Rating: 
Summary: 5 Stars...Film-Wise....4 Stars...DVD-Wise
Review: This review refers to the DVD edtion(MGM) of "The Apartment"This 1960 winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1960,touched our hearts and made us smile 43 years ago and still does today. It has not lost one bit of it's charm and continues to add new fans all the time. It's a treasure chest of great cinema moments, and a must own for collectors of classics, Billy Wilder or Jack Lemmon films. Lemmon's immense talent shines through as C.C. Baxter, one of thousands of office workers in a huge company who is quickly working his way to the top floor and the executive washroom. He's got what it takes to get ahead...he's a dedicated employee, and a hard worker, he's got they key to success...and it opens the door to his apartment! It seems the powers that be on the upper floors have discovered this single guy's bachelor pad and have badgered Baxter into letting them use it for their little extracurricular activities. Things get complicated for C.C. though, when the big boss wants in on the action. He wants the apartment for his own use and now C.C. has a chance to go all the way to the top floor.But the rewards are bittersweet..Mr. Sheldrake's girl turns out to be the very sweet elevator operator Miss Fran Kubelik. The very girl that C.C. adores himself. The moments as we watch C.C. agonize over this dilemma are touchingly funny,and poignant. Lemmon is brillant in his portrayal as he is able to bring all these emotions to the screen.The rest of the cast is excellent as well. Shirley MacLaine(Fran) will touch your heart, Fred MacMurray(Sheldrake) is marvelous at his turn as the philandering exec(you'll see him in a very different light from his "My Three Sons" role), and also look for such great notables as Ray Walston, Jack Kruschen, Joan Shawlee,Hope Holiday and the wonderful Edie Adams. Oscar also honored legendary director Billy Wlider for his work as director and another for screenplay along with I.A.L. Diamond. The music by Adolph Deutsch is as sweet as the story and will stay with you for quite some time after the view. Overall the DVD was quite good. This 43 year old film looked pretty good. It could use a little improvement. There were times when it showed it's age, but the black and white images were clear and bright for the most part.The sound is in Dolby Dig MONO!...."Some Like It Hot" made only 1 year prior to this one, has been enhanced with Dol Dig 5.1(on both DVD editions) and sounds great.The Special Edition of "SLIH", even gives you the choice of watching it in the 5.1 or the original mono. This is a film that deserves at least the same attention. It may be veiwed in French and Spanish and has subtitles in those langauges as well. But..there are no subtitles or captions in English for hearing impaired viewers to enjoy this great classic and that is a shame. This is a film that should be enjoyed by all! MGM..maybe it's time for a new edition of this treasure. "That's the way it crumbles....cookie-wise"(Shirley MacLaine to Fred MacMurray).....enjoy...Laurie
Rating: 
Summary: We've seen it all before, or maybe we've experienced it!
Review: I saw this movie on TV when I was first starting my career in Houston, Texas. It gave me some perspective on the life that exists within the walls of the workplace. In the words of the Shirley MacClaine character, "Some people are givers, and some people are takers". We find both types in the workplace and in life. How often have you known someone, maybe even us who've been used by a "taker". This movie tells the price you pay, when you sacrifice your morals for selfish reasons. Jack Lemmon plays a young accountant, who has found a unique way to advance his career up the corporate ladder. He loans out his apartment in the city, for [dates] by executives in his company. He actually receives little real help, most of them are just using their position, to shine him on, and get what they want. When one of the bigger bosses in the company finds out about the arrangement, and decides he wants exclusive rights, the young accountant must decide what is more important. The good news is: this big boss really can help him advance his career. Is it worth selling his morality, for higher position within the company? Of course he gets a little help making up his mind. Depressed from finding out a girl he likes is just another, "businessman's special", who uses his apartment. .... Like many Billy Wilder films, this movie has the power to touch our emotions. It does so in ways we wouldn't have thought possible. It has enough humor to balance some of the tragic moments, and not to decend into the realm of melodrama. It is intentionally filmed in black and white, so not to distract from the story. It won the Best Picture Oscar for 1960.
Rating:
Summary: A nebbish like you...
Review: ...that's how C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) is summed up in the early going of this one. It's not that this is untrue -- strictly speaking, Baxter is just that, a nebbish. Yet we love him all the more for it. He is, however, a nebbish with a misplaced sense of propriety. To shuck and jive for the married executives at the insurance company where he labors among the other grunts in order for them to enjoy their extra-marital daliances is his one major flaw. Forunately, there is Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine) to unwittingly calibrate Baxter's moral barometer. No point in telling how she does it -- that'd spoil the movie. Rest assured that it's one of the best Billy Wilder-Jack Lemmon collaborations (second only to 'Some Like It Hot') While it's great to have it on DVD, you'd think they would have kicked in with some kind of special features (this was, after all, the Oscar winner for best picture in 1960). Alas, that is not the case here. You get the movie, the trailer...and that's it.
Rating:
Summary: It requires something special from its audience.
Review: For years I watched this film and didn't really like the story. Understand- I liked the central characters, but didn't like what was happening to them (or the fact that they allowed it to happen over and over again). I figured out the trick to watching and really enjoying "The Apartment:" you need the patience of Job. The pace and order with which the events happen is so gradual (rather than slow) that it can easily frustrate the viewer who wants everything in a movie to be resolved in five minutes. If you don't have 2+ hours to really sit, watch, and be absorbed, you may not appreciate this one. At first glance, you want to ring the collective necks of Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine- two characters who both seem much too smart and civil to allow the things that happen to them to keep happening. MacLaine, of course, excelled in this cheery-but-abused character in the dawn of her career, and Lemmon- who was still fairly new in 1960- was showing a kaleidescope of emotions in a character who's alternately a loner, a doormat, a kook, and something of a genius in ways of smooching the corporate bosses. Once he and MacLaine actually start their own interaction (the card games are a marvelous form of silent courtship- even in the event of squashing an attempted suicide), everything's all right with the film- and the world. Eke out a Sunday afternoon with bags of microwave popcorn and soda to see this one. Or if you're feeling really adventurous, watch with a spaghetti dinner- strained through a tennis racket, of course.
Rating:
Summary: Great Billy Wilder Movie
Review: Billy Wilder made some great ones and this might be his best. Jack Lemmon was terrific as usual, Fred MacMurray had the creep role down perfect, and Shirley MacLaine was just so damn beautiful in this.
Rating: 
Summary: A CINEMATIC TREASURE GETS LOWLY TREATMENT ON DVD
Review: "The Apartment" is one of those little jabs of pleasure in your cinema-going experience. Directed by the legendary Billy Wilder, its the tale of an overworked office jockey who wants to get up to the executive suite. So he starts renting out his apartment to executives who are having affairs with their secretaries. Jack Lemmon, Shirley MaClaine and Fred MacMurray all give outstanding performances that make this Oscar-winning film a truly profound movie viewing experience.
MGM DVD has done one of the worst jobs ever on this transfer. The 2:35:1 anamorphic picture exhibits an overly harsh, digital characteristic that is wholly unflattering. There are excessive amounts of shimmering, edge enhancement and aliasing throughout. The gray scale is well represented but shadow delineation and contrast levels during the night scenes are poor to nonexistant. When they're not shaking uncontrollably across your screen, fine details are softly focused and poorly rendered. The soundtrack is mono and strident. There are no extras. We don't even get an insert that tells us where the chapter stops on this disc are. What a shame!
Rating:
Summary: How To Get A Fast Promotion
Review: THE APARTMENT can be classified as both a comedy and a drama. The story is about C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon), a young bachelor who works for a large insurance company in New York City. He enjoys a meteoric rise to a junior executive position after allowing several of his bosses to use his apartment for their clandestine love affairs with female employees of the company. The only trouble is that Baxter falls in love with one of the girls (Shirley MacLaine) who is spending time in his apartment with his boss (Fred MacMurray). Lemmon and MacLaine make a thoroughly loveable duo - two characters who capture your heart early in the film. Fred MacMurray plays the part of a hypocritical rascal, somewhat reminiscent of his role in THE CAINE MUTINY. THE APARTMENT won Academy Awards in 1960 for Best Picture, Best Director (Billy Wilder), Best Original Story and Screenplay, Best B & W Art Direction and Best Editing. Nominations were received for Best Actor (Jack Lemmon), Best Actress (Shirley MacLaine), Best Supporting Actor (Jack Krushen), Best B & W Cinematography and Best Sound. The main competition for awards in that same year came from ELMER GANTRY starring Burt Lancaster and BUTTERFIELD 8 with Elizabeth Taylor.
Rating:
Summary: The perfect single man's film.
Review: Sometimes you hear about a film that is so good, you feel jealous because you have not seen it, or just want to be a bad boy and refuse to see it because you're afraid you might learn something. Well, I finally saw "The Apartment", and yes it is good. Perhaps this was the film that made people like Jack Lemmon. Nice guys do win. In my opinion, this film is about The Nice Guy vs. macho work men. Guess who wins? Jack Lemmon plays a single man who just prefers to work day and night and he has his own apartment with the comfort of music and his television set. However, in order to keep his desk job, he is forced to let the macho executives use his apartment for thier own pleasure with thier dates and affairs. So out in the cold Jack goes, literally. The next morning, Jack has a cold. But on to work he goes. He begins to openly talk with an elevator lady (Shirley MacLaine) who he really never talked too much to before. From then on, whenever they see each other, it's only cordial. Just two people staying business-like and professional at work. Then something tragic happens that eventually changes his life and others around him. I think this film holds up very well and is still realistic, even in today's modern world. Keep watching this film to the very end. There are a few surprises and twists. So don't give up to early. After the film is over, I guarantee it will keep you thinking.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic
Review: This is one of those films that seems just as perfect every time you see it. While time has changed - corporate polictics and the sadness of how we "dispose" of people has not. The script is sharp, perceptive, funny, charming, and heartbreaking. Lemmon is absolultely amazing here and McClaine will melt your heart. This is a beautiful film that should not be overlooked or passed by by potential viewers because of its age.
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite
Review: An immortal movie. Some people watch A Christmas Carol every year. For me, The Apartment is an annual rite of the Christmas Season. It is a perfectly realized film on a theme that is devilishly difficult to carry off. Jack Lemmon has done the impossible -- giving a lonely, bored and unhappy character energy, charm and humor. A virtuoso performance. He draws us into the most mundane of activities (straining pasta, drinking at a bar, talking to a fellow apartment dweller). Then he gives us a life lesson in the difference between right and wrong. In his great films, Wilder is pure genius (The Apartment, Some Like It Hot, Stalag 17). He knows what he's after and he gets it, and we watch in wonder. Thank you, Shirley McClain, Fred MacMurray, Edie Adams, Ray Walston and the rest. Well done!
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