#4 The Apartment

There are those movies you admire, and there are those you love, and I love "The Apartment". "The Apartment" speaks to me on a personal level, as when I see Jack Lemmon's portrayal of C.C. Baxter I can't help but see a little bit of me in him, and there is also a part of him I aspire to be. C.C. Baxter is a small guy in a big guy's world, he plays by there game only to get ahead but inside you can tell this guy is a decent person.

There's something in C.C. Baxter that a director like Billy Wilder roots for and feels sorry for. Wilder was a brilliant satirist and "The Apartment" is one of his most scathing portrayals of corporate power. The big businessmen in Wilder's film are mostly seen as caricatures who are hypocrites with loose morals, Baxter does all he can to stay ahead of the game while keeping his self respect.

In a perfect world, Baxter wouldn't have to compromise himself to get ahead, and in the hands of any other director, we might have a compromised ending where he does indeed get everything and all the villains get what's coming to him. Wilder knows how the real world works, but that's not to say he can't see a happy ending for Baxter.

"The Apartment" was the second collaboration between Wilder and Lemmon, they worked almost all the time together until Wilder's last film. Lemmon gives one of the greatest screen performances ever in this film, he can be a bundle of nerves, but he's always in control with the character. He turns Baxter into a perfect everyman, and a character that seems all too real for me.

I think above all the cynicism in the film, it remains beloved because of the romance involved. I'm a sucker for romances about lonelyhearts, I think it's because it's with these type of romances you really want to see the main characters get together. Both Baxter and Miss Kubilik played wonderfully by Shirley Maclaine are two people who are full of misery and you want them so much to be happy at the end.

The final scene with Baxter and Kubilik is one of Wilder's most famous with a great final line. In his own Wilder way, he gives us everything we want, but doesn't compromise his vision.

"The Apartment" is a film I will probably never get tired of like "It's a Wonderful Life", or "City Lights" simply because I fall in love with it each time I see it, it doesn't matter how many times or what mood I'm in, it always has the power to cheer me up when I'm down.