character who is set upon by a world too strong for him, his character slowly turns sharper, deeper, more serious and more real as the film progresses. Lemmon was nominated for the Oscar for his performance - and rightfully so. I had to look up who beat him out for the statue and found out it was Burt Lancaster's powerhouse performance in ELMER GANTRY, so I can't really argue about this (but I digress).

    Matching Lemmon beat for beat is Shirley MacLaine, the wronged girl who's "issues" (I'm not going to spoil what happens, if you haven't seen this) are at the heart of this film - and at the heart of Lemmon's character. MacLaine is charming and tragic in this role and she, too, was nominated for an Oscar (for Best Actress losing to Elizabeth Taylor for Butterfield 8). Rounding out the cast was a pre-MY 3 SONS Fred MacMurray (as the Exec who abuses both Lemmon's and MacLaine's characters). He was terrific as this cad, and thought for sure that he would have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor, but that honor went to Jack Kruschen as Lemmon's neighbor in the apartment building where they both lived. I am fine with that but preferred MacMurray's performance. Also showing up are such great character actors as Ray Walston (MY FAVORITE MARTIAN), David Lewis (GENERAL HOSPITAL), Willard Waterman (THE GREAT GILDERSLEEVE) and David White (Larry Tate in BEWITCHED) as other Execs using The Apartment for their purposes.

    This is a terrific motion picture and if you haven't seen it (or if you haven't seen it in quite sometime), I highly recommend you check it out (it is shown on the Turner Classic Movie channel on a fairly regular basis). It certainly shows a slice of life during the MAD MEN days that just doesn't exist anymore - and also presents a type of film, and a type of filmmaker, that just doesn't exist today.

    Letter Grade: A+

    10 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank (ofMarquis)
    helpful•10
    0
    • bankofmarquis
    • May 11, 2018

    FAQ6

    • Is 'The Apartment' based on a book?
    • Why does Baxter have a cold? It doesn't seem to fit into the plot.
    • Why didn't Fran recognize the name on Baxter's prescription?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 29, 1960 (Canada)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Das Appartement
    • Filming locations
      • Majestic Theater, 247 West 44th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
    • Production company
      • The Mirisch Corporation
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $3,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $18,600,000
    • Gross worldwide
      • $18,778,738
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 5 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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