Comparing The Apartment And US Hollywood

Throughout the decades of film evolution, the 1960s seem to show a drastic change when considering content and screenplay. U.S. Hollywood films began to show an influence by European films through content and style. European films since the beginning have been known to be racy when compared to U.S. films. In 1968 the rating system was put into effect to distinguish whether a movie was suitable for certain ages. This was extremely effective for the film industry for reasons being that sex was becoming present in films.
The film The Apartment was a Billy Wilder film about a man named C.C. Baxter whom lets his company bosses “borrow” his upper west side apartment for various affairs. Baxter’s manager begins to use his apartment in exchange for
a promotion. Things take a turn for the bad when Mr. Sheldrake; Baxter’s manger and Baxter himself both admire the charming elevator operator; Fran Kubelik. Billy Wilder admired Jack Lemmon as an actor after casting him in the 1959 film Some Like It Hot, Wilder was so fond of Lemmon that he casted him as the main role of The Apartment.
In The Apartment critics did find the film to be humorful, also found it to be successful in showing the humor behind these big businesses.
Mae Tinee states that, “the film while it is funny, is also a biting satire on the behavior of some executives and the director, who helped write the story, said it could have been and brand of big business,” (Tinee, 1960). This film isn’t seen to be inappropriate by critics because there isn’t much explicit content. The only romanticized content is the many affairs these men are having with women, however the viewer doesn’t see the intercourse for themselves, but if this was the case then the reviews would be
different.
In the 1967 film; Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner by Stanley Kramer features a unique screenplay for this decade. After a trip in Hawaii Joanna Drayton and John Prentice return to Joanna’s home in San Francisco to inform their parents that they plan to get married. However, there is just one slight “problem” with this marriage, Joanna is Caucasian and John is African American. Due to the time setting of this film, this interracial marriage is seen as a problem to both families. Joanna’s parents are Matt and Christina Drayton whom are both wealthy so-called liberals. John’s parents; Mrs. And Mr. Prentice; are never given first names, also do not approve of the marriage. The response from critics is one during this time would expect it to be; racist. Because this film did come out in ’67, which is when many white people showed hatred towards black people and vice versa, I had a bias when researching for opinions of the critics. The overall plot of this movie is rather taboo, because during this time Joanna did what white families would see as inappropriate behavior because of the various bills and policies throughout the 60s. At the end of the film the two receive all four parent’s blessings through the power of real love. Joanna is 23 years old with no job and John is 37 years old and has various successes, however critics argue that this plot “makes one wonder whether a Negro doctor would really fall so deeply in love with such an idealistic and giddy girl,” (Potter, 1968). I still maintain the argument that all the talk at this time is blinded by racism. If this film was released in present day- 2016 an average American would be confused on why the plot is- what it is essentially, because as a society we have gotten past racism, and interracial couples are completely normal and acceptable. I found it interesting that the plot of movie was so enjoyable because to me I see nothing wrong with their relationship. But when considering the current events at this time, the majority or the audience most likely got a kick out of the screenplay because these actions of the couple were unfortunately seen as forbidden at the time. When considering style of a director, Wilder does not stray from taking risks and showing originality, “the film The Apartment it is clear that Wilder “disliked formula and genre films and stayed away from dynamic cinematography that he thought would be distracting to the audience and took away from the story” (Smith, 2016). The work done by Wilder is pleasing and easy to watch because he shows satire and humor in his screenplays, his jokes are relatable to an average person which is why his films are so easy to become fond of. The cinematography is very simple because he really finds the plot of the film to be his main focus. I admire his way of thinking because I myself, am not a “film buff”, so I am fine with the very simplistic cinematography because I found myself trying to follow along with the story rather than noticing editing and film style. There are so many jokes and surprises in this film, and Wilder does not want you to miss them. Because the somewhat controversial plot of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner many people didn’t know how to feel about the film, it was hard to tell if they enjoyed it or not. “I think that all the people who really don’t know what people are feeling and thinking are the same people who didn’t even begin to understand what that film was about,” (Siskel, 1969). This was a common feeling after viewing this film because the topic of racism was present at the time people were confused on what they should feel. Kramer was ahead of his time and showed that racism was irrelevant when it comes to love. He didn’t create this film in hopes of gaining fame or whether or not people enjoyed it, but for the simplistic idea of making a statement through your work. I admire Kramer as a director because a true artist knows when it is appropriate to take risks, by creating a taboo screenplay involving an interracial couple during a decade where racism was present by itself is a risk. Overall the film was successful because it delivered a positive message at the end involving the central idea that real love can be experienced by any two beings no matter the race. Overall both The Apartment and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner were both controversial films in the 60s.
The Apartment featured sexual affairs between single women and married men or vice versa. The Apartment lacks in quality of cinematography because Wilder wanted to stray away from common Hollywood film editing styles, but is essentially made up by the unique and interesting plot of the film. There is satire present in this film through poking at these big business corporations and how “easy” it is to get a promotion. This film featured dry humor and hidden jokes, which aesthetically made the film pleasing due to the simplistic editing styles and unique plot. In the film; Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner we see the “dilemma” two families face when their children being two different races deliver the news that they are getting married. During this time racism was present in society due to the many bills and policies, so whites and blacks were racist towards each other, so this film made viewers experience mixed feelings. Though both films are from the same decade and almost the same genre, they are both very different from one another. The plot of both films is original which is what makes both of them so special in their own way. In the end both The Apartment and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner includes a happy ending just like Hollywood genre
films.