The Apartment

I must apologize in advance: I know I just posted an entry about Shirley MacLaine not too long ago, with Sweet Charity and Irma La Douce, but The Apartment is on, and I can't help it! It just happens to be one of my all time favorite films. Have you ever seen it?

Jack Lemmon plays C.C. Baxter, a mid-level accountant in a huge firm, with several of the executives utilizing Baxter's Manhattan apartment for mid-week trysts with 'girls' from the office. These execs hide their infidelities from their wives by pretending to have banquets, meetings and other such work commitments to sneak away from their expecting families. Baxter has a crush on the Shirley MacLaine character, Fran Kubelik, who is the elevator operator at that commercial high rise.

The conflict is that Baxter has a crush on Ms. Kubelik, who is seeing the big boss, Mr. Sheldrake, played by Fred McMurray, who plays an amazing asshole in this gem. But *that* guy is married, and a notorious playa, (I know, insane to think of Fred McMurray, from My Three Sons, as a stud, right?!?) who keeps repeatedly breaking Ms. Kubelik's heart, despite her repeated attempts to get over him. A few twists and turns, in the grand style of Billy Wilder, and you have yourself one great film.

I remember catching this on cable for the first time as a young teenager, and being completely dumbfounded about how overt they were about the sexism and promiscuity in the early 1960s. This was the original Mad Men. Seriously! Everyone smoked at the office, had amazing style and grace, the furniture was impeccable, leaving me coveting a few mid centuries sofa sets, and all of the secretaries (yes, they still called them that back then), and switch board operators (yes, once upon a time *real people* operated telephone networks), all spoke with that totally affected New Yorkie nasally twang, wore cat eye glasses and leopard print coats.

As much as I would love to pretend that the relations between the sexes have improved since this film was shot, maybe the only real difference is the implied sense of... Wait, no, that's not different either. Maybe there is no change. People still cheat, still make up excuses for why it happens, still cover for other people's infidelities, and so on. Which begs to ask: Is this just the human condition?

A good friend of mine and I were talking about the subject of cheating, and she said she would never cheat on her current boyfriend, but had admitted to having trysts while with previous partners. She said the difference is that she knows her current partner would just leave, no questions asked. Even when problems arise between the two of them, she can tell herself that every relationship will have its challenges, and instead of straying, she'd prefer to stick around and work it out. She kind of joked by saying that she doesn't really feel like she can slack off in this relationship since he always seems just out of reach, and she really has to work for it.

Her boyfriend made a comment that I found shocking, especially after watching The Apartment. He said that she only likes him because he's a dick. She sort of winced, and asked him what he meant. "Women think they like the nice guys, but the truth is, they really only like the assholes who are nice to *them.* It makes them feel special. They never go for the guys that are nice to everyone. It just wouldn't work."

Huh... Ms. Kubelik's line echoes in my head: "Why can't I ever fall for a nice guy like you?"

Is this true ladies? If so, I've got some bad habits I need to be developing...