The Apartment: 1960

Jack Lemmon stars in The Apartment, the story of a regular guy working for an insurance company in an entry-level position who rises through the ranks by providing his apartment to philandering executives looking for a cozy place to take their lovers. Based on this premise, I had reservations about this film. It's basically a story of people using each other, but Lemmon's portrayal of CC Baxter makes the character so endearing. He's just a regular guy who found himself in a difficult position: either allow these executives use of his apartment or lose his job. Yes, he does have several promotions as a result of letting them use his apartment, but there's always the underlying threat of termination. And Baxter is a "yes man"; if the boss asks for something, Baxter is sure to do it.

The film does seem like a surprising pick for Best Picture because it doesn't seem as serious as previous ones and doesn't seem to do anything unique for the film style, but perhaps the film was selected because of the content being so controversial for the time period. The free love '60s hadn't started, and the '50s were a time of the "perfect" family...maybe that's why this film was so fitting for the time. It shows that marriages were not perfect, and successful married men had hidden affairs, claiming they needed these affairs for their happiness. Baxter, though, is a romantic. He doesn't approve of what these men are doing (even though letting them use his apartment enables them), and for himself, he wants to find love. When he does find love, Baxter unfortunately picks a woman who is involved in one of these affairs. Initially, Fran, played by Shirley MacLaine (who I hadn't seen in a role early in her career), seems sassy and independent, but she is easily manipulated by one of these married men all in the name of love. I felt sorry for Fran. She really believes that the men she loves will love her back, and she doesn't realize that Baxter is a good guy deep down. It's her story and how she becomes connected with Baxter that engaged me in this film. The first 30 minutes or so I wasn't sure I wanted to keep watching, but once Baxter met Fran and their friendship began, I had to watch to find out if these two would end up together. I won't spoil that for you...you'll have to watch to find out if they do.

The Apartment is worth watching if only to see Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine together.