Billy Wilder’s The Apartment has enjoyed tremendous popular and critical acclaim since its release. Yet, only years later has it been seen as anything other than a well-acted, solidly-written studio project about the entanglements of love and corporate ambition. Indeed, sixty years later, it might seem strange to revisit this type of movie and see anything other than old-fashioned ideas about personal values and the relationship between men and women. Yet, in Wilder’s unique style, The Apartment argues not just for what might be characterized today as “traditional values” but also argues against the idea that love involves any form of conformity. In Wilder’s film universe, conformity leads to death and it is only by accepting one’s own shortcomings that personal growth can be achieved.

CC “Bud” Baxter’s (Jack Lemmon) life is predicated upon clarity and precision. In the opening voice-over, Bud offers insight into his life and the circumstances that led to him being the efficient but displaced corporate cog that he is. He can rattle off numbers and figures that seem to indicate high intelligence but ultimately mean nothing to us or his career. And such talents are certainly not on the minds of his direct supervisors, all of whom are presented as doing as little as possible in their jobs while constantly scheming to attain the one thing they want: Bud’s apartment. Using it for affairs with their secretaries, phone operators or any other woman that gives them the time of day, in CC Baxter they have found what they believe to be the ultimate schmuck; a nobody who possesses one asset they can use to their advantage while also maintaining Bud’s cooperation with the promise of promotion. As the movie begins, it appears the agreement has been working for some time but, of course, his supervisors know Baxter expects to be rewarded soon. He is, but only at the behest of personnel manager Jeff Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray) who is also keen to use the apartment for a lingering affair with the lovely but insecure Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine). The trouble, of course, is that Bud has a crush on Fran and she seems to like him but their various roles and expectations force each of them to see themselves as mere tools of cosmic forces with little control over their own lives until they decide to take it themselves.

Like the following year’s winning romantic comedy (which was also tinged with sadness and despair), Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Apartment looks at two people who must wade through the unpalatable areas of their lives before finding the other person at the end. One of the interesting aspects Wilder subtly includes is how simple-minded both Fran and Bud are about their circumstances and their own culpability. Initially it seems that Sheldrake, with his calm demeanor, expecting everything he wants from all the people in his life, is the character most out of touch with reality. Yet, we soon realize that this is the exact attitude one needs to climb any type of hierarchy in a big corporation in New York City. Bud, on the other hand, has become so used to apologizing for others and taking responsibility for their actions that he loses track of his own ability and responsibility. Once he realizes that he is not prized for his personal ambition and talents, he must come to terms with what is truly important in his life and the lives of others. Typical of a Billy Wilder movie, this realization does not happen until a real sense of tragedy and hopelessness is injected into the situation. For it is only when his characters hit rock bottom they realize they have nowhere to go but upward.

Despite being known more as a writer than a director with a real visual flare, Wilder’s sure hand guides The Apartment through what might be perilous moments in a similar movie. In many scenes the tone must be so carefully balanced that the tragedy is not made too light and the comedy does not feel tacked on. This is especially true of the scene when Bud comes home with a woman he met in a bar and finds Fran in a most unfortunate situation. Carefully utilizing long shots and music, Wilder takes us into the scenario and forces us to try not to laugh while also emphasizing how sad this really is. This is a trademark of Wilder’s filmography which is filled with characters deluding themselves into situations they believe will make them happy but only compounds their sadness and frustration. Once salvation is realized it often comes at a high price and whatever they have to pay signifies the strength of their willingness to reform.

The salvation within the movie is personified in Bud’s next-door neighbors, the savvy and well-rounded Dr. Dreyfus and his wife Mildred. In their blustery, very Bronx and very Jewish manner, they symbolize everything these simple-minded goys need to attain: a warm and happy home built upon a solid, trusting relationship without any sense of philandering or unfaithfulness. These ideas are expressed succinctly in Wilder’s use of the term mensch, which is Yiddish for “a person of high integrity.” Countering this is the notion of being a schmuck, although the word itself is not used in the movie. A schmuck is defined as a stupid or foolish person and this is perhaps how Wilder views Bud (and to a degree Fran) as they attempt to better their circumstances. Yet, as Dreyfus and his wife continuously demonstrate, one cannot better his or her life by simply being servile to others. Both the doctor and his wife go out of their way to help Bud without expecting reciprocation or doing it to inflate their own egos. They do it because of their status as mensches, people with integrity and a strong sense of the morality that guides their lives. Simplistically, one could say that Wilder is merely staging a moral drama with some characters personifying the good and others, the bad. Yet, in his characteristically understated way, there is much more to this story than meets the eye. Perhaps this helps explain why The Apartment remains relevant to some six decades later. On one level it represents the best of the late studio-era Hollywood productions which emphasized story and character above all else. On another, it explores the moral dichotomies that continue to confound the human race. Yet it is the mixture of these elements that yields what is ultimately rewarding: life is a funny tragedy and a tragic comedy.