WOW!!! This movie is incredible and the more I think about it the more I fall in love with it! The acting, camera work, characters, and dialogue are all amazing and the movie provoked so many different emotions. Even after the movie, new emotions kept popping up the more I thought about certain scenes and just wow. Thanks for watching! Have a great day! :)

"Why do people have to love people anyway?" Fun Fact: For this film, Billy Wilder became the first person to win the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Method Director Fact: To get Fran (Shirley MacLaine) to look genuinely startled when her brother-in-law punches C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon), director Billy Wilder smacked together two pieces of 2x4 during the shoot. Expensive Tastes Fact: C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) is just a "poor" accountant. But inside his apartment are two authentic Tiffany Studios lamps, worth hardly anything when the film was made, but now worth between $30,000 and $40,000 each. Hot Take Fact: Jack Lemmon related later in life how Billy Wilder kept his film editor, Doane Harrison, on the set with him at all times as associate producer and never made a shot until they both discussed it. As a result, he was able to shoot sparingly, cutting the film in the camera and eliminating costly set-ups that might never be used.

Amazing masterpiece The Apartment written, produced and directed by Billy Wilder starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray and Ray Walston. This film won 5 Oscars including best picture, best director by Billy Wilder and best screenplay. Thank you Ollie great reaction excellent👍👍👍👍

This movie is just GREAT...I would say it is one of the best of all times!

All of them are really big stars. Shirley MacLaine is 88 and still kicking around....

Harry Cohn of Columbia wanted Jack Lemmon to change his name because he didn't want people to say the studio had picked a "lemon," but Lemmon refused.

Glad you watched and enjoyed this Billy Wilder classic. The next Wilder classic you need to check out is the 1966 comedy The Fortune Cookie. It stars Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. It's a 7.3 on IMDB. It's a highly overlooked film. Thank you.

Really nice reaction to this absolute masterpiece. Billy Wilder was a fantastic filmmaker and this is him at his best, along with Some Like It Hot and Sunset Boulevard. Great performances by everyone, particularly Lemmon and MacLaine. I highly recommend MacLaine’s Oscar-winning role in Terms of Endearment, written and directed by James L. Brooks, which is very much in The Apartment vein as a comedy-drama with top notch performances. Also a winner for Best Picture in 1983. You can almost draw a line from The Apartment to Terms of Endearment. Please keep these classics coming!

Another classic with Jack is Mister Roberts...a must see.

It's really heartwarming to see younger generations discover and enjoy classic films. Hate for them to be forgotten. This is my favorite movie, I love that all the characters are three-dimensional. The best love story is two coming-of-age stories intersecting. I've always appreciated its portrayal of suicide, not relegating it to mental illness. And instead of condemning Fran, Baxter gives her genuine emotional support without trying to get sex from her. I wouldn't call this a romance at all--it's an actual love story. Baxter nursing Fran is the second manliest thing he does in the whole film, after dropping that key on Sheldrake's desk. Jack Lemmon keeps your rooting for Baxter all the way. You totally get why he's doing what he's doing, and it's thoroughly satisfying when he decides to become a real man.

You saw Fred MacMurray in the 1944 classic Double Indemnity; you didn’t recognize him! Before The Apartment however, he had switched to a lot of good guy roles. Fred’s daughter told the story that he was slapped at Disneyland after The Apartment was released when a woman brought her kids to the movie because, if Fred was in it, it must be wholesome. Fred swore off ever playing the bad guy after that, which is too bad because he was very good at it. He was also in The Caine Mutiny, where he’s pretty smug and unlikeable, a classic from 1954 starring Humphrey Bogart.

One of the most romantic movies ever, despite the fact that they never embrace & neve even refer to each other by their first names..... Academy Awarded Picture Of The Year 1960, well deserved.

Mr. Dobisch is played by actor Ray Walston who stars in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", "My Favorite Martian," "Picket Fences," and "Of Mice and Men."

Matthew McConaughey: "Alright, Alright, Alright" RolyPolyOllieReactions: 0:45 Nice, Nice, Nice

The Theme from ‘The Apartment’ reached number 10 on the Billboard charts.

Your reactions are always so thoughtful. I just love watching them and I love that you watched this absolute masterpiece. The script has been studied by screenwriters for decades and for good reason. It is a master class in, as David Mamet would put it, urgent need. Almost every character in every scene is expressing an urgent need, some more base than others (the smarmy office crew), for Lemmon/Baxter, the need is for sleep and control of his apartment and life. This script contains some of the greatest examples of sub text ever. Especially the scene in the restaurant where Sheldrake, once again makes a promise and takes it back as in “I am going to divorce her Fran, but I can’t do it at Christmas. “ Fran’s weary response as she listlessly looks around the restaurant is one of the best sub textual lines ever written: “same old place, same old booth, same old sauce, sweet and sour“ Exquisite! And then to have a director as skilled as Billy Wilder and a cast as powerful as any ever put on screen together, is lightening in a bottle. The last role I saw Shirley MacLaine in was in Downton Abbey. I don’t know how old she was, but she was formidable in the role of an indomitable, elderly woman of substance. And, as ever, hilarious. Jack Lemmon was such a great comedian but also a superb dramatic actor with a strong social conscience. His tragic turns in the cautionary nuclear power movie “the China syndrome” (released mere weeks before the real accident at 3 Mile Island) and the true tragic political film, ‘Missing’ were unforgettable. Both of those films are worthy of one of your reactions. Sorry, this was long-winded, but this is one of my favourite films of all time. Thank you so much for reviewing it. You’re great!

For a diverse look at other Billy Wilder films check out "Witness For The Prosecution", "Stalag 17" and "The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes".

Those giant names are, indeed, giant names - for us, especially Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo and the Barrymores: there were three acting Barrymores in the Hollywood era: Lional, Ethel and John. John was the grandfather of Drew Barrymore. The movie Baxter is not going to be able to enjoy is an allstar classic, "Grand Hotel". It has a partner of sorts, another all-star movie, "Dinner at Eight", with both Barrymore brothers again, with costars Wallace Beery (whose name you heard in the intro here), and the Good Witch from "The Wizard of Oz", Billie Burke, complete with champagne-Helium voice. Also starring in "Dinner..." is Jean Harlow, the Marilyn Monroe of her day, who died horribly young.

You can see these two in another great comedy: "Irma La Douce"

Fred MacMurray was a good guy in Walt Disney movies.

A great movie reaction, thank you! Jack Lemmon is one of the greats for big screen, small screen and stage (I saw him on Broadway as the father in "Long Day's Journey Into Night", and he was stellar). He and Wilder worked together on several movies, (including "Some Like It Hot", just a year before this one, and costarring: Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe, Joe E. Brown and George Raft ... all big names. George Raft was Humphrey Bogart before Bogart (in fact, Bogart picked up a hefty number of roles that Raft turned down). Raft popularized the tossing of a coin in one hand as a sort of gangster intimidation. Joe E. Brown was a famous comedian whose trademark was his flexible and wide mouth, together with a kind of police-siren yell of desperation and despair at the proper moments).

Such a great movie! Love Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. This is a classic!

Jack Lemmon in Days of Wine and Roses is a recommendation. Love how you enjoy these old movies. They are true classics and now, a slice of history.

Jack Lemmon later starred with Walter Matthau in The Odd Couple, then a number of similar buddy films with him, including two Grumpy Old Men films. When I was growing up in the 1980s, Shirley MacLaine had been famous as a theatrical dancer, actress and for the book, Out on a Limb. In it, she talks about meeting someone who had been with an extra terrestrial… new age. She also was famous for taking about past lives. The various lower bosses are very recognizable in television and film. Fred MacMurray starred in the tv series, My Three Sons, while continuing to be in films.

I highly recommend Billy Wilder's 'Witness for the Prosecution.'

The Apartment was made in a time where the score was completely written for the film. It was not just a collection of songs put together by an corporate A&R person. The film score was a good seller when it was put out as a vinyl soundtrack album.

It's crazy but $85 rent in 1960 is equal to $852 today. That's cheap for Manhattan today! But Manhattan had working class and cheap neighborhoods back then. Jack Lemmon is a great actor to delve into. There's something incredibly likeable about him. He's an absolutely epic actor! "Some Like It Hot" (1959), "The Out-of-Towners" (1970), "The China Syndrome" (1979), "Grumpy Old Men" (1993) are great Jack Lemmon films.

Now you need to watch Meredith Wilson in the film "The Music Man"!

Another good Billy Wilder movie is "Love in the Afternoon" with Audrey Hepburn, Wilder's tribute to Ernst Lubitsch. Also, Lubitsch movies: Trouble in Paradise, Design for Living, The Shop Around the Corner, Ninotchka, To Be or Not to Be . . .

A lovely tragicomedy....superb performances all round, a great script...and a lovely music track. It may also be a commentary on the 'American dream'. THIS is film-making. Good to see a young lad getting to know it.

Jack Lemon in many great films such as The Out of Towners, The China Syndrome, The Great Race.

Another great reaction to another great film. Just a note . . . the film that Jack Lemmon tries to watch at the beginning, Grand Hotel, is a real movie and is also very much worth your time. If nothing else, it is the film where Greta Garbo famously says that she wants to be alone. But it is a wonderful movie all round . . .

Loved this one. Anything with Jack Lemon is a great watch. If you really liked the elevator operator girl ( Shirley MacLaine), you have to watch Sweet Charity. All the choreography is by Bob Fosse. Great songs and dance numbers with a superb cast. Give it a shot. ✌️

Great reaction. I always loved how this movie masks itself as a romantic comedy before, at almost the exact halfway mark, taking such a dark turn as Fran and Baxter's worlds are both utterly shattered in the space of a few brief moments. Neither are even aware of the other's heartbreak and I still think the moment Baxter sees the broken mirror is one of the most iconic moments in movie history. I also LOVE the ending because there's no attempt to dress up the reasons Fran and Baxter ultimately choose each other. Was Fran just waking up to the fact that the better option had been staring her in the face all along or did she actually love him? For me it didn't matter because the writers painted both characters as having so few options in life that to end up getting what they both WANTED was enough for me.

Very glad you saw this one; Wilder is my favorite Classic Hollywood director, and this is my favorite of his movies. Matthew Weiner, the creator of Mad Men, clearly loved this film too. It also gets my vote as the greatest Christmas movie, though it's not often thought of as one.

I’m still amazed at the things you pick up on during first viewings. Great reaction to a film that evokes mixed emotions.

The microwave oven was not created for home use until 1955. Only about 34 were made and they were the size of a regular oven with a cost of over $1245.00 each. Some ovens sold for $200 to $5000 each. It was nothing like the units sold in appliance stores today. Wide distribution of household versions was not available until 1967 and were still expensive. Prior to 1967, microwave ovens were used exclusively on passenger and cargo ships and the size was huge.

Shirley MacLaine & Jack Lemmon did another unusual comedy with Billy Wilder a couple of years later called Irma La Douche.

This film and The Lion in Winter are my favorite holiday movies . Plus A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Fred MacMueeay was the 'beloved' television dad on the classic sitco, 'My Three Sons' in later life. .

Please don’t paint Baxter out to be a total victim of the executives. What makes this movie even more sophisticated in tone, is that he was using them too. He felt that giving them this access would help him in his career. The failing was that it all get away from him, and he couldn’t put his foot down. Until he did!

Thanks, Oliver! 🔑 #RolyPolyOllie #BillyWilder #TheApartment #TheApartment1960 If you'd like to see some other good ones with Shirley MacLaine, I strongly suggest TERMS OF ENDEARMENT (1983), STEEL MAGNOLIAS (1989) and POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE (1990).

1:59 this is the amount people needed to get work done before computers were a part of our everyday lives and eliminated the need for so many people to get tasks done.

Great movie. haven't seen it in y ears! A couple other Jack Lemmon movies to check out - "The Great Race" with Tony Curtis (again) & Natalie Wood plus an absolute raft of great character actors, and "The Odd Couple" with Walter Matthau (also, again).

This is my favorite classic film from the 60’s. My favorite black & white film from the 90’s is Clerks.

You should watch Sweet Charity for peak Shirley Maclaine adorability, along with some amazing dancing. And then follow up with Cabaret since you appreciate good dancing.

"The film's title theme, written by Charles Williams and originally titled "Jealous Lover", was first heard in the 1949 film The Romantic Age. A recording by Ferrante & Teicher, released as "Theme from The Apartment", reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart later in 1960." I believe that the ending took care of itself. Fred McMurray character is already getting his comeuppance because his wife left him.

If you like Jack Lemmon I think you would really love Mister Roberts. One of his top movies.

Great review. Check out "The Fortune Cookie" a 1966 Billy Wilder comedy staring Jack Lemon and Walter Matthau. It's got 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and 7.3 on IMDB.

$85 in 1960 is equivalent to $852.29 today. So, Jack Lemmon's character was paying a lot for rent.

0:45 You should have a "Nice, Nice, Nice" merch cuz you always say that

The theme to The Apartment was a huge hit by pianists Ferrante & Teicher. This isn’t a romcom by the way. I don’t care what Google says. It’s a dramatic movie with some humor thanks to the talent of Jack Lemmon.

Fred Mac Murray was such a loved actor because of his work in the TV series My Three Sons. He plays a widowed father of the boys and it was a definite favorite sitcom growing up. It's interesting to see him as a bad guy. Jack Lemmon and Shirley McClaine are Hollywood legends. The first movie I ever saw him in was the 1970 The Out of Towners when I was young and really enjoyed it. Terms of Endearment is my favorite Shirley MacLaine movie with Debra Winger and Jack Nicholson.

In answer to your question, it used to be customary hat-iquette for men to remove their hats when they entered a building, and certainly when they were in an elevator. I think exceptions were often made for cowboy hats…for reasons that elude me. Women never were required to remove hats. This is different than going to the theatre; I’m referring to office buildings, churches and residences.

Jack Lemmon has a son, Chris Lemmon who is also an actor. He is currently In the film "Blonde". BTW, I love black and white films.

~ Fred MacMurray had a very long career, but only played the villain twice, ironically both directed by Wilder in his two most notable roles, the other being Double Indemnity….. his typical forte was likable romantic comedy leads ~

So glad you're continuing to watch B&W movies.

Microwave ovens didn't appear on the market until the mid-1970s.

Great reactions to this! Loved how you want to punch Sheldrake and give C.C. a hug.

Two other fantastic Jack Lemmon films to check out - The Odd Couple & Days of Wine And Roses

I'm so glad you decided to react to this movie. Billy Wilder is a fantastic director and you can't get better than Jack Lemon and Shirley MacLaine. Other Billy Wilder movies you might like are Stalag 17 (8.0), Sunset Boulevard (8.2) and Some Like It Hot (8.4). All are in B&W BTW. I see other great suggestions for Lemon and MacLaine in the comments. Mensh is yiddish. Baxter's neighbors were Jewish. Neither microwaves nor AIDS existed in 1960.

I love it too! Such a sad film though, ultimately. Hey, you should watch The Night of the Hunter, if you haven’t already!!

Sweetheart, this movie is set in the 50’s: no microwaves, no AIDES. He does not rent the apartment but allows colleagues to use it, thinking he might get ahead at the office.

The great comedy of all times! 😊

Jack Lemmon also did Some Like It Hot with Wilder & Marilyn Monroe around the same time.

From what I remember of film class this was one of the last, big studio-system flicks shot in b/w for routine, budgetary reasons. Color-film's cost was coming down and audiences were demanding it more and more. At least on the big screen.

You win Top Reactor On The Internet for watching this masterpiece.

I love this movie. I'm glad you've reacted to it.

Not only did the two main characters never kiss during the movie, they never even called each other by their first names. It was always "Miss Kubelik" and "Mr. Baxter." This movie was remade into a Broadway musical called "Promises, Promises," with all the songs by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Jerry Orbach played the role of Mr. Baxter, and sang the title song. The song was a hit for Dionne Warwick before the play opened, and it was so difficult that Orbach called Warwick for advice on how to sing it. Fred MacMurray did such a good job playing an awful character that women would come up to him on the street and berate him. He had played other immoral characters (e.g. in Double Indemnity and The Caine Mutiny), but Mr. Sheldrake was so disgusting that MacMurray hesitated to take the role. He agreed to it because of his respect for Billy Wilder.

The black & white video was a nice touch. Beautiful reaction to a masterpiece of cinema. I really don't regret subscribing to your chanel.

If you want to see the Doctor in this movie in another movie he plays a store clerk and friend of John Wayne's character in the western, McClintock as a Mr. Burnbaum.

I love this film. Great cast, story, and glad you watched it. Good one!

jack Lemmon is a great great actor -glengarry glen ross -the odd couple pretty much anything he’s in is good

I read the script way before I ever came across the movie. I think I have conjured up something slightly different from the movie. Nevertheless, I still enjoy the movie

Another great reaction, keep them coming. Another apartment to check out is the 1996 comedy Joe's Apartment.

A fun movie history fact. After Fred McMurry did this movie he was out with his family and a woman hit him with her purse. Then and there he promised his wife not to do another role like that.

That was a huge film back with the WWII generation.

Hi Ollie, please watch Some Like It Hot, Grumpy Old Men and Pillow Talk

Definitely a bona fide classic! Not my favorite Wilder film but one that still feels very modern and relevant today. Sometimes I get frustrated that it is often marketed as a romantic comedy because it is so much more than that.

This movie seens to last longer than I remembered. when I watched it on TV it ended at the moment when Calvin quits his job.

i am thrilled you are watching one of my favorite movies

BION, The Apartment actually spawned a successful Broadway musical, with songs by Burt Bacharach, one or two of which have gone on to be recognizably familiar: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/d6mTp6moz9Glqn0.html

React to Fred MacMurray in 'Double Indemnity'. Great film.....

Good one.

$80 /month in 1960 sounds like a great deal. Even at minimum wage of $1.00 / hr and being full time, you'd make rent in two weeks. In 2023, that's like paying $800 /mo today, which is still considered a bargain. In major metropolitan areas, finding a 1 bedroom for $800 /mo on the west coast is hard to find 20 years ago, you'd be able to get a single for $650 /mo. A single is similar to a studio apartment on which you're living room and bedroom are the same room usually without any partition. In the middle of U.S, places like this exist all over the place. Coastal cities have a high cost if living. If your rent us only $800 /mo it may be in a bad part of town. For example, the average rent in Seattle is $2000 /mo thanks to tech workers.

Some like it hot. Love to see you react to that Billy wilder classic

Thank you for commenting one of my favourite Wilder’s film. Everybody knows Some Like it Hot, but very few have seen Stalag 17 : could you watch it for us ? A mix of drama and humour : William Holden’s Oscar and two other nominations, one for Billy Wilder, of course !

Nominated for 10 Oscars including Best Picture but won 5.

Very nice reaction. A couple points though. AIDS wasn't discovered until the mid to late 1980's. Microwaves didnt become relatively common in your home until the 1980's.

Check out grumpy old man with Jack lemon and Walter Matthau.

Love this reaction. But I couldn't help but laugh that you mentioned 'Microwave' and 'AIDS' within a minute of one another.

Yes, protocol states you are supposed to remove your hat in the elevator.

Ya really knocked it outta the park with this one; great commentary. Coupla recommendations if you want, for more MacLaine, a personal fave... she's in a spaghetti western gem with Clint Eastwood (Two Mules For Sister Sarah) and another gem with... Nicholas Cage(!), Guarding Tess.

The woman who 'looks like Marilyn Monroe' does - and she sounds like her!

You should do Sunset Boulevard and Some Like it Hot.

Hey man, you've been doing an awesome job reacting to the classics & classic directors. I wonder if I could recommend you two greats from my birth country of Italy.... *Nights Of Cabiria* (1957) and *8 1/2* (1963) both directed by FREDERICO FELLINI aka "The Maestro." Like BILLY WILDER and HITCHCOCK Fellini's movies also define that era.

If you like Shirley, please be the first to react to “the Yellow Rolls Royce.” Wonderful film!!!!!!!!

Just finished watching all your video reactions, my favorite of yours is Somewhere in Time and The Muppet Movie, Could you please react to Running Against Time or Flight Of The Navigator please :) love your videos.

Shirley MacLaine who had 2 Oscars and is Actor/Director Warren Beatty*s sister was upset to lose out to Elizabeth Taylor for Best Actress. Deborah Kerr was nominated but nevef won a competitive Oscar. Tsyloe won because she got a sympathy vote since people thought she was dying and even she did not ike her role that much. Die of AIDS? This movie was made before the epidemic.

Although microwaves existed back then, they were not for home use so he didn't have a microwave also AIDS didn't exist back then either but other STDs did.