BBBBB

(out of 5)

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Jack Lemmon excels as a low-level office worker who, on occasion, lends his bachelor apartment to philandering business superiors to use for trysts with their mistresses. Unbeknownst to him, one of them (Fred MacMurray) is going there with the elevator girl who has caught Lemmon’s eye (Shirley MacLaine in the best American female role of the sixties). The romance is witty and wise, the drama is acidic and dark, and somehow with Billy Wilder’s magic involved, one always seems to complement the other without it ever getting uncomfortable or uneven. Absolute perfection.

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The Mirisch Corporation

USA, 1960

Directed by Billy Wilder

Screenplay by Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond

Cinematography by Joseph LaShelle

Produced by Billy Wilder

Music by Adolph Deutsch

Production Design by Alexandre Trauner

Costume Design by Forrest T. Butler, Irene Caine

Film Editing by Daniel Mandell

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Academy Awards
Best Art Direction (Black-and-White) (art direction: Alexander Trauner; set decoration: Edward G. Boyle)
Best Directing (Billy Wilder)
Best Film Editing (Daniel Mandell)
Best Motion Picture (Billy Wilder, producer)
Best Writing (Screenplay–written directly for the screen) (Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond)

Nominations
Best Actor (Jack Lemmon as “C.C. ‘Bud’ Baxter”)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Jack Kruschen as “Dr. Dreyfuss”)
Best Actress (Shirley MacLaine as “Fran Kubelik”)
Best Cinematography (Black-and-White) (Joseph LaShelle)
Best Sound (Samuel Goldwyn Studio Sound Department, Gordon E. Sawyer, sound director)

Golden Globe Awards
Best Performance By An Actor in a Motion Picture-Comedy or Musical (Jack Lemmon)
Best Performance By An Actress in a Motion Picture-Comedy or Musical (Shirley MacLaine)
Best Motion Picture-Comedy

Nomination
Best Director (Billy Wilder)

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