The Apartment

"Movie-wise, there has never been anything like it - laugh-wise, love-wise, or otherwise-wise!"

1960 2h 6m EN

🙌

8.2

BANGER

🔥

94%

CERTIFIED FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

8.3

IMDB

★8.2TMDB · 2,798🍅94%Rotten Tomatoes●94Metacritic★8.3IMDB · 217,548

ComedyDramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Bud Baxter is a minor clerk in a huge New York insurance company, until he discovers a quick way to climb the corporate ladder. He lends out his apartment to the executives as a place to take their mistresses. Although he often has to deal with the aftermath of their visits, one night he's left with a major problem to solve.

“Movie-wise, there has never been anything like it - laugh-wise, love-wise, or otherwise-wise!”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

YouTube TVSubscription

Amazon VideoRent

Apple TV StoreRent

Google Play MoviesRent

YouTubeRent

Fandango At HomeRent

Spectrum On DemandRent

PlexRent

Amazon VideoBuy

Apple TV StoreBuy

Google Play MoviesBuy

YouTubeBuy

Fandango At HomeBuy

Cast

Jack Lemmon
C.C. Baxter
Shirley MacLaine
Fran Kubelik
Fred MacMurray
Jeff D. Sheldrake
Ray Walston
Joe Dobisch
Jack Kruschen
Dr. Dreyfuss
David Lewis
Al Kirkeby
Hope Holiday
Margie MacDougall
Joan Shawlee
Sylvia

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Billy Wilder
Writers: Billy Wilder, I. A. L. Diamond
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $3.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 8.3× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

66 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Billy Wilder, shot by Joseph LaShelle. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Adolph Deutsch. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Daniel Mandell shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine and Fred MacMurray carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Movie-wise, there has never been anything like it - laugh-wise, love-wise, or otherwise-wise!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Billy Wilder directs. Joseph LaShelle behind the camera. Adolph Deutsch scores. Daniel Mandell cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $3.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Made its money back 8.3× over at the box office.
366 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Directed by Billy Wilder, shot by Joseph LaShelle. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Adolph Deutsch. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Daniel Mandell shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine and Fred MacMurray carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Movie-wise, there has never been anything like it - laugh-wise, love-wise, or otherwise-wise!".
9IMDB entry: tt0053604 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 21 themes, including "new year's eve", "new york city", "lovesickness", "clerk".

The technical file

Cinematography: Joseph LaShelle
Original score: Adolph Deutsch
Editing: Daniel Mandell
Makeup / hair: Harry Ray
Runtime: 126 min · 2h 6m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $3,000,000
Box office: $25,000,000
Return: 833% of budget
Original language: EN
IMDB: The Apartment (1960)
Rotten Tomatoes: 94% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 94/100
IMDB rating: 8.3/10 · 217,548 votes
MPAA: Approved

Awards

Won 5 Oscars. 25 wins & 8 nominations total

National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
Academy Award for Best Film Editing
Academy Award for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay
Academy Award for Best Art Direction, Black and White
Academy Award for Best Director

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Billy Wilder

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Andres Gomez2013-01-08
★ 8/10
A tiypical Billy Wilder comedy. Fun and with great script and performance from Jack Lemmon. A must to see.
tmdb476334912018-05-09
★ 9/10
Essential viewing once a year for soul maintenance
Filipe Manuel Neto2022-10-30
★ 7/10
It's a good movie, but Best Picture at the Oscars? Frankly… I really enjoyed this film, largely thanks to the lightness of its story, and the funny way in which the film plays with the situation in which the protagonist finds himself intertwined. The film was, in fact, the big winner of the Oscars in its year, with ten nominations and five statuettes (Best Editing, Best Art Direction in Black and White, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director and, the icing on the cake, Best movie). However, if we observe that that year were also nominated for much more memorable films such as “Spartacus” or “Psycho”, it is questionable whether this film really deserved to be considered the best film of the year. The script is based on the difficulties experienced by a simple office worker of a large insurance company from the moment he begins to lend his own apartment to several superiors in the firm, so that they can take their mistresses and girlfriends there. With the situation, he gains a bad reputation among the neighbors and with the landlady, in addition to not being able to go to his own house when he wants and thinks he should, being always limited by the arrangements that he is, from a certain moment, coerced into keeping. , as you progress in the firm thanks to the exchange of favors. Of course, there's going to be a very complicated romance midway through the story, and everything will end well, as it does in these comedies. The cast is half the recipe for this success. Jack Lemmon gives us a very good performance, perhaps the best of his career as an actor, along with his enormous acting exercise in “Some Like it Hot”. Fred McMurray was also very good in this film, giving us with commitment and great charisma an unpalatable character (a married man, very important in the company, who betrays his wife and will take advantage of the ambition of a minor employee). Without disapproval for the good performance of Sirley MacLaine, who gave life to a fragile young woman who is the main love interest of the protagonist, the film is not especially sympathetic to any element of the female cast. The film has a very pleasant pace and time passes without us noticing it, if we give the story a chance to get involved. I think the good editing and the fact that the film doesn't stop at dead moments helped a lot at that point. Good sets and costumes, especially the office set, with all the details we can imagine, make for a film that is good, although I can consider that there are far superior films.