Insurance worker C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) lends his Upper West Side apartment to company bosses to use for extramarital affairs. When his manager Mr. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray) begins using Baxter’s apartment in exchange for promoting him, Baxter is disappointed to learn that Sheldrake’s mistress is Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine), the elevator girl at work whom Baxter is interested in himself. Soon Baxter must decide between the girl he loves and the advancement of his career. The action takes place primarily from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Eve, set in the 1950s. Winner* of five 1960 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, The Apartment is legendary writer/director Billy Wilder at his scathing, satirical best, and one of “the finest comedies Hollywood has turned out” (Newsweek). *1960: Director, Story and Screenplay, Editing, Art Direction (B&W)
There is a melancholy gulf over the holidays between those who have someplace to go, and those who do not. “The Apartment” is so affecting partly because of that buried reason: It takes place on the shortest days of the year, when dusk falls swiftly and the streets are cold, when after the office party some people go home to their families and others go home to apartments where they haven’t even bothered to put up a tree. On Christmas Eve, more than any other night of the year, the lonely person feels robbed of something that was there in childhood and isn’t there anymore. – Roger Ebert
“A gleeful, tender, and even sentimental film…kept on the side of taste and humor by the grand performance of Jack Lemmon in the principal role.” – Bosley Crowther
For anyone who has ever been tempted by either the gun or the bottle at the prospect of the enforced joy of the holidays, Wilder’s movie is the perfect tonic. – New York Times
Starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston, Jack Kruschen.
Note: This is not a family film, and though it is a comedy (or rather a “bittersweet, heart-rending tragi-comedy/drama”), the events are mature themes and not all cheery and lighthearted. It is listed here because the acclaimed film is loved by many, considered to be one of the greatest films ever made and may suit the tastes of those wanting something period and classic but with a bit of an edge at Christmas.