The Apartment (1960), with Jack Lemon, Shirley McLaine, others.

Meh.

It's like Billy Wilder got together with a bunch of buddies and said, "Let's make a bawdy movie with hot dames in it, and we can fantasize about what's it like to be businessmen in New York City who cheat on their wives all the time. We'll even show one or two women in underthings, and we'll have them making out with guys all over the place at the office Christmas party. Yeah, I know, it sounds terrible. We'll get away with it, though, because you're all great actors and because there will be some kind of redeeming message about true love."

1960----hmmm

How bout Psycho!
How bout The Magnificent Seven!

Very true. Pat Garret has some of my favourite moments but doesn't quite stand up as a whole, at least compared with the Wild Bunch. And Kris Kristofferson, while good, was always gonna be Kris Kristofferson rather than Billy the Kid. James Coburn's Pat, on the other hand, is fantastic (one of my all-time fave performances in any Western), and I still love the movie, if only for those few choice scenes and for James Coburn.

The blend of comedy and drama, with a dash of both slapstick and social commentary, makes this film something of a groundbreaker. Certainly one of the more "mature" films Hollywood had made up to that point, and its influence stretches to the present day. I can't imagine something like, say, American Beauty without this precedent.

so billy wilder created "mad men," only he was less cynical?


i hate that kind of gore porn too-- unwatchable. also do not like most "horror" movies (mostly about disgusting shit)

i'm not going to recommend you garbage

now peckinpah was ultraviolence maybe in 1970 but not by today's standards. still i think he didn't shrink from a certain realism because before him gun battles were like pointing your finger and saying "bang bang". these days when there's a bomb just *look away from it*. but he was showing people getting properly killed-- but for a good purpose which in service of a plot and to de-romanticize the western. sort of like "unforgiven" did 2 decades later.

wild bunch is a goddamn masterpiece.

watched in the loop last night after a marathon of the thick of it. veep is one of my all time favorite shows already, hence the bingeing. fucking hilarious.

^ Where did you find THICK OF ITs? I had to watch pretty lousy copies on youtube.

Yes, all that stuff is great. The new VEEP started a little disappointing, but that surprise guest star really kicked things into high gear.

Please let me know if you come across something equally biting and funny. I wish whatshisface had more things. Just a film and two great series? Am I missing something?

ripped copy of a torrent, i watched it at my friend's place and didn't really ask. but seems like they're floating around on some torrent sites.

nah, that's pretty much it. i'm in awe of his writing skills and crew. when dan called jonah a "colossal fucking fannypack" sunday night, holy shit, it's so simple but elegantly insulting to jonah. i love it. and yeah, this season got better with the tehran episode. "it's black hawk down with laurel and hardy," tee hee.

evollove, thank you for the context. I think for me it of just didn't seem very believable, or well written. My wife said, "Wow, I didn't know everyone was so loose back then. Didn't all that come later?"

symbol-man, yes! It did remind me of some campy version of Mad Men.

i know, i was speaking tongue-in-cheek, of course it was the same scenario, which is why i was so puzzled as to why you'd think it arbitrary. the thing is that billy wilder had the cojones to speak about it in its time, right when this kind of thing was happening all over america-- not as some exercise in hindsight.

these days of course that would get you slapped with a sexual harassment lawsuit faster than you can spell "settlement"-- but it's taken a very long time and many a legislative battle. hey, women are still not getting equal pay in the workplace.

billy wilder was great, he'd alternate comedies and dramas, few directors i think had his range. he was a fantastic writer. "the apartment" is totally a great little movie.


i remember watching them on hulu a couple of years ago. not there anymore?

^ It is! Sweet.

Wait. I've never used Hulu before. How do you download?

---

gmku, you must've been in a bad mood. I mean, your opinion is your birthright, but you are perhaps the only intelligent person with vision who doesn't like The Apartment.

you don't have to download anything-- you can watch right on the browser, free of charge. like youtube.

unless you have an iphone/ipad in which case you need the app but that is for pay (hulu+)

hulu+ is also for full access to their whole everything. regular hulu shows usually expire, etc.

if they have back episodes trapped behind hulu+ they usually offer a 14-day free trial. use it up, binge till you puke, then cancel before they charge you. then after some time they'll come begging you back for another trial. lather, rinse, repeat. tbh, i'd probably get hulu+ if it had no commercials-- but they do.

hulu also has criterion movies-- they struck a deal a few years ago. i think those are shown commercial-free.

anyway call sick at work and have fun with it ha ha ha.

Seriously? Hmm. It didn't have that "great movie" feel for me. Maybe I was expecting more. It's not like it's awful. I greatly admire Jack Lemon and Shirley McLaine, and they're good in this.

The script, though--geeze. The "broads" have that horrible movie-cliche kind of talking that "cheap broads" in movies like this have. The men are cardboard caricatures, not characters--maybe that's the point. Even the Fred McMurry boss, a cliche, affluent family man in the 'burbs, lovely wife on whom he cheats. The writing was cliche after cliche, and predictable.

Maybe I need to watch it again.

In any case, arriving in the mail tomorrow... Only Lovers Left Alive. Yes, I've seen it already, but this movie I loved the first time I saw it. I think this movie is so, so great.

i loved loved loved only lovers left alive. tilda swinton is an ethereal goddess.

i only keep hulu around for the criterion stuff- easier than dealing with streaming sites. actually watching anything else is a pain with the ads.

I liked hulu back before hulu+ ruined it.. but such is everything when its underground. Popularity destroys fun by sheer volume.. apparently soundcloud is moving to subscription. YouTube has a rental option.. for PBS documentaries?? Yeah i get it, shit costs $.. but isn't that what ads are for? Thats why cable tv sucks too.. you pay $ yet still get even MORE commercials than regular TV?? That is why i watch PBS and futbol, no commercials.

renting?! youtube is doing some kind of beta for a subscription type program (i keep getting the pop-up to try it and i guess be able to skip ads) too that just doesn't warrant pay unless one really uses youtube a ton. i only have cable because it comes with the place i'm in; once i move out i'll just get a chromecast and stream sports online.

PBS YouTube asks for 1.99-3.99 to watch a lot of their content

it's a comedy, as i recall. it does flirt plenty with disaster and has its dramatic moments but i remember it primarily as a comedy. i don't think it's meant to be heavy and meditative. the way i see it, he got to be lighthearted while making some serious social criticism and what's virtually a call to arms. double win.

Okay. I'll buy that, symbol-man. Just because it's a great movie, however, does not mean I have to like it.

TRU

DAT