by David C. Terr

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Title: The Apartment

Director: Billy Wilder

Starring: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurry

Release Date: June 15, 1960

Running Time: 125 min

Genres: Romance, Comedy, Drama

Commentary
The Apartment is a very funny romantic comedy written, produced and directed by Billy Wilder. Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine both perform spectacularly. The story is also quite entertaining.

Plot Summary
C.C. Baxter (Lemmon) works at an insurance company in New York City. He allows four managers at his company to use his apartment for their extramarital affairs in exchange for good reports. His boss, Mr. Sheldrake (MacMurray) becomes suspicious and catches on to what he's up to, but rather than fire Baxter, he offers him a promotion in exchange for the same favor from him! Baxter obliges, but unfortunately, the woman his boss is having an affair with is also Baxter's new girlfriend, Miss Kubelik (MacLaine).

Cultural Significance
The Apartment was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won five, including Best Picture of 1960. Sam Mendes, director of American Beauty, which won the 1999 Best Picture award, said The Apartment was an inspiration for the film.

Movie Clips

Here's the original movie trailer.