Billy Wilder at his best! The 1960 Oscar winning film in the purity of B+W is, I suppose, a romantic comedy at heart, but it is so much more. It explores so much that is good along with much that is sleazy about the big apple some 10 years before it really took a nosedive to become a filthy, pornographic city on the verge of bankruptcy. The Apartment is a nostalgic piece and seeing the film 55 years after its first release made me realize how much the world has changed. The values and morals of 1960 men and women, very daring at the time, seem like a Disney movie in light of what was just around the corner, so to speak. In a 1960 context, the film is a brilliant, funny satire on how "efficiently" everything operated back then, in every aspect of life, including the sexual. Don't view the film with 2015 eyes or none of it will mean much. Wilder and Diamond were unbelievable writing partners and their Oscar winning screenplay for The Apartment is a gem as is Billy Wilder himself being named Best Director for the second time. The film started a collaboration of films between Jack Lemon and Shirley MacLaine and made of them the darlings of the 60's. For The Apartment both Jack and Shirley were nominated for the Oscar. They would have to yet wait a few years before winning the prize, but their work in The Apartment is so wonderfully sweet and tender in a naive sort of way. This is a great film. I highly recommend it but remember to look at it through the eyes of a 1960 spectator.
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I absolutely agree with your take on the film except your repeated, almost apologetic reminders about its 60s context. I really don't give a shyte if the pc libtards can't seem to appreciate a classic masterpiece like this film. Let them live in their stupid world where they count kardashian's farts and ass-size an entertainment and pat each other for hating Trump as enlightenment.