Lock Yourself In Weekend: Billy Wilder
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Maybe you haven’t seen any of his films, but you are familiar with Billy Wilder. One of the most influential directors of all time, his presence can be felt anywhere from the witty dialogue in a Tarantino flick to the plot twists in The Usual Suspects to the character development of a Cameron Crowe film. Before the Coen Bros or Steven Soderbergh went genre-jumping, Billy Wilder was hopping from comedy to drama to mystery to film noir and everything in between. The thing all of his films have in common, though, is that the writing is flawless. While almost all of his films have more than a tad of healthy cynicism threaded throughout, Wilder also always manages to create characters that you care about. You’re with them, believing they exist and sometimes even sympathizing with the “bad guy”. But aside from all of that, some of his films are just funny as hell. So grab yourself some good weekend snacks, get out your comfy sweats and a blanket and lock yourself in with Billy Wilder.
1. The Apartment
Ah, The Apartment. Jack Lemmon as one of Wilder’s “loveable losers” – an office worker looking to move up in the company who begins to loan out the key to his apartment to married executives who need a place to bring their mistresses. You fall in love with Lemmon within five minutes and are rooting for him to get the girl he likes, elevator operator Shirley MacLaine. Of course there are obstacles. And let’s talk about Shirley MacLaine. Was there ever a more adorable pixie in a movie? Lemmon and MacLaine are so natural and at ease with each other that you just have a warm, comfortable feeling watching them together. Fantastic supporting cast as well – every one of them funny and a full character. Wilder does a great job of incorporating office politics into a romantic comedy, and also manages, in his writing, to maneuver his way around the rules of the time to include taboo subjects like extramarital affairs and suicide.
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2. Sunset Boulevard
Narration in films can sometimes be used as a crutch for lazy writers who can’t figure out how else to get a story across. Nothing could be further from the truth in Wilder’s hands. With probably the most inventive take on narration, it’s not giving anything away to tell you that Wilder opens his film with his narrator floating dead in a swimming pool. From there, Wilder takes on a lot of things with his usual sarcasm and cynicism – skewering Hollywood, shining a light on ageism and playing with the idea of talent (or lack of talent). With some very subtle dark comedy, this has some classic lines, and you’ll finally know where the phrase “I’m ready for my close-up” comes from.
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3. Witness for the Prosecution
Alfred Hitchcock said that people often came up to him and complimented him on Witness for the Prosecution. He would accept the compliment, even though he had nothing to do with it. Written and directed by Billy Wilder and based on an Agatha Christie short story, Wilder again shows his diversity after filming a biography (The Spirit of St. Louis) and a romance (Love in the Afternoon). This murder mystery has got some great twists and turns, and is currently holding a rating of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. The conclusion is such a surprise that there is actually a disclaimer as the credits roll, asking moviegoers not to tell their friends about the ending.
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4. Ninotchka
Wilder didn’t direct this one. He wrote it, with direction courtesy of Ernst Lubitch. However, his footprints are all over it. One of the films that helped make 1939 a banner year for filmmaking, the title unfortunately makes it sound like an awful, long boring Russian drama. It’s actually an extremely funny treatise on Communism and Capitalism, with Greta Garbo in her first comedy as a very uncompromising Russian diplomat sent to Paris who finds herself seduced by a different way of life. It’s a lot of fun to see Garbo poke fun at her own image, and it’s interesting to see how Wilder manages to slide in his feelings about Stalin’s influence behind the humor.
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5. Ace in the Hole
Wilder is almost prophetic with Ace in the Hole. It’s about a cynical (of course) reporter whose career has been on the decline after being fired from numerous newspapers. While he’s on another dreary assignment, an accident occurs and he has a choice- he can either quickly get help, or turn it into a front-page story about a man trapped in a cave with barely a hope of survival. Wilder’s reporter (a fantastic Kirk Douglas) chooses the latter. What happens next is a media circus, with Douglas as the ringleader, selling his story and making a name for himself- all while an innocent man is still trapped in a cave. To think that it was filmed in 1951 is almost a little scary since, given the current climate of the media, this could be released today and be just as relevant.
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6. Double Indemnity
It’s not the first film-noir ever made, or the last, but it is the quintessential and maybe the best. Co-written with pulp writer Raymond Chandler, it actually helped redefine the genre with its lighting techniques, music and combination of style and narrative. Cast against type as the femme fatale, Barbara Stanwyk is strong and sexy (and maybe a little trashy) and Fred MacMurray will make you forget My Three Sons ever existed. A woman who wishes her husband were dead, an insurance salesman and a claims adjuster who investigates false insurance claims. Just describing the characters practically tells the story. The only other thing you need to know is that Double Indemnity is a clause in a life insurance policy that doubles the amount of the payout if the death is an accident. Plenty of twists in this one, too. Plus, Edward G. Robinson plays the adjuster.
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7. Sabrina
Audrey Hepburn. Romantic comedy. What else is there to say? She’s the plain chauffeur’s daughter who watches longingly from the sidelines as the wealthy family her father works for throws a lavish party, and the son she is in love with (William Holden) dances with a glamorous girl. She goes to Paris and comes back as Audrey Hepburn. Soon she has to choose between the guy she was in love with and his brother (Humphrey Bogart). Audrey Hepburn is luminous, as always, and Bogey gets to be silly. The plot is kind of generic, but overall it’s the kind of movie that just makes you feel good when you watch it.
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8. Some Like it Hot
Are you kidding? This movie has made the top 10 of so many lists of the best comedies of all time it’s hard to count – many times at number 1. The tale of two musicians who witness the 1929 St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, have to flee from gangsters and wind up having to dress as women to hide out as part of an all-female band. Jack Lemmon & Tony Curtis are the men, and Marilyn Monroe is the gorgeous singer with the band. What could have been a silly comedy in lesser hands is elevated thanks to Wilder. His feel for comedy timing was so impeccable that he would be able to watch a scene and know that 13 seconds had to be cut in order for the scene to run fast enough and for the jokes to have more punch. He would literally sit with a stopwatch and time the actors. Wilder was also able to bring out great performances from his actors- notably with Marilyn. Wilder knew how to bring out her talent, and work with her abilities, making Some Like it Hot perhaps her best role. This flick has the added bonus of the greatest last line of a movie, ever.
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