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The Apartment
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This week Emma and Katie dive into the 1960 Romedy Comedy Dramady: The Apartment. Tune in for all things Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, the ridiculousness of NYC rent and much much more!
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
Oh, yeah. It's fine. I just say i haven't unplugged it since yesterday. Okay. Brilliant. There we go. I checked mine, and I checked mine too.
00:00:12
Speaker
what we were talking about in the waiting room is that everything is great, and Everything's great. Everything's fine. We're all fine.
Excitement and Challenges of Theater Productions
00:00:23
Speaker
Today we're doing a full run in the show of the play. I'm very excited because we have never run it completely. Well, it's very long, right?
00:00:34
Speaker
It's very long. It's three hours long. How long are your rehearsals? ah Three to four hours. Yeah, was about to say most rehearsals are usually like three hours. Yeah, um but we're starting the run at 7, so we should be done by 10. Yeah.
00:00:49
Speaker
yeah But- And then you'll just do notes the next day? ah guess. I don't know. I feel like it's going to run over. But, um I mean, the show itself is going to start at 7.30, so we won't get out and until, like, close to midnight.
00:01:03
Speaker
Yeah. Two intermissions. two years yeah Yeah, that's a long time. um You got to give the people time to pee. Yeah. ah I have... Yeah, because my play Krugasaur is like two and a half hours long with an intermission, including the intermission. But that's the longest thing I've ever had produced. I have a play that's... I have two plays that are quite a bit longer, but they've never been fully produced. Oh, is one those Abraham Lincoln play?
00:01:33
Speaker
That's right, yeah. The five-hour-long Abraham Lincoln play? It is not five hours long. It is... It is about three hours long, including two intermissions, which we did a reading of that Emma ah emma was in.
00:01:50
Speaker
i was. I don't even remember who I was. You were Mary Surratt, the first woman executed by the by the government of the United States. There you go.
00:02:02
Speaker
It was still long so long ago. I just remember that I went from seeing West Side Story with my mom at the Lyric to then immediately jumping in an Uber and going to that reading.
00:02:15
Speaker
With no one in attendance, basically. there I had like two friends who came to see it. this was Basically, this was just a reading that my friend put together for me. This is my grad school thesis. I just wanted to see it be read.
00:02:28
Speaker
And I was invited a bunch of friends. And because of just the way it was, the way the the time we could get in the theater, the time that everybody was available, nobody could come. Not even like...
00:02:42
Speaker
They were either in the show or they them. Well, and also like um ah and and and a playwright colleague who was a friend of mine at the time and then suddenly like just stopped talking to me one day. We we won't mention their name.
00:02:55
Speaker
um Also decided to do a reading that same day. And so a lot of the like theater people that I had reached out to like had already committed to hers because she had she had secured her date first.
00:03:08
Speaker
Yeah. And also she was much more successful and ah interesting and better than me.
00:03:17
Speaker
I wouldn't say interesting and better. Well, the play probably was ah more interesting and better with than mine, at least.
00:03:26
Speaker
It just was three hours long. i just remember that much. Mm-hmm. Listen, you have to write a grad school thesis. And like sometimes I felt like I needed to do a lot of like stuff in it, you know? So it's got like yeah iambic pentameter and it's three hours long. got Shakespeare.
00:03:43
Speaker
It's got a lot of like, I did a lot of research on it. Yeah. Oh, yeah. There's a lot of history. I learned a lot. forgot all that I learned. You didn't remember who you were,
00:03:56
Speaker
I remember there was a lot of Shakespeare in it um because it, you know, follows John Wilkes Booth and um he was an actor. So. That's true.
00:04:08
Speaker
Actors. But yeah. So three hour long plays. Okay. In small doses.
Introducing 'Go Get Your Girl' Podcast
00:04:16
Speaker
Boy, oh boy. What we're talking about today, not three hours long.
00:04:20
Speaker
Close to two, but not three. three hours long. Boy, oh boy. um That's right, guys. This is Go Get Your Girl, the podcast where Emma and Katie give out the key to their apartment to their co-workers for a leg up at work so that their co-workers can cheat on their wives um because they're people pleaser and they don't know how to say no.
00:04:44
Speaker
This actually really tracks. You guys were to say. then, in lieu of doing this, The person that they have a crush on at work is one of the at the apartment. And they find this out and they're like, what?
00:05:02
Speaker
Oh, no, I'm so sad. But then like things get like really crazy shenanigans happen, including a lot of talk about suicide.
00:05:13
Speaker
and Trigger warning for ah content warning for self-harm in this episode for sure. Yeah. Yes. Self-harm and infidelity. um
00:05:25
Speaker
And yeah. So they fall in love.
Exploring 'The Apartment' by Billy Wilder
00:05:31
Speaker
Yeah. I'm Emma. And I'm Katie. um This is what you this is. the I don't know if this is the first time you cast us as the man in the. in the I know. i think Yeah.
00:05:42
Speaker
Well, I like to I like to cast us as whose story it is. Yeah. Or at least yeah who has the more interesting. Well, I guess you could say that Fran has more interesting storyline, but like it's way more Jack Lemmon centered.
00:05:56
Speaker
For sure it is. Yeah. Yeah. yeah And a lot of the rom-coms that we watch are are um the female protagonists. Did you? Oh, no, no. I think you cast us as Jason Segel in Forgetting Sarah Marshall now that I think about it. did!
00:06:09
Speaker
I put us as Jason Segel. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's whoever's story it is. Yeah. Who's the protagonist? Mm-hmm. Um, yes. So we are talking about The Apartment from 1960. Um, I think this is the first, is this the first movie in this era? Because we've done movies a lot older than this.
00:06:28
Speaker
Yeah. I think this is the first like 60s era movie we did maybe? Charade. Oh, did charade. Yeah, you're right. You're right. You're right. Yeah. sureri Charade. Charade. Charade.
00:06:39
Speaker
Charade, baby. Charade. So ah charade. This is The Apartment from 1960, directed by Billy Wilder, um one of the most famous American filmmakers of all time.
00:06:50
Speaker
ah He made Sunset Boulevard, Sabrina, Ace in the Hole, Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, The Seven Year Itch. um And he he wrote the screenplay along with IAL Diamond, ah who also ah wrote Some Like It Hot, which is also Billy Wilder movie, and Irma LeDuce, which is also Billy Wilder.
00:07:15
Speaker
Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine all together again. Oh, I haven't. Look at that. I've never seen Irma Ladeez. Neither have I. I mean, i hadn't seen the apartment until this, because this was a wreck from one of my castmates.
00:07:29
Speaker
Yeah. Jeremy. Some like it hot. Oh yeah. I've seen some like it hot. I've seen some like it hot. I've seen Sabrina. I've seen. um Sunset Boulevard.
00:07:40
Speaker
A long time ago. i i saw, I tried, i remember after either in college or after college, because I had a mild Marilyn Monroe fixation for a hot minute. ah As did many of us.
00:07:53
Speaker
As did many of us. um I watched, I tried to watch the seven year itch, but it just felt really gross. And so I couldn't get through the first 30 minutes.
00:08:05
Speaker
ah Yeah, it's no gentlemen prefer blondes or um some like it hot. ah Those are. Yeah. Those are the two great Marilyn Monroe movies. And yet she's very well remembered for the seven year age.
00:08:19
Speaker
But that's just because of the one scene. Because of the the the subway so ah great scene. Yeah. Where the the the air blows her dress up. Yeah.
00:08:29
Speaker
um This movie is Jack Lemmon, who was also in Some Like It Hot the year before. So Some Like It Hot came out in 59, and this year this movie came out in 1960. So back-to-back, huge hits.
00:08:42
Speaker
um um oscar winner Oscar nominations. um This movie won, think this movie won Best Picture. um It won, yeah, it it won Best Picture, Best Director, and I think Best Screenplay, I want to say. Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and what's his name, who plays the Doctor, Jack Crucian, were all nominated for Actor, Actress, and Best Supporting, but they did not win.
00:09:08
Speaker
Oh, nice. Oh. um Yeah, won five Oscars. Picture, director, screenplay, art direction, and film editing. Wait, who did Shirley MacLaine lose out to? Because I feel like of anyone in this movie, Shirley MacLaine deserved that Oscar.
00:09:24
Speaker
ah Let's see. The 1961 Academy Awards. Googling things is just podcast stuff. This is Katie Googling things.
00:09:36
Speaker
1961. sixty one i Posted by Bob Hope, of course. Of course it was. um Winners and nominees, Billy Wilder.
00:09:48
Speaker
Elizabeth Taylor won for Best Actress. And Burt Lancaster won for Best Actor. ah Elizabeth Taylor won for Butterfield 8. And Burt Lancaster won for Elmer Gantry. Two movies that I haven't seen.
00:10:05
Speaker
I have not seen you either of those movies. i was going to say, if it was Elizabeth Taylor and Cleopatra, I'm sorry. get it. But like, that's like a classic.
00:10:16
Speaker
I was sort of expecting like Gone with the Wind or like like Vivian Lee Gone with the Wind or like Audrey Hepburn, Sabrina sort of situation. And that's what I'm lost out to.
00:10:27
Speaker
Those would have been. I've never seen that fucking movie. That would have been 20 years previous. um I have not seen Butterfield 8. I have heard of it. I have not ever heard of Elmer Gantry. I think i i think that's a book.
00:10:39
Speaker
um But the nominees were Elizabeth Taylor in Butterfield 8, Greer Garson in Sunrise at Campobello playing Eleanor Roosevelt. So that's probably what that's about.
00:10:50
Speaker
Debra Carr in The Sundowners, Shirley MacLaine in The Apartment, and Melina Mercuri in Never on Sunday. I have not seen any of those movies, and I've not even heard of any of them except for Butterfield 8.
00:11:04
Speaker
Yep. Goes to show how much the Oscars stand the test of time.
Anticipation for the Academy Awards
00:11:09
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Boy, oh boy. And how important they are. um ah This movie. Indeed. As we are recording this...
00:11:18
Speaker
Literally three or four days before the next Academy Awards. Is it? Is it Sunday? It's Sunday. Yeah. And it's hosted by Conan O'Brien. And I'm very sure. I think I have rehearsal and I'm mad that I won't be seeing it because I love Conan O'Brien so fucking much.
00:11:34
Speaker
Sure. Yeah. um I have not watched the Oscars in many years and I probably won't watch them this year either. Although I am off on Sunday, which is rare oh for me. Yeah. Well, you might as well um watch the monologue.
00:11:47
Speaker
Yeah, probably won't. I have a goal that this weekend I'm going to watch either The Substance or Anora or both. Yeah. The Substance is good.
00:11:58
Speaker
Anora seems like it would be a bummer and I haven't seen it. Okay. I was going to say, which one should I watch? Votes for The Substance so far? I would vote for The Substance. Yeah.
00:12:10
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. Cool. So it's going to be, i'm going to force Charlie to watch one of those two movies. Yeah, mean, the substance is upsetting, for sure. um oh yeah.
00:12:21
Speaker
but Both of those movies are upsetting in different ways, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. For sure. I wouldn't say it's fun. Fun is, guess. Funny horror. Yeah, there's some there's some insane things that happen that I guess you could call fun, but mostly it's upsetting in a kind of relatable way, i guess.
00:12:45
Speaker
Yeah. I've heard that Anora is like a melancholy rom-com. Yeah. i guess yeah It's sad rom-com. Right, right, right, right. Yeah. It's a rom, not a com.
00:12:58
Speaker
Yeah. Com, not a rom. It's a rom-com about ah a sex worker who falls in love with a guy who doesn't give a shit about her. Yeah. The Apartment is not about sex workers. um No, but it feels adjacent. I suppose, you know, to be honest, Cece Baxter is sex work adjacent for sure.
00:13:16
Speaker
like It is. He is receiving compensation for work that is related to sex, I suppose. Exactly. Also, I have so many questions.
00:13:28
Speaker
I had never seen this movie before. I went in thinking it was going to be one thing. And it ended up being a completely different thing. It is not that thing that you thought it was. yeah um It is one of my favorite movies.
Historical Context of 'The Apartment'
00:13:39
Speaker
It's probably top 20 movies for me of all time. Yeah. It's very good. There's only like a section, I think, in the middle where I sort of don't know. But like...
00:13:53
Speaker
um ah So yes, it is 1959, as they say very explicitly in the beginning of this movie. um and Very down with love.
00:14:04
Speaker
Yes, exactly. Yeah, he narrates the beginning and says that in... um in 1959 uh the population of uh new york city is 8 million 49 uh 400 um 8 million 49 000 or something and i looked it up and the most recent census data we have for new york city is from 2023 and the population is only 8.2 million so it's gone up like a little over 100 000 people oh 60 years
00:14:35
Speaker
in oh sixty years Well, I mean, you also have to remember that there was probably a big um amount of people moved out of the city around COVID and just never returned.
00:14:50
Speaker
Sure. Yeah. But I don't think that even before that, like, I think that even before that, it wasn't like before COVID. I don't because the 2020 census was not as they take it in twenty twenty and then it gets published in twenty Yeah, so but I think even then, like the population of New York has remained fairly static over the course of the of the twentieth and the last half of the 20th century, which is yeah odd. Because Chicago has shrunk a great deal. like Chicago lost over a million people from 1959 to 2024.
00:15:20
Speaker
Really? Oh, I didn't know that. And Los Angeles almost doubled in size. So it's just... oh yeah. um I can probably guess how that happened, though, with New York. There's not as much room. in Well, there's not as much room, number one.
00:15:36
Speaker
And number two, um Jack Lemmon says how much his apartment costs per month. I've got a whole bit about it. Yeah. Insane. Insane. Here we go. um So the first thing I'm going to say is this has got huge how to succeed in business without really trying vibes. um Yeah. It made me really want to watch that movie.
00:15:53
Speaker
It's a great movie. So I looked it up and um the book, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, came out in 1952. And the musical was written in 1960 and premiered in 1961. So it's it was probably just in the air around the same time, but I think definitely there's a lot of...
00:16:13
Speaker
probably inspiration that came from this movie because again this was like one of the biggest hits of the year into into the the play of much of how to succeed them business not really trying which came out the next year for sure this movie was made into a musical called promises promises which you readers have probably heard promises yeah this is the movie this promises promises based on this movie yeah what yeah have you never seen promises promises I know songs from it. I've never seen it.
00:16:40
Speaker
Yeah. um Oh my God. Yeah. I was going to not made this a musical, but they did. Yeah. um Yeah. So the, what do you um never fall in love again is the two of them, you know, talking about like after the suicide attempt. That's what, yeah.
00:16:57
Speaker
Yeah. Yep. So yeah. I didn't think that the rom-com would talk about suicide this much. this is the first ah movie we've covered on this show with a suicide attempt in it, I believe, right? Like two suicide attempts.
00:17:11
Speaker
Uh, well, one of them is off screen. Yeah. But yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah. Suicidal people. Yeah. Um, so he says at the beginning, he makes $95 week at his job, which adjusted for inflation in 2025 would be $55,000 a year, which is pretty good for middle-class people. Yeah.
00:17:32
Speaker
Um, His rent is $85 a month, which would be $927 a month now on the Upper West Side on 67th Street, right off Central fucking Park in New York.
00:17:46
Speaker
Right off of Central fucking Park. An apartment that is basically, because he gives his address. He's 61 West 67th Street. His exact address, an apartment in that building, goes for $5,000 month now.
00:18:00
Speaker
Absolutely insane. That's how the amount of people New York have stayed the same. Yes, exactly. Because even though inflation, like, again, you would expect in a rational society for the cost of rent to remain standard to the cost of living yeah and inflation on your on your wages. But his his wages have remained virtually static. Like, but um not entry level, but like, you know, mid-level, middle class person making $55,000 a year is still about the national average.
00:18:35
Speaker
but $927 a month is unheard of. I don't know a single person in America who pays less in rent than one week of their salary, which is what he does.
00:18:51
Speaker
yeah His rent is less than ah his, his rent is less than a quarter of his monthly take home paycheck. And that's unheard of in America, not even in small towns.
00:19:01
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. No, not even, which is just to say, you know, the way the cost of living has changed in what, 60 years? And just the greed of landlords, because that's all it is really. Oh, for sure.
00:19:14
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, for sure. And corporate greed of people not, not, not increasing the, ah you know, the wages, you know, like. Exactly. If the rent price is going to go up that much, the, your, your, your, your paycheck has to go up as well.
00:19:28
Speaker
um So that was Katie's communism corner. Katie's Communism Corner. Comrade.
00:19:41
Speaker
um What a disaster we live in. um Yes. It's a shitty world. Emma basically explained the bit that the the the mechanics of this plot.
00:19:52
Speaker
He is, much like How to Succeed in Business, he is um ah kind of a dope um who cares a lot about moving up the corporate ladder, which is what was important for people. I mean, I guess it's important for a lot of people today, but in the 60s, there was a lot of media about this. Like a lot of, yeah you know, Down With Love talked, uh, riffs on this because the Rock Hudson, um, Doris Day movies concern this as well. Like the office was such a central setting. It was because these huge offices,
00:20:24
Speaker
especially in New York, we're becoming, you know, a bigger fixture of, of life. Um, and these mega corporations were, were getting very, very powerful.
00:20:34
Speaker
Um, IBM, Panam, um, all of these like huge companies, uh, uh, MetLife, which is the company that they're like riffing on here. The MetLife building is the famous, like huge building in, um on Fifth Avenue in New York that's or on a Park Avenue, does it doesn't matter, in New York that they are riffing on in this movie. Yeah.
00:20:56
Speaker
Yeah, it's like um the building is so big, he explains, and there's so many people working there that they have to stagger start and end times so that the elevators don't get overloaded. but the that There's 31,000 people who work in the building, which yeah is insane to even think about.
00:21:13
Speaker
um Have you ever worked in a building or anything with that many with with and anywhere close to that many people in it? I don't think so. I worked in the Inland Steel building for my first job um as a receptionist, which is like a big, like historic building in Chicago.
00:21:29
Speaker
um But I don't think there there was that many people. And Charlie, Charlie worked in a similar like building across the street that was like inland. downtown chicago that's like massive like his when he first started his job i think there was like two floors that they had um it was just the building is massive um but that's just because it you know it was all near um city hall and these are all like law firms and they're there so that they can walk get to the court yeah yeah exactly um i do have this does lead me to oh sorry you go
00:22:08
Speaker
Oh, I was going to, just had an anecdote about a big building. I, um, I, uh, applied for a job. i actually got it, but I got the job, but I ended up not taking it for other reasons. But I, I, yeah, I applied for a job at Lurie Children's Hospital downtown.
00:22:21
Speaker
And oh yeah when I went there for my interview, the, the building it was in, cause there's the, cause it wasn't at the hospital. It was in this office building where they have all these offices. Yeah. And the building that you went in the elevators, there were like 20 elevators on either side, just the biggest building you can imagine. And maybe you you're familiar with this, but they the elevators, you had to like program in where you were going at a desk in the middle of the lobby.
00:22:50
Speaker
You didn't go there, no buttons in the elevator. And I had, nobody told me anything how to operate. I had no idea how to operate it. And I was like standing there for like five minutes trying to figure out what to do.
00:23:02
Speaker
before I just walked on an elevator after somebody else. Because you have to like, you have to scan a thing in and it only go to certain floors. And I got up because, and then the person asked where are you going? And I said, I told him and he's like, okay, just, just get off on this floor. So I went off, I got off on the floor ah that it stopped at and then just went down the stairs to the place where I was going.
00:23:26
Speaker
Um, like immediately sweating like so nervous yeah um but i had never i had never seen anything like that because like you know when i yeah that when when i was when i worked reception um as my first job out of college i worked reception for a theater which had like you know 30 employees and that was and they were in there none of this like fancy elevator nonsense yeah they were in their own building in the village it was three floors Yeah.
00:23:54
Speaker
Yeah. No. um I mean, like, definitely there's several buildings like that in downtown Chicago. um i remember I was job hunting um at one point when I was like fed up with my receptionist job.
00:24:07
Speaker
I went, you know, until I finally eventually quit. um I went on like a lot of interviews and like there were buildings where, you know, you have that would have that.
00:24:17
Speaker
um I think even my OB guy in Chicago had an elevator situation like that. Cause it was um on a mile. Yeah. um But the amount of people I, this actually, this brings me to the first of Emma's fun facts, Emma's fun facts.
00:24:33
Speaker
um And so we get a lot, several shots of um the, this open, like, or Oh my god, it's a nightmare. yeah It looks like horrific.
00:24:46
Speaker
And there's like hundreds hundred and hundreds and You see like the square. Desks that are all the same with all the like electric typewriter, a huge Rolodex, and a phone, and a calendar. And that's it.
00:25:00
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, it looks so grim. um But to create the effect of a vast sea of faces laboring grimly and impersonally at their desks in the huge insurance company office, designers Alexandre Tranere and Edward G. Boyle devised an interesting technique.
00:25:19
Speaker
They an Oscar for Art Direction, so... They did. And I have a feeling this is one of the reasons why. Full-size actors sat at desks in front and children dressed in suits were used at tiny desks near the rear. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Forced perspective.
00:25:36
Speaker
followed by even smaller desks with cut out figurines operated by wires. God, I love that shit. I love that shit so much. Yeah, because it is. it's this It's this huge wide shot of what looks like just hundreds and hundreds of of of desks and and and people at them moving and stuff. And yeah, it all comes down to like, yeah I bet it's triangular actually too, because it looks like it goes to vanishing point. Yeah.
00:26:04
Speaker
ah Old timey filmmaking. Some of those were children. Yeah. Love that. I love old timey filmmaking. Yeah. um Yeah, so it's very grim. um He has, so because he like has to get ahead, he's he's tried to get all of these horrible men at the office to like him.
00:26:24
Speaker
And his apartment is convenient. So all of these horrible men who cheat on their wives all the time ah you called male employee yeah use his apartment to have sex with their mistresses. That's the plot of this movie. Yeah.
00:26:40
Speaker
Pretty much. And it does lend me to wonder. He talks about the alcohol situation, the like snack situation, all of that.
00:26:51
Speaker
um But like, how many changes of sheets does that man have? Yeah, that was concern for me too. I mean, like they're fucking in his bed. right you really want that?
00:27:02
Speaker
Nobody wants that. No, no. Like, i imagine the laundry the laundry situation is out of hand. Yeah. Oh my god. And he's like, it's also part of his character is that he's a bachelor and he doesn't know how to do home shit.
00:27:17
Speaker
Like, he doesn't have, like, a colander. Yeah, she is washing her stockings in the sink, so I would presume he doesn't have a washing machine. So he must be sending out the laundry, I guess? Or he's just sleeping sperm-covered sheets.
00:27:35
Speaker
Yeah, i was goingnna I was going to use a euphemism, but yeah. yeah
00:27:42
Speaker
There's some junk in his bunk. Oh, no.
00:27:49
Speaker
That was foul. um ah Yeah. but um um he But yeah, he's buying liquor and crackers for these assholes. Well, they're paying back.
00:28:00
Speaker
Well, they, yeah, they say they will, but doesn't seem like they actually are. um He's like, you still owe me last week. It's yeah. yeah They're very much taking advantage of him.
00:28:11
Speaker
Yes. They're very much taking advantage of him. And he's just trying to get ahead at work, I guess, um which is pathetic. Yeah. And the thing that like really made me mad was um in the very beginning of this movie, ah he like he has is forced to give his apartment late at night to one of these like douchebags because he's at a bar and he thinks he can sleep with a girl who looks like Marilyn Monroe.
00:28:39
Speaker
And so he has to go out on the park and the rain and wait until they're done at like midnight. Well, they say 11 o'clock. but um But then the guy gave him the wrong key back so he couldn't get back into his apartment.
00:28:53
Speaker
um So he gets sick. He gets a cold. And so then he's like calling them up. It's not how colds work, but we'll allow it. We'll allow it. ah And so he's like calling them up being like, I'm sick. I have a fever and I don't want to.
00:29:09
Speaker
I want to go home to my bed. he didn't go. He didn't call out of work. Like he still goes to work even though he's sick. He still goes to work. Yeah. yeah Yeah. And he's like, I'm I don't feel well. I want to go home and lie in bed.
00:29:22
Speaker
And um can you like not have your mistress come over tonight so I can be sick? Yeah. and they're like, really? yeah Come on, man Yeah, they suck. These guys suck so much. These guys suck.
00:29:39
Speaker
There's five of them, and they're all the worst. ah um They definitely are. um Yeah, so they um yeah so he gets a cold, and then we meet Shirley MacLaine, who is an elevator operator in the building. just fabulous.
00:29:58
Speaker
and She is fabulous. She's got a super short, ah like, um um why can't I think of that is? It's a pixie haircut. A pixie cut. Jesus.
00:30:08
Speaker
Yeah. She's got like a super short pixie cut. she's She's the best. um Yeah. And they have like- Super nice, yeah charming. They have like a little flirtation, um whereas the the rest of the men just openly grope her ah in the elevator.
00:30:26
Speaker
Yeah. um ah and When we first meet her, she does make a joke that made me laugh out loud, which was, um she goes, I can't remember who she calls out, but she goes, you keep your hands to yourselves.
00:30:37
Speaker
Next time, um I'm going to close the elevator door on those hands. Yeah. um Yeah, she does. She does have ah more agency than um you would expect for maybe from 1960, for sure.
00:30:54
Speaker
Yeah, but they take it away from her in other ways. ah Well, yeah. the the His neighbors all think that he is like, just got a different girl every night.
00:31:08
Speaker
Yeah, that he's a lay-yah. Yeah. um the His next door neighbor, the doctor, um Dr. Dreyfuss, is, um he says, the other night you had a twin night doubleheader, nebbish like you. Yeah.
00:31:23
Speaker
um ah At first he's like, I wish that I was like you, but like, also you're going to die by the amount of that you are drinking and doing it and just partying.
00:31:34
Speaker
So ah you want to donate your body to science? Yeah, he's trying to convince him to donate his body to science when he dies. It's great. he uh there's also like a lot of jewishness in this movie which i suppose was was common in movies uh in new york but it is still kind of it is still kind of surprising to see because a lot of that was you know not they they didn't put that kind of stuff in movies uh in this in this period they like to make everything vanilla
00:32:07
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. But there's there's a lot of um his his landlady and his um and his neighbor doctor and like at least two of the yeah the guys at the office um all have like um all speak in Yiddish at some point. um Yeah.
00:32:26
Speaker
We love to see it. Yeah. i ah Then there's Mr. Oh, what is his name? Mr. It's not Kubelik. Is it Kubelik? She's Kubelik.
00:32:38
Speaker
Oh, he's, it starts with an S. Well, no, that's Mr. Sheldrake. This is another person trying to think of. um Oh, okay. Man, i don't remember. One of the assholes has this bizarre way of talking where he says, he says things like,
00:32:54
Speaker
um
00:32:57
Speaker
ah won't give me a tumble, date-wise, you know, and says like the, the, the noun with Y says manpower-wise, promotion-wise. I wrote them all down. There's about 20 them.
00:33:09
Speaker
In this movie that kind of infects Jack Lemmon's speech and he starts talking like that. And then at the end of the movie, Shirley MacLaine starts talking like that too. um he i didn't Jack Lemmon... You didn't notice the the wise thing?
00:33:24
Speaker
um It's on the poster for the movie actually. The movie the the original poster for the movie says like, movie wise, one of the best times you'll have in the... Or something like that. Yeah. Yeah.
00:33:36
Speaker
to be Also, to be fair, this this movie had a perfectly normal poster from 1960. you know nineteen sixty ah it's It's red and it's got like keys on it. And then at some point in the 90s for like the DVD or something, some horrible Photoshop job created one of the worst posters of any movie I've ever seen in my life, which...
00:33:58
Speaker
When i I just bought this movie on um on Apple TV because it was $7 and I would like to have it. um It is the image on there. So I don't if it was what you watched it on, but it was... watched on... watched it watched it on... MGM+.
00:34:16
Speaker
Okay, it's like a white thing and there's like a big like keyhole and Shirley MacLaine is going like, ah and there's Mary and Jack Roman. Awful. Just ah awful movie poster. like Should not be allowed. oh yeah, so I see the key one. That's super cute.
00:34:37
Speaker
Yeah, it's awful. Super adorable. oh Okay, okay. Oh, whoa! whale Yeah, it's really terrible. Why is Shirley MacLaine? And it's in black and white. How did they know what color her dress was?
00:34:48
Speaker
That's not what the movie is like. Yeah, it's not a very good explanation for what the movie is like at all. No, it's not. Because she definitely wasn't going, which guy? No, she's not. That is not what this movie is about.
00:35:02
Speaker
It's not what this movie is about. um I got a thing for bad poster design. Okay. You know, we've all got our thing. Um, Mr. Dobish in this movie, uh, is Mr. Hand from Fast Times at Richmond High.
00:35:18
Speaker
and oh There you go. Probably a movie that we will cover at one point. Uh, yeah, yeah, probably. we can do that. Um, also Mr. Eichelberger, another one of the guys, is Larry Tate, Darren's boss from Bewitched.
00:35:33
Speaker
Oh! There we go. Um, these are all things that I wrote down.
00:35:43
Speaker
Um, he, ah so he's going to meet with Mr. Sheldrake, who's played by Fred McMurray, who this was like a big kind of departure for him. Fred McMurray usually played like really sweet guys. That was kind of his thing. He's like, okay um, tight I mean, he's in Double Indemnity, which is another Billy Wilder movie, which is again, kind of playing. against Yeah. Which is again, him playing against type, but is,
00:36:07
Speaker
Like he's still kind of this innocent who gets like drawn in to this like yeah lurid scheme in that movie. Whereas he's mostly known for like Disney movies and stuff.
00:36:19
Speaker
um And um ah it remember the night, which is a a movie that I love very much is also like, he's just the sweetest guy in the world in that. That's another him and Barbara Stanwyck movie. Yeah.
00:36:31
Speaker
I thought you were telling me, do I remember a movie called the night? And I was like, hey, N-I-G-H-T or N-I-G-H-T. Either way. No, no, no.
00:36:43
Speaker
um No, the movie is called Remember the Night, which is a sad rom-com from the 40s Christmas movie. I've heard of Remember the Night.
00:36:55
Speaker
Yeah. um ah Yeah. it's It's like, what if a rom-com were sad? That's what it is. Like a Nora. I would just like a drum com. No, yeah a drum rom?
00:37:05
Speaker
Yeah, draw I guess it's a rom-dram, but it's, again, it's it's got, like, a lot of the beats of a rom-com, and it is got it's got, like, humor in it, and it's very sweet, and then it just ends sad. What did we call it when we first covered one of those? romity comedy dramedy?
00:37:19
Speaker
Yeah, romity comedy dramedy, yeah. Yeah, romity comedy dramedy. Beautiful. Which I would probably say I would put the apartment into Romity Comedy Dramedy because there is a lot of talk about suicide.
00:37:32
Speaker
Like I was expecting to go in for some zany lulls and some farcical like door slamming. No, that is that's not really what they're about. Yeah.
00:37:43
Speaker
Was gonna happen. Yeah. um I mean, I loved it, but i was not expecting all the the death talk. Yeah, it's it's it's pretty serious, actually.
00:37:54
Speaker
Yeah. It's real sad. So Fred McMurray is Mr. Sheldrake, who's the head of personnel. He's one of the major, like, the big bosses at the company.
00:38:06
Speaker
And he's giving Jack Limit a promotion. ah He's like, all of these guys have talked so great about you, so, like, what's your deal? What have you got going on? Why ah did everybody love you so much? Because the last time somebody loved somebody this much, he was running a bookie like stand or something. And I had to fire a whole floor.
00:38:24
Speaker
And, but he knows already. He's like, I, he's like, there's this key that's been passing around. And he's like, okay, well, I'll stop. I'll stop. And he's like, no, you idiot. I want in. I don't like, I'm not going to get you in trouble.
00:38:37
Speaker
His mistress is Ms. Kubelik, who is, um, uh, Shirley MacLaine, who Jack Lemmon is already sweet on, but he doesn't know this. Jack Lemmon doesn't know yet.
00:38:52
Speaker
And um so he gives him the key to his apartment and they and he has to fuck off again. Like that's the thing. He can never go home. and poor Right.
00:39:03
Speaker
He can never home. Well, at least Mr. Sheldrake gives him he's like, here is two tickets to the music band. ah Go have fun. um these are great seats I don't need them because I'm gonna go fuck my mistress at your house and so unknowingly Jack Lemmon asks Shirley MacLaine he's like hey what you doing tonight you want to go see the music man I got an extra ticket and she goes oh can't i'm meeting a guy i've got like a date but like and he's like is it like serious and he was like she was like it was once but like then he stopped calling and it's just like or he it just i i haven't been into it i think that it's on its way fizzling out um but he just won't leave me alone yeah uh it's not true like she's lying to him yeah yeah absolutely
00:39:59
Speaker
And um he's like, oh, okay. Womp womp. And then she goes, you know what? I'll go for one drink with this guy. And then what time is the show? 830, you say? Then I'll meet you at the lobby of the theater.
00:40:11
Speaker
I'll go for one drink with this guy and then I'll come see the show with you. And he goes, whoopee! yeah And she goes for her one drink and it's revealed that it's a shell drink.
00:40:23
Speaker
And they're at this restaurant that's like, an and it's like down in the basement of a building. It looks like yeah fabulous Chinese tiki bar situation.
00:40:35
Speaker
And I absolutely wanted to go there and eat and drink everything they were eating there. um But they go, she goes and they're having drinks and then Mr. Children keeps being like, you know, you know, you want to like, let's go somewhere else.
00:40:50
Speaker
Let's go somewhere more private. Let's have this conversation somewhere else. And she's like, no, no, no no ah You went back to your wife and I'm done being the other woman. It's very sad for me.
00:41:03
Speaker
And he's like, oh, but come on, come on, come on. and eventually convinces her to stay longer and she misses the show. And get this very sad shot of Jack Lemmon outside the Majestic Theater um looking for Shirley MacLaine, waiting for her and missing probably a fantastic but performance of the original cast of Music Man.
00:41:29
Speaker
Yeah. So, yeah. Um, it is, uh, and so, but and she goes to his apartment. Uh, yeah, she goes to his apartment.
00:41:40
Speaker
Because he finds her like compact mirror. Yeah, that's implied. And like, that's something like this is 1960. Like this movie is like predominantly about adultery and sex.
00:41:55
Speaker
And that even though it's not actually shown on screen, it is still like, it was very risque to have also the protagonist of this movie being adulterous. Like the, the Hays Code, um which was in place from the thirties until God,
00:42:11
Speaker
1971 or something, maybe like late 60s. It was definitely still in place when this movie came out. you know, forbade all that kind of stuff. And I don't, I'm not sure how they got around it exactly, but like, you know, people who did wrong had to be punished in movies, according to like the laws of what you could get, um and you could put in a movie.
00:42:31
Speaker
um And that does not happen in this movie. I mean, like, I suppose Mr. Sheldrake sort of gets punished because his wife leaves him, but like, not really. Yeah.
00:42:42
Speaker
Like, not in the way that, like, a lot of movies had to before this. Yeah. Exactly. Like, he still has a job. The worst thing that happens to him is that he just doesn't have a New Year's kiss.
00:42:54
Speaker
Yeah. Because he doesn't care about his wife either. That's the thing. He doesn't care about any women. He doesn't care about anyone but himself. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Not just women. There's one he cares about. His weird son. No, he doesn't even care about his weird sons.
00:43:10
Speaker
No, he doesn't. He doesn't. Yeah. um What a piece of shit Mr. Sheldrake is. yeah um Yeah. She leaves her compact mirror there, which is broken, and he gives to Mr. Sheldrake to give to her.
00:43:25
Speaker
um Which is eventually how he finds out that it was her. um Because later at the Christmas party, um when he's still like flirty with her and trying to like, you know, ask her out again, she like lends him her compact mirror and he sees that it's, yeah.
00:43:43
Speaker
broken and it's the same one. Yeah, she says the most like sad line I've ever heard someone say, which is, he goes, oh, you're compact. Because he's trying to hide the fact that he like recognizes it and he knows what her deal is.
00:43:56
Speaker
And she goes, what? What's wrong? And he's like, you're compact. is It's broken. And she goes, I like it that way. It makes me look how I feel. Yeah. Yeah. Very emo.
00:44:06
Speaker
um Earlier, there's another line exchange. Jesus Christ. There's another line exchange I wrote down where we learned that Fred McMurray doesn't care about her because he promises. He's like he tell it's promises promises. Right. He tells.
00:44:18
Speaker
Yeah. Fran, Miss Kubelik. That he's definitely leaving his wife this time. It's really over. And again, she believes him because she's kind of stupid.
00:44:29
Speaker
um And then immediately he tells, he tells Baxter. of Exactly. Jack Lemmon. He says, you know, you have, ah you have a few laughs with a girl and they think you're going to leave your wife. How is that? That's not fair. Is it?
00:44:41
Speaker
And Jack Lemmon goes, well, it's very, it's very unfair, especially for your wife.
00:44:49
Speaker
Right. It's very unfair. The switchboard gets a call. that at the at the There's like all the girls working the switchboard in the room and somebody calls her and she goes, hey, there's a swinging party on the 19th floor and they all leave. Yeah, she goes, cover my line and everyone's screw that.
00:45:05
Speaker
Right? It reminded me very much of Mad Men and of that yeah Christmas party, you know, before like... Where he gets his foot run over by the lawnmower? yeah Yes!
00:45:18
Speaker
The swinging party on the 19th floor. yeah Woo! Let's bring out a lot more. um ah She... ah they're They're in his apartment and he is... She realizes that he's never going to leave his wife. because Oh, oh, Miss Olsen. So Edie Adams, yeah um'm famous for being like the partner of Ernie Kovacs and also his wife. like I don't know if you know Kovacs and Adams.
00:45:42
Speaker
Really popular in the 50s. Sounds familiar. and Early 60s. He was like a visionary in terms of... like camera stuff um that you should read about ernie kovacs listeners um he was really cool he died very young in a car accident in 19 like right after this movie came out really 1961 or 62 but edie adams was his wife and she plays miss olsen in this movie and they did they were like a comedy duo they were married they were in a bunch of episodes of i love lucy which is what i why what i know them from because i watched i love lucy religiously when i was a kid
00:46:14
Speaker
Yeah, they like live when when the when the Ricardos moved out to Connecticut, the Kovacs and Adams live next door to them. So they were like over a lot. Yeah. ah But he did.
00:46:25
Speaker
He did a lot of stuff with like visual television stuff, like camera stuff on his show um that was really, really innovative and like a lot of stuff that's like was really used a lot pre CGI.
00:46:37
Speaker
um It's really it's really cool. um Cool. Gonna have to look that guy And yeah. But she's um Mr. Sheldrake's secretary and she tells Fran at the Christmas party. Yeah, he told me he was going to leave his wife for me. And before me, it was this other girl. And before her, it was another girl. Like, that's just what he does. He's never going to leave his wife. Yeah.
00:46:58
Speaker
Yeah. and she is at. Yeah. So they're at Baxter's apartment again and she's crying and she says, when you're in love with a married man, you should never you shouldn't wear mascara, which is so true.
00:47:11
Speaker
It's so true. um and and ah she gives him a record for Christmas. It's Christmas, by the way. Yeah. And he gives her $100. Yeah.
00:47:22
Speaker
yeah He goes, I don't know what to get you. Here's $100. Just go go to Saks Fifth Avenue. There's some pretty purses. Bergdorf's, actually. like Even better than Saks Fifth Avenue.
00:47:34
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Because it's more than um then Jack Lemmon's rent is what she gets in cash. Yeah, it's $100, which is about $1,000. Jesus Christ.
00:47:45
Speaker
Well, yeah, because if $85 was $900 and something, then yeah, it's probably more than $1,000. It's about $1,000. Yeah. yeah Yeah. um Which, like, i would take $1,000 as a Christmas present, but not from someone that you love, you know? like Yeah. I mean, like, i wouldn't do what she does.
00:48:02
Speaker
What she does is very, very... I also wouldn't sleep with a married man. Yeah. Yeah, that too. But like, um she she chooses to give the money back eventually. wouldn't. Well, i in a very fuck you way though. Like, well, she sort of. i mean, she it's a it's she leaves it as a suicide note is what she does.
00:48:25
Speaker
Like, yeah she um she she she is at his apartment. She sees Baxter sleeping pills and she takes a bunch of sleeping pills. She tries to kill herself. Yeah.
00:48:36
Speaker
um he gets home. He's back getting really sad. bla Baxter's getting blasted because he's really sad because he finds out this girl that he really likes is having an affair with Mr. Sheldrake.
00:48:48
Speaker
He has yeah a lot of martini. don't know if you counted the cocktail olives that he's got. Oh, five. That's A lot of of martinis. And here's the thing, guys.
00:49:00
Speaker
One of my favorite drinks of all time is a gin martini. I fucking love a gin martini. But two, I'm on the floor like he has. Yeah, got it's ah all liquor. Well, they're very small, to be fair. Like it is not a traditional martini glass. It's like a little guy.
00:49:17
Speaker
um but still he has he has has a lot because like there's there's a bunch of them and then later when they're dancing he goes over and there's even more like i would say it's more than 10 um jesus christ and so he meets another drunk woman played by hope holiday whose husband is in prison in havana she's like hey what do you think of that castro he's like who's castro she goes you know the guy with the big goofy beard A big mustache.
00:49:46
Speaker
This movie is also very contemporary for 1960. Like a lot of references to like things this bit, like the music man, Castro, like yeah Cape Canaveral, a lot of references to very specifically place this in time, um which is also kind of uncommon.
00:50:03
Speaker
Yeah. And it's nice to see, you know, It is. Yeah. um He, um she talking about her husband, he's a jockey who got, ah got it thrown in jail for doping a horse.
00:50:16
Speaker
She says he's five, two 99 pounds. He's like a little chihuahua. um So he takes her back to his apartment just yeah to make things look terrible for Dr. Dreyfus. Really?
00:50:28
Speaker
Yeah. He takes her back to his apartment. He's already had one chick. Yeah, they're gonna, like, I guess sleep together is what they're gonna do And yeah um he discovers that Shirley MacLaine is passed out near death in his bed.
00:50:43
Speaker
He sees what he presumes to be a suicide note, puts it in his back pocket, hides it, is about to call an ambulance and then remembers that a doctor lives next door, goes over and wakes up Mr. Dreyfuss.
00:50:53
Speaker
I suppose that like, it's also maybe a little important to make him Jewish because it's Christmas. So like, it's not yeah quite as bad um to to pull him out of. Maybe that was intentional. I'm not sure.
00:51:10
Speaker
I don't know. um Pulls him out ah and in the middle of the night and it's like, there's a girl who took sleeping pills and Dr. Revis comes over and the other girl still hasn't left. um yeah Which is just...
00:51:23
Speaker
And he takes all this. Oh my a hot damn mess. He doesn't try to explain. He's just like, yeah, I'm a bad person. I'm sorry. um Yeah, and I suck. Yeah, yeah. um Dr. Dreyfuss pumps her stomach.
00:51:37
Speaker
um The smelling salts smacking her in the face. Jesus. He smacks her so hard. Yeah. So many times. I was like, is that what medicine in 1960 was?
00:51:49
Speaker
Well, I believe. slapping her face. I mean, I believe he gave her an injection of adrenaline. That's that's what I i guess he gave her an injection of. Yeah. um To wake her up. But like, i mean, she has to wake up.
00:52:01
Speaker
um I don't know. if have you ever yeah Have you ever seen smelling salts? Have you ever interacted with smelling salts? I've never actually interacted with them. Have you? I don't. Yeah. I don't know why. But at some point I remember having smelling salts that will that will wake you up.
00:52:18
Speaker
Really? Yeah. It's like it's ammonia. It's like this little thing that you break. Um, and it's, it's ammonia. So like the smell of ammonia will, it's very, very powerful. Like I can't, yeah I don't remember why I had these, but I definitely broke a smelling salt before.
00:52:37
Speaker
um just for fun when I was a kid, just for fun. Maybe my grandparents had them. I have no idea, but I've definitely like smelled it. I mean, it will, itll it'll, it'll make you cry if you smell it and you're awake for sure.
00:52:49
Speaker
Um, it's crazy. Um, does like three of those, like smacks her in the face. yeah Like they have to get her up and like walk her around the apartment to wake her up. Yeah.
00:52:59
Speaker
Dr. Dreyfuss is like, it's like, you're such a shitty guy. Like, yeah. believe you did this. You suck. This is the worst. Like, come on, dude, this girl, ah you guys had a fight and then you left and you brought home another girl.
00:53:14
Speaker
Like what the fuck, dude? And then, um, yeah. He tells his wife and his wife is like, there's no secrets in this marriage. You suck. yeah and then But again, his instinct is to imitate like the the the men that he has this... like um That he idolizes for some reason. And like part of the like the development of his character is like him finally realizing that these guys suck as much as they do.
00:53:41
Speaker
um Because yeah even to the doctor's wife, he quotes Mr. fucking Sheldrake. And he's like, you know you have fun with a girl and she suddenly thinks you're serious, marriage-wise.
00:53:53
Speaker
Yeah. And she goes, you suck. Yeah. She's like, fuck you, dude. um Fuck you. He is so obsessed with like what he thinks is important, which is like, you know, the the anti-capitalism take on this movie that he has prioritized business so much and getting ahead in his job that he has like but become just as bad as any of these other terrible men in the movie.
00:54:21
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Which, don't love it because he's such a charming sweet little dopey guy yeah he's jack lim and he's the best yeah and then they have this this wonderful sort of like um couple days while she's healing um he's taking care of her yeah bills out of her system yeah and he's taking care of her and they're just sort of like bonding and he's just having a really great time and um He like cooks for her. And at one point he leaves to go get groceries and he comes back and thinks that she's committing suicide again because his neighbor's like, smell gas in your apartment.
00:54:58
Speaker
He goes, Oh no. um And he goes in and she she hadn't realized that to his stove, you have to light a mat to light the like the stove. Yeah, there's no pilot light. yeah you still like and And he goes, okay.
00:55:13
Speaker
Okay, that's fine. And then she was just, she's like, I was going to wash your socks because I was watching my stocking. that And she was like, why do you have a tennis racket in your kitchen? He goes, for pasta. Yeah, he uses a tennis racket as a colander.
00:55:27
Speaker
Classic male living on his own. right also with the The apartment is fairly realistic for New York. Like the the stairwell and the lobby of the apartment looks exactly like the stairwell of the apartment of my apartment in Queens.
00:55:40
Speaker
um The apartment is pretty small. His kitchen is very small. um It's a sink and a stove and ah and a refrigerator. That's it. it is It is a realistic apartment, which is also not something you saw in movies at this time.
00:55:55
Speaker
Or even now, really. Yeah. ah Yeah. It's city living, baby. Yeah, the airplane hangar they shot friends in. Yeah. um Right. He discovers that ah the suicide note, she tells him to open it and it's just a hundred dollar bill, which is like impressive burn. Like absolutely like incredible fuck you to Mr. Sheldrake. Yeah.
00:56:19
Speaker
Right. Right. But I mean, not that he would even notice. Like he is. Yeah. Yeah. He's out he piece of shit. Baxter calls Sheldrake on Christmas morning and interrupts his Christmas to tell him about all of this. And he's like, do do you care about this? And Sheldrake's basically like, not really. um Handle it for me. I'm not going to come out there. Like I got stuff to do. Yeah.
00:56:41
Speaker
I'm in white plane. Yeah. And he lies to, uh, to, to her and says that he, you know, he cares about you and all of that. Like he does try to like spare her feelings as much as possible, which is sweet.
00:56:55
Speaker
Um, Oh, Mr. Kirkaby. That's the guy who puts wise at the end of all the words. Ah, gotcha, gotcha. He says, that's the way the cook. That's the way, that's the way it crumbles cookie wise. Oh yeah. I did notice that line. i was like, huh?
00:57:08
Speaker
Yeah. and Interesting way of saying that. um ah yeah oh also he uh mrs mrs dreyfuss the doctor's wife who comes out and makes soup for for fran asks him he goes you wouldn't have such a thing as a napkin would you and he goes i have paper towels she goes beatnik
00:57:28
Speaker
But then he later, whenever he's making Fran an Italian dinner, my he had gone out and he bought napkins. He bought classic cloth napkins. Yeah. Yeah. And she goes, oh, you bought napkins. He goes, well, you know, figured why not?
00:57:43
Speaker
Yeah. And then he tells her the story of when he attempted suicide, which is crazy. Yeah. He bought a gun to shoot himself in the car and a policeman scared him and he accidentally shot himself in the knee.
00:57:59
Speaker
which not a good place to get shot. No. and It's amazing he can walk. He did it over his best friend's wife because he was in love with his best friend's wife and um was sad that he could never be his best friend's wife.
00:58:14
Speaker
So he decided to shoot himself in the head. Jack Lemmon has a charming monologue about how hard it is to shoot yourself in the head.
00:58:26
Speaker
Well, I mean, he's in the, he he attempts suicide in The Odd Couple, too. It's like something he goes back to. Oh, I've never seen The Odd Couple, so. You've never seen The Odd Couple? Oh, it starts with him about to jump off a building. That's the that's like the plot of The Odd Couple. Oh, Jesus! He's suicidal.
00:58:41
Speaker
Yeah, so he gets a roommate. Why does Jack Lemmon want to kill himself so much? I don't know. Um, yeah, so, um, he said he finally stands up to Mr. Kubelik, who comes over, ah trying to to hook up with this girl while she's still recovering. And it's like, get the fuck out of here.
00:58:59
Speaker
I got something going on. And yeah Kubelik sees her and is like, oh, I see you. You. Yeah. You. are What does he say? ah use You hit the jackpot.
00:59:10
Speaker
You hit the jackpot. Kubelik wise. That's what he says. Yeah, because everybody thinks that she's the prettiest, like, cutest girl at the office. Well, she is. And she also has... And she is.
00:59:24
Speaker
And she has this really sad monologue about how she, like, has had bad luck with guys, and she was in Pennsylvania, and she was in love with her other boss in Pennsylvania, and then decided to start over and moves to New York and her sister she's moved in with her sister and her brother-in-law they put her secretarial school but she failed the typing test and he goes oh what you can't type and she goes no I can type a mile a minute I just can't spell and uh so then they put her um as an elevator lady and so do you get sort of that backstory on why she is an elevator lady and not like a secretarial
01:00:06
Speaker
There's this bit that's repeated because at the Christmas party, she yeah he's like a little drunk and she asks, how many of you had? And he holds up four fingers and goes, three. And then oh yeah later in the apartment, he goes, how many boyfriends have you had? And she holds up four fingers and goes, three. Yeah.
01:00:22
Speaker
It's very cute. It's very, very cute. He makes her an Italian dinner. He strains the spaghetti with a tennis racket, but then rinses it off. Run water over the spaghetti like 1960.
01:00:33
Speaker
ah nineteen sixty This man is not Italian. Jesus Christ. You don't do that. You want the starchy water. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Insane. Jesus Christ. And I guess we shouldn't be complaining. He is straining it in, I presume, a dirty tennis racket. So maybe. I presume as well that that tennis racket is just covered in dirt and grass.
01:00:54
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So. um
01:01:00
Speaker
He, uh, the brother-in-law comes over. Yeah. Well, yeah. The, the, the guys sell him out immediately. Yeah. Oh yeah. Cause he's like stopped letting them use the apartment and he only lets Mr. Feldrick use the apartment.
01:01:14
Speaker
Um, because. Well, nobody's used the apartment cause she's, nobody's used the apartment cause she's still there. Like he hasn't let any of them in because she's still recovering from this and she's, she's been there for two days now. Yeah.
01:01:26
Speaker
So the cabbie, her brother-in-law comes to the office. yeah And he's like, i'm looking for my sister or um I'm looking for a woman that works here. Her name's Fran. And I'm not a stereotypical taxi driver, but I am.
01:01:39
Speaker
Yeah. He's got leather gloves on. He's got leather gloves. He's got a little page boy cap on. he's He runs a taxi.
01:01:50
Speaker
Yeah. New York City Bay Area. They're like, what's Buddy Boy ever done for us lately? And immediately sell him because they're the worst people in the world. Exactly. He goes to his apartment, like, sees everything, like, everything looks so bad for Baxter all the time. Like, none of this is his fault.
01:02:10
Speaker
Right. Right. She's in a robe because she's been unwell. They're eating a candlelit Italian dinner. um And she's playing gin rummy.
01:02:21
Speaker
Yeah. So like what what it looks like when Mr. Taxi Guy walks in is that they've just been going at it like rabbits for 48 hours. Yeah.
01:02:33
Speaker
yeah yeah
01:02:36
Speaker
um And then Dr. drey Dreyfus comes over and tells ah the cab driver that she took sleeping pills. And so then he beats the shit out of Baxter, which Dr. Dreyfus is like, you deserve this.
01:02:49
Speaker
Yeah, he's like, I'm sorry to see it, but ah yeah this is what you deserve. You need to get your life together, dude. Yes. So then he goes back to work and he's got a a pretty little shiner.
01:03:02
Speaker
So he's walking around with sunglasses on. um And he works up the courage because he realizes that he loves Fran. and Well, first, hes first Mr. Sheldrake gives him a promotion.
01:03:16
Speaker
um Edie Adams yes calls Mr. Sheldrake's wife and is like, hey, let's meet for lunch. I'm going to tell you some things. Yeah. mr sheld dr yeah Mr. Sheldrake gives him a promotion. It's like, you're going my assistant. There's this new office. You got a key to the executive washroom. Like you're really coming up. It's been two weeks. You've gone from like low level to like an executive.
01:03:36
Speaker
Yes. And everything's going to work out for you. And he's like, oh, great. He's like, well, I'm living in the athletic club because my wife, he says, oh, you finally divorced your wife. He goes, well, she fired me. It's only when he doesn't have any other options. He decides he's going to marry Fran. He says, yeah, we'll go to Atlantic City, but in a couple of weeks, but in the meantime, I'm going to enjoy being a bachelor. Like he's not, he has no amount of care or consideration for her whatsoever and doesn't, he doesn't care about her.
01:04:04
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It's not until, it's not until new years um that he finally does this. And then, yeah, so tell that story. you Yeah.
01:04:16
Speaker
Yeah. um And so ah so he's like working out the courage to be like, I'm take Fran off of your hands. I'm going solve a big problem for you. And when he walks in, that's when this whole exchange happens because Mr. Sheldrake basically repeats the same exact speech that C.T. Baxter is about to give him.
01:04:35
Speaker
And then you know, twists and reverses it by being like, I need your apartment. So, so you, here's this big promotion. And, um and so Jack Lemmon finally says, no, he's like, no, yeah you can't have my apartment. And absolutely.
01:04:51
Speaker
You cannot bring Fran there. Absolutely. well Well, what he, what he does is first, he's like, Mr. Sheldrake threatens him. He's like, you know, this is how this works. Like you're going to, do you understand? and Like, you understand? Like you dig? And he's like, yeah, I dig.
01:05:05
Speaker
And he throws the key down. what does He's a beat neck. And he goes into the other room. and Mr. Sheldrake comes back and says, Hey, this is the wrong key. He's like, no, it's not. He goes, this is the key to the executive washroom. He's like, yeah, i quit.
01:05:16
Speaker
You're not going to my apartment. Not, not, especially not with her. And then he quits yeah instead of giving him the key. It's a great little misdirect. He says, I'm going to become a mensch, which is what Dr. Dreyfuss told him he should be, which is a, you know, in Yiddish just means like a really great guy.
01:05:31
Speaker
Yeah. He's like, you know what that means? A human being. And he's like, fuck you. And then he leaves. And then in the lobby, he runs into Shirley MacLaine. And she is like, yeah, I'm going out i with ah Mr. um Mr. Sheldrake.
01:05:48
Speaker
I finally, you know, decided to to give him a chance or whatever. And he's like, oh, I've got a heavy date. And he points to ah book at the newspaper stand. She thinks he's pointing at a woman who goes off with someone else.
01:05:59
Speaker
yeah He goes and gets his book and he goes home and then he's like packing up his apartment. Yeah. and He decides he's going to move. He's had it. He's had it with his life. He's had it with like everything. He just wants to start a new.
01:06:13
Speaker
And so he's packing up and like this and um his neighbor comes over at one point asking for ice. And he's like, yeah, totally. Here's some ice. And he goes, why are you packing up? And he explains why.
01:06:25
Speaker
um And his neighbors like, Oh, I'm so sorry. you want to come over and spend new years with us? Cause this looks really sad. Yeah. And he's like, no no, no. I just want to be sad.
01:06:38
Speaker
And. And then we cut to back at the fabulous Chinese Tiki restaurant um where Mr. Sheldrake has taken Fran and he's like, yeah, so we're going to have to go to Atlantic City after this. I'm going to get a car. And she goes, why?
01:06:54
Speaker
And he goes, well, because there's not going to be any hotels around here on New Year's Eve. like That's that's insane. um And, you know, this whole plan is really just, you know, really screwed up by your friend, D.C. Baxter. And she goes, why? And he goes,
01:07:09
Speaker
I offered him a promotion. i offered him all this stuff. And all I wanted to do was use his apartment tonight. And you know what he said? No.
01:07:20
Speaker
And he quit. And she's like, oh, no. mile Smile, smile, smile, smile, smile. Oh, yeah no. Don't say no. What? So there's no speech. It's just like an understanding, much like it happened one night or some of these other things.
01:07:37
Speaker
yeah And so she goes to his apartment. She hears what she thinks is a gunshot of him killing himself, but it's just the champagne. ha ha ha Don't worry about it. She sits down like he pours her champagne and he's just like, let's finish that game of gin rumming. And he's like, I love you. I adore you. And she says, shut up and deal. And that's the end of the movie.
01:07:56
Speaker
and Like Billy Wilder was so good and ending movies. Like, I mean, the greatest ending line of a movie of all time is from some like it hot. um This is, this is pretty good too. Yeah. This is pretty good.
01:08:08
Speaker
It's just like, it's so like, it ties everything up in such a nice bow. The one thing I wish that we had that we didn't get was they don't kiss. They don't kiss. Yeah, that's true.
01:08:19
Speaker
um But it's like, yeah. But it's it's one of these things where it's like, I don't know, that would have that wouldn't have been the right tone. You know, it's this thing where like, shut up and deal, like, and just hit her them looking at each other adoringly is the right way to end this movie. And like, I know in the past that I've gotten mad that people don't kiss in the movie.
01:08:38
Speaker
But that's a different tone. I mean, this isn't, it's not a rom-com. Like, it's a different thing. yeah Like, it's its own thing. It's its own tone. And this is the right way to end that, you know? Yeah, and I think that that's one of the things that I really liked about this movie was that, you know, I went in expecting like a Doris Day Rock Hudson sort of, you know...
01:08:58
Speaker
like I said, door slamming, misdirections, all of that. And what I, it ended up being is something that's like, I don't know if there's been like a movie that's encapsulated so many different like lens of genre. It's like, it is its own thing.
01:09:16
Speaker
Like it's not a rom-com, but it's not a drama. It's not a rom-ity dramedy because it still has calm. It's, it is a rom-ity comedy dramedy. Um, yeah and Because it's like, there are funny moments and there is romance. It's still a comedy. I would say it's a comedy for sure. I mean, like the classical, like we've said before, like Shakespeare definition of a comedy, like it ends happily. So it's a comedy. Yeah.
01:09:42
Speaker
Yeah, but it just is in its own unique way. since And it's so, yeah, it's very poignant and very like, it's, yeah, and it's got like, it's, it's, it's serious and it's about something and it's kind of, it's a little anti-capitalist and it's, um yeah, it's a beautiful movie. i love it very much. Yeah.
01:09:59
Speaker
You just, you don't get movies like this anymore. You don't, you don't get something that has this many layers. Especially not like a huge budget, like movie that gets nominated for a bunch of Oscars. And yeah, exactly.
Planning the Next Movie Discussion
01:10:12
Speaker
Exactly. i mean, I'm sure there has been, but it's just, it's great. It's great. I really enjoyed it. Um, what movie are we doing next week? Uh, I don't know. Oh, right. You picked this. I kept thinking I picked it because I love it so much.
01:10:26
Speaker
Um, we are. Do you want me to pick another No. No. I'm going to pick one. um We are doing... We'll do I Want You Back.
01:10:38
Speaker
I Want You Back. Yeah. With Charlie Day Oh, I've never seen this one. think it's Jenny Slate. Yeah. Yeah, it is Jenny Slate.
01:10:48
Speaker
Yeah, it's good. I'm very excited. Yeah. From just a couple years ago. Yeah.
01:10:55
Speaker
Thank you for listening to Go Get Your Girl. If you like us, tell your friends and please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. It helps out a lot and we would really appreciate it.
01:11:06
Speaker
Thanks to Andrew Milliken and Nick Svoboda for our theme music and Elena Henderson for our artwork. You can follow us on Instagram at GoGetYourGirlPod or email us at GoGetYourGirlPod at gmail.com.
01:11:18
Speaker
You can follow me on social media at Emily M. Pizza. And me at Katie of the Lake. Until next time, we're just two girls. Standing in front of the internet.
01:11:30
Speaker
Asking it to love us. Good night.