THE APARTMENT (1960)
“That’s just the way it crumbles, cookie-wise.”
Dark comedy melodrama in which a “poor schnook” name C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) at an insurance agency sucks up to his bastard superiors by lending them his apartment for their extra-marital affairs. Baxter fumbles at romance with a charming elevator girl (Shirley Maclaine) only to find that she’s been spending time in his apartment with his jerk boss (Fred MacMurray).
This is one of the cleverest and saddest movies in the world. The ensemble cast is wonderful and Billy Wilder’s wonderful hope-through-cynicism world-view is heartbreaking. The dialogue could be hipper. Shirley Maclaine plays perhaps the most lovable and tragic romantic comedy lead in history.
