Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guest Rioghnach Ní Ghrioghair, The 250 is a fortnightly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users.
This time, a Christmas (and New Year’s) treat. Billy Wilder’s The Apartment.
As the fifties give way to the roaring sixties, C.C. Baxter finds himself slowly climbing the corporate ladder by loaning out his apartment to other executives so they can conduct illicit affairs. However, things quickly become complicated when Baxter finds himself falling for the elevator operator Fran Kubelik.
At time of recording, it was ranked the 113th best movie of all time on the Internet Movie Database.
Show Notes:
- Recorded 8th September 2019.
- The Apartment at The Internet Movie Database.
- The IMDB 250 as it appeared at time of recording.
- Follow Rioghnach on Twitter.
- Watch a proof of concept for Rioghnach’s film Neon.
- Bosley Crowther’s contemporaneous review of The Apartment for The New York Times, June 1960.
- Peter Bradshaw reviews the re-release of The Apartment at The Guardian, June 2012.
- Sara Murphy at Tribeca Shortlist on the lasting cultural impact of The Apartment, March 2017.
- Roger Ebert argues for The Apartment as a great Christmas movie at RogerEbert.com, July 2001.
- Stephen Merchant cites The Apartment as one of his favourite films at The Guardian, August 2010.
- Ryan Vlastelica at The A.V. Club offers an introduction to the filmography of Billy Wilder, June 2015.
- Jonathan Coe at The Guardian on Billy Wilder’s fluctuating reputation, October 2005.
- Graham Fuller at The New York Times argues that The Apartment is an undervalued American classic, June 2000.
- Cameron Crowe writes at The Guardian about talking The Apartment with Billy Wilder, December 1999.
- Nathan Rabin apologises for coining the term “manic pixie dream girl” at Salon, July 2014.
- Vikram Murthi at IndieWire argues for The Apartment as a study of emerging corporate America, July 2015.
- Richard Brody at The New Yorker on The Apartment as the perfect sex comedy, December 2012.
- Charles Silver at Inside/Out on The Apartment as a study of the transition between the fifties and sixties, June 2013.
- David Mikkelson at Snopes on the myth of John F. Kennedy’s absent hat, September 2007.
- J. Bradford Bowers at The Hatted Professor on John F. Kennedy’s alleged impact on hat sales, 2016.
- Robert Krulwich at NPR on what actually killed hat sales, May 2012.
- Bob Bookman at Aish HaTorah argues for The Apartment as a fundamentally Jewish movie, October 2017.
- Kyle Westphal introduces The Apartment as a movie about Jewishness at the Library of Congress.
- Chris Hastings at The Telegraph on the tumultuous relationship between Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe, August 2003.
- Elizabeth Blair at NPR on the difficult dynamic between Olivier and Monroe making The Prince and the Showgirl, November 2011.
- Elsie Marina at Everlasting Star on the connections between Marilyn Monroe and The Apartment, June 2011.
- Scott Myers at Go Into the Story offers a ten-part set of conversations between I.A.L. Diamond and Billy Wilder, November 2017.
- Follow The 250 on Twitter.
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- Listen to The 250 on Spotify.
Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: Billy Wilder, christmas, comedy, eisenhower, holiday, Jack Lemmon, kennedy, new year's, Rioghnach Ní Ghrioghair, Shirley MacLaine, sixties, The 250, the apartment, x-mas |
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