The Apartment 1960

The Film:

This was the year that Billy Wilder doubled his Oscar haul in one fell swoop. He won three for The Apartment - Picture, Director and Screenplay. It's a film that I've seen and really enjoyed, but it's been a while and I don't know it as well as other Wilder classics such as Some Like It Hot, Sunset Boulevard and Sabrina.

Compared to recent winners it's quite a "small" film (though not quite as small as Marty). It's the last winner of the 20th Century to be shot entirely in Black and White (Schindler's List has colour sequences, so we've got until The Artist until the next truly B&W film). It's also a far cry from last year's epic in terms of story, theme, budget, length, cinematography etc etc.

It's a comedy - but it's dark. It's all about the characters, and the screenplay. And that's the sort of film I tend to like best. I'm really looking forward to seeing it again.

The Ceremony:

Monday 17th April 1961 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium - hosted by Bob Hope!

This was one of the first years where lobbying for nominations really got out of hand (and ultimately backfired). John Wayne put a lot of time and money into getting nominations for The Alamo - it got seven, even though it got pretty negative reviews. Many felt that this is what stopped Psycho getting a Best Picture nomination. Things got out of hand (after the nominations) when Chill Wills placed an ad that suggested that the cast were praying harder for him to win an Oscar than the actual defenders of the Alamo prayed for their lives. This was clearly a step too far for voters - and the film went away empty-handed.

There were also two significant farewells this year. Firstly, it was the last year that juvenile awards were given out. One went to Hayley Mills (on the day before her 15th birthday - I only know this because we share a birthday, but she's 26 years older than me!) and from this point on actors of all ages just compete in the main categories with the adults (and one or two under 16s have won - Tatum O'Neal being the youngest, aged 10)

Farewell Gary Cooper!

The other farewell was to Gary Cooper. Having appeared (briefly) in the first winning picture and then gone on to win two Oscars he was given an Honorary Award. Although few people knew why at the time, he was too ill to attend the awards and sent James Stewart in his place. Jimmy got very emotional, which set the media speculating. Gary Cooper died a few weeks later. Off to do some figure eights before chow......



Other Notable Winners That Night:

Burt and Liz

Jack and Shirley didn't take the acting awards - they went to established stars playing much meatier, dramatic (and controversial) roles. Burt Lancaster for Elmer Gantry and Elizabeth Taylor for Butterfield 8.

The Apartment took the most awards, but they were shared more evenly than in previous years - with Spartacus and Elmer Gantry also getting multiple awards.

The Documentary Short winner this year is an interesting oddity. It's called Giuseppina and documents people coming and going from an Italian petrol station. It was financed by BP and went on to be used in test transmissions for colour television on British TV - meaning that it has now become oddly familiar to a generation of people about 20 years older than me, who probably had no idea that they were watching an Oscar winner! It's all on Youtube (as so many things are...)


Best Song:

If you've ever watched anything filmed after 1960 that's even vaguely Greek, then the chances are that you have heard this song. Probably just the tune, rather than the words. It's become one of the go-to tunes for creating Greek atmosphere. Here it is in it's original setting (and original Greek) in the film Never On A Sunday:

What We Could/Should Have Been Watching:

Yes, you can get shower curtains with this image on!

John Wayne and Chill Wills think we should have been watching The Alamo - but no one else seems to. The other nominees were The Sundowners, Sons and Lovers and Elmer Gantry.

With those choices, I'm more than happy to stick with The Apartment - but there is a strong argument to be made for the one that was robbed of its nomination - Psycho. Hitch got a Director nomination (quite rightly!) but Psycho was well and truly snubbed. It was almost certainly too much in the early 60s to have actually won the award, but it really should have been nominated! With the exception of The Apartment, it has stood the test of time far more than any of the other nominees.

Our Verdict:

Waiting for Grand Hotel to come on.

If the Rom-Com was born with It Happened One Night, then it came of age with The Apartment. Billy Wilder has taken everything that was great about Capra in the 30s and added 25 years of experience - in the way movies are made, the way Hollywood has changed (we've just got out the other end of both the Hays code and blacklisting), the way Hollywood actors are perceived and (most significantly) the way American society itself has changed. What he gives us is something that is definitely for adults, morally dubious in several ways, dark in several others - but ultimately romantic, life-affirming, funny and very satisfying to watch.

Shirley and Jack - a perfect pairing

I wasn't around in 1960, and certainly not in New York, so I can't relate directly to the specific social setting of the story. However, there is very little that seems dated nearly 60 years on. Lemmon and MacLaine's characters are young, single, independent 20somethings trying to make their way in the big city - and those characters never seem to date. Almost any good quality rom com that has come since (especially those with a bit of an edge) clearly owe a lot to The Apartment. Our personal favourite is When Harry Met Sally (which is probably a lot of people's favourite....) and there are lots of parallels to be made.

You could write a whole article just on this picture!

For two years in a row, Wilder and Diamond absolutely
nail the last line in a film.....

The story is actually a deceptively simple one. CC (Bud) Baxter is trying to get ahead in the Insurance firm where he works and happens to have an apartment in a convenient part of town. He lets more senior members of the firm use his apartment during the day (and sometimes into the evening) to take various women that their wives don't know about, in return for some quick steps up the career ladder. Meanwhile, Fran Kubelik is one of the lift attendants who Bud is rather taken with. She's a lot more guarded than the other women in the building, and no one seems able to get anywhere with her. Bud's boss (played by Fred MacMurray - another Wilder favourite) finds out about the apartment deal and wants in on the action, in return for a very nice promotion for Bud. But guess who he's taking to the apartment....... When Bud works this out, things take a dark yet comic turn.

The script is wonderful and Jack Lemmon is outstanding throughout a film where he is barely off screen. There are lots of subtle little touches throughout, both physical and verbal, and some really nicely played supporting characters who are given free reign to overact, because that's what they are there for. The sociologist in me wants to get stuck in to some critique on the social attitudes of the time, especially of men towards women (and comparing them to Marty!) but I would end up rambling incessantly.

So I will just sum things up by saying - Billy Wilder is a genius, this film is fabulous and Jack Lemmon is superb. I'm writing this the day that the nominations for this year's Oscars were announced and I've read several social media comments that say that some of the nominees aren't "Oscar films". What nonsense - we've gone from Ben Hur to The Apartment and we're getting a full on operatic musical next time. There is no such thing as an "Oscar film". There are lots of good films, and some of them win Oscars. Thankfully, this is one of them.