Director: Billy Wilder Cast: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston, Jack Kruschen, David Lewis, Hope Holiday, Joan Shawlee, Naomi Stevens, Johnny Seven, Joyce Jameson, Willard Waterman, David White, Edie Adams
Academy Awards: Best Picture; Best Director (Billy Wilder); Best Original Screenplay (Billy Wilder & I.A.L. Diamond); Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White; Best Film Editing
Also Nominated For: Best Actor in a Leading Role (Jack Lemmon); Best Actress in a Leading Role (Shirley MacLaine); Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Jack Kruschen); Best Cinematography, Black-and-White; Best Sound
I First Saw In: c. 2010
Synopsis: A man tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, but complications and a romance of his own ensue.
Did You Know? This was the last entirely black-and-white film to win Best Picture until 2011 when The Artist won. Schindler’s List won for 1993, but there were some scenes that had a little colour.
And now a Word from the Guise:
This movie really doesn’t do anything for me. Why on earth should I care about a man who uses the infidelity of his bosses to get ahead in his company. It’s not serious enough to be a drama, and it’s certainly not farcical enough to be a comedy. It’s simply flat, dull, plebeian.
Oh look, here’s Shirley MacLaine taking a bunch of pills to cope with something that’s mildly disappointing. I am so sick of women being depicted as fragile creatures whose entire lives revolve around men.
Oscar Madness Ranking – ??? out of 233
