Rating: 4 stars (out of 4)

The Apartment (1960): Dir. Billy Wilder.  Written by: Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond.  Starring: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, and Jack Kruschen.  Unrated.  Running time: 125 minutes.

Coming off the huge (and well-deserved) success of Some Like It Hot, director Billy Wilder didn’t slouch; he followed it up with another deserved classic.  The film fires on all cylinders, with verbal barbs and misunderstandings that would make Shakespeare proud.

Enter C.C. Baxter, a shlubby but loveable bachelor, who might enjoy the perks of his bachelor pad if he could actually find the time to use it.  Hoping for a promotion, Baxter lets his superiors conduct affairs at his place.  But Baxter begins to rethink his priorities when romance catches him unawares.

The Apartment manages the impressive feat of putting equal weight on comedy and drama.  Wilder insists on using the apartment not simply as a gimmick, but as an integral part of the story.  Baxter’s squabbles with his executives become turf wars for his own apartment, creating outrageous but organic situations. Of course, it helps that screenwriters Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond give us plenty of side-slapping moments, from sharp one-liners to improvised spaghetti strainers (a tennis racket!).

And the film develops a relationship between man and woman in a domestic scene, as opposed to the traditional road movie.  Not only does it force the two characters into a domestic space, it forces Baxter into the role of traditional “housewife.”  Jack Lemmon flexes his comedic and dramatic chops, complemented by a sharp and sassy Shirley MacLaine.  The two share chemistry even as their characters’s personalities clash.  Even Fred MacMurray perfectly fits the antagonist—outwardly professional and urbane, but a true sleazeball underneath.

The film would be great with its humor alone, but it transcends your traditional Hollywood farce.  It’s proof that romantic comedies can appeal to the heart and the mind in equal measure.  My recommendation?  Rent this one for Valentine’s Day before traipsing off to the latest Nicholas Sparks flick.

Next film: West Side Story, 1961