Barb Lien-Cooper
Movie Reviews
All the President's Men / The Apartment
Barb Lien-Cooper
All The President's Men (1976)
Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman
I've always been a nut for what I call "'70s Paranoia Films" such as The Conversation, Winter Kills, Night Moves, Three Days of the Condor, Chinatown, and so forth. You know the type of film I mean, right? There's always some conspiracy, some guy who finds out, and there's some real ambiguity concerning whether the hero will actually be able to expose the conspiracy and bring order to chaos. You always leave these films feeling that the world you know is somewhat false, things really are as messed up as you thought, and that those feelings that maybe there are forces running things that we know nothing about. The last great "Paranoia" film in that tradition, for me---believe it or not---was The Matrix. I felt it had that same "everything you know is wrong" feeling of the best of the '70s films.
The best of the best '70s paranoia flicks, however, has got to be All the President's Men. Because the film is based on a true story, we're deprived of the comfort that this plot is just a fiction and it "can't really happen here." It is a devastating experience to see the reporters in the film slowly uncover the fact that the man in the Oval Office and his cabinet broke laws, smeared their opponents by spreading lies and illegally obtained information, concealed how they wire tapped anyone they felt was an enemy, relentlessly pursued an unpopular war, and generally acted in a conspiratorial manner not in keeping with the president's powers.
Nowadays, these things seem like "so what else is new?" It's felt like both political parties from the point of Nixon on have indulged in horrible scandals that hurt our faith in how things are run. From Lewinsky to Plamegate, we the people have seen some really bad faith efforts from the people in charge. But can you imagine what it must it have been like to have been the average American at the time of All the President's Men, who kept hearing how corrupt a government they honestly believed in turned out to be?
Perhaps I should pull back from the political parallels. I just feel like, well, to use the old saw, those who don't learn the lessons of history are condemned to repeat them.
Let's just talk about the film, instead. You sort of know the plot all ready. Woodward and Bernstein, two Washington Post reporters in the '70s, discover that the break in at the Watergate hotel wasn't just the work of a couple of thieves dressed up as plumbers. In fact, the break in was just the tip of the iceberg, orchestrated by CREEP (the Committee to Re-Elect the President). I always loved the acronym, as it's both a bit stupid and yet so super-villainy. CREEP, the ultimate "big bad"! Because of journalistic integrity and some good press leaks, a whole government regime toppled. The importance of assertive journalists and their sources cannot be over-stated, obviously.
What's to review, in a way? The film is practically perfect in every way. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman are absolutely superb in their roles as the journalists. They have chemistry in all the right ways. They're almost the Butch and Sundance of conspiracy films, in fact. Credit also goes out to Jason Robards as their hard-bitten editor. My husband thinks he sees a bit of an homage to Robards' performance in the way Perry White is played in the new Superman film (but I'll have to see more than the trailers to believe it). In fact, there isn't a false performance in the whole film. The campaign workers are scared, no one wants to be identified, everyone's afraid of losing their jobs, both sides are under this incredible pressure concerning the story….
In short, just how you'd expect people in real life to act, complete with their moral ambiguities. For instance, at some point in the film in order to get some vital information, the reporters con the heck out of a very frightened young woman. They pull every trick in the book to make her talk. It's a hard to watch scene, as it's a bit of a mean trick to pull on a person who is truly naïve and frightened. They're pulling dirty tricks, Nixon's pulling dirty tricks, and nothing seems aboveboard at all. While you're glad that our reporters are on the side of truth, they are morally ambiguous, too, for all their integrity. There isn't this "heroes good, villains evil" black and white thing going on, as the fictional world of the film, while filmed in color, has many shades of gray. Just like in the real world.
I've heard some people claim that this film is hard to follow. Don't believe it for a second. It's true that the more we get away from the actual events, the harder it is to remember who was who in Nixon's rogues' gallery. I mean, with the possible exception of John Dean, it's really difficult to remember any names of the cabinet members involved with the illegalities. Yet, "complicated" doesn't always mean "hard to follow." The script to All the President's Men does its darnedest to always be very clear about the steps the reporters have to take to get the story, as well as who was involved in the conspiracy. You do have to pay attention to the plot. You can't just watch without keeping your brain engaged. The film never talks down to its audience. The script always assumes that we, the audience, are smart enough to understand even complex information if it's clearly enough presented.
What else to say?
It got the Oscar for Best Picture, I hear.
Oh, to live in a world where such films about how thoroughly corrupt some people in power are wouldn't have to be made. But, we don't live in that perfect world… yet. Until that utopian day comes, we have to remember our history. Because, after seeing how nasty the Nixon administration was, you certainly do not want to go through THAT again.
The Apartment (1960)
Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray
Jack Lemmon starred in a number of director Billy Wilder's movies, including The Apartment, The Fortune Cookie, and a rather crudely fashioned version of the play The Front Page. In spite of some excellent performances, particularly in Some Like it Hot, I've always thought that the classic Lemmon/Wilder collaborations were somewhat over-rated. See, Wilder thought Lemmon was the funniest guy in the world. So, Lemmon, being human, craved more laughs and more praise. So…eventually Lemmon started going over the top a bit too much. Wilder just didn't reign Lemmon in enough. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm a big fan of Billy Wilder's films. And I think Lemmon is quite a charming comedic actor. I'm especially fond of the works he did with Judy Holliday. If you watch Lemmon in, say, It Should Happen to You, you can see that he could perform sincere guy next door type roles with real grace and subtly. I blame the over-acting in films like Irma La Dulce and Buddy, Buddy on director Wilder, rather than Mr. Lemmon.
Having sort of cleared my throat as to my reservations about the OTHER Billy Wilder/Jack Lemmon films, let me tell you how good The Apartment is. Not that I consider Oscars to be the only measure of a film's worth, but it does say something that The Apartment is one of the first comedies to win the Oscar for Best Picture. Oh, yes, it was helped by moments of great dramatic darkness (Shirley MacLaine's character at one point tries to commit suicide, for instance). But, in a Hollywood where the sweeping drama is usually seen as more award worthy than even an excellent comedy, The Apartment made its way to the top of the heap. That's pretty appropriate for a film about the price one pays to get to the top of the heap.
The Apartment is one of those films that just has "this is an intelligent adult film" written all over it. The themes are alienation, sex, power, and betrayal, as well as what the average person in the big city will do in order to be liked and be loved. In the film, Jack Lemmon plays a young corporate executive who'd really like to succeed in business without really trying. He's a decent chap, a bit of a loser, really, who doesn't have the ability to say no to authority. Soon, he finds that just about every other executive in the building is having some sort of inter-office romance with other office members (usually their secretaries). The problem is that most of these louses have spouses. So, where can these guys do the deed with their bits on the side? Jack Lemmon's apartment.
As Lemmon's character is bribed with promises of job advancement in exchange for use of his little flat as a love nest, he finds that some people think that it's okay to do a lot of morally icky things to make it to the top of the heap. He starts acting a bit like the people who are bribing and cajoling him into giving up his residence for sexual purposes.
Then, Lemmon's character develops a huge crush on Shirley Maclaine's character, an elevator operator in the office building where he works. She is innocence, intelligence, naivety, and good humor put into a sweet little pixie's body. She could be what saves him from himself. The problem is, she's drowning too. She's having an affair with the biggest boss in the company.
I know, it sounds like the stuff of heavy drama, and it probably is, but Wilder has a strange light but heavy touch in the script and direction of this movie that makes many of the scenes laugh out loud funny. But, a lot of the humor is wink, wink, nudge, nudge, we're all adults here, hand out the cigars and booze type humor. It's the type of humor that makes you feel like you yourself still aren't quite an adult if this is what the adult world is all about. The humor smirks a bit, looks up ladies' dresses a bit, makes you feel a little childish for laughing here and there---but you do laugh and you do remember the lines. You know, the sort of humor Esquire magazine still sort of excels at. I know that sounds odd, but read their "Funny Joke from a Beautiful Woman" column for a few months and you'll know what I mean.
There's something very leering about Wilder's humor here. It lacks the light touch of his directorial mentor, Ernst Lubitsch. Yet, the film itself perhaps needs a heavier touch, as Wilder wants us to know how he feels about heartless corporate jerks who cheat on their wives and use everyone to get ahead. If anything, this film is a sort of morality tale that tells you how easy it is to gain the world and lose the basic humanity that makes you tick. Lubitsch's humor would make the film's characters' off without judgment. Wilder's humor sticks in your craw a bit. Sometimes, it intentionally lacks the spoonful of sugar. Sometimes, you have to take things a bit on the chin.
I know, it keeps sounding like a heavy drama, but I swear it's funny. Perhaps it like they say, "Life's a comedy to those who think and a tragedy for those who feel." The Apartment is a thinking, feeling movie, funny and sad, as deep or as shallow as you want to see it. There's a lot of ambiguity in the film. I'm not even sure how happy the happy ending is. I'd like to think it's a happy ending, but there's an unsettled feeling to it…
Heck, if I start speculating on elements of the movie, I'll be keeping you here all day.
Let me just get in the standard kudos for the actors and I'll let you all drink up your last drink and go home.
Shirley MacLaine is jaw-droppingly good in this film. She brings ease to an unesasy role---the innocent, likeable girl who just happening to be having sex with a man she knows is married. Take about a hard role to pull off. She has to be someone you'd believe would fall for a married man, but also someone we the audience wouldn't hate for being the other woman. We also have to believe that Jack Lemmon's character would fall for a nice girl who has done some less than nice things in life. I don't know who else could pull off the role, actually.
Lemmon is excellent, too. He is the powerhouse who runs this film. He too has an uneasy role to play. He must play a man without a lot of boundaries, someone who allows himself to be pulled into being complict to an immoral, betraying situation. He must be a man, who at first, buys into the idea of situatonal ethics. He must, at first, believe that just giving his bosses a place to sin isn't a sin in and of itself. He must believe that since he's only allowing it to happen, his hands are clean. He also must be a character we can believe can be dissuaded of that notion. In short, Lemmon has to play a character who, like MacLaine, is a likeable character who is doing unlikable things. We have to stay sympathetic to him even when we know it's all wrong to do so. Lemmon plays it just right. He is never quite a jerk, but he does have to learn some major life lessons. He has to learn a bit to speak truth to power. It's a hard roll to pull off, but Lemmon does it quite well. Oh, not effortlessly, like MacLaine does. We do the actor's mental sweat in portraying the character. But, it's still a fine job, if not always a subtle one. Fortunately for the audience, Lemmon and Wilder did know how to rope it in for this movie. Perhaps they understood the film wasn't a farce but a social comedy of mores, norms, and morality.
And speaking of fine jobs, if you want to see charming, self-deluding, dripping evil in a role, check out Fred MacMurray as Lemmon's boss. It's always shocking to see someone we tend to associate with family fare (he was in a lot of Disney films, as well as My Three Sons) pull off such a villainous turn, but MacMurray sells it in a way that is both hideous and fascinating to watch. Of course, we know he can pull off the amoral type from his work in Wilder's Double Indemnity, but it's still a bit of a revelation to see the original Absent Minded Professor as a married man having an affair.
PS---I know this is apropos to nothing, I have to get it off my chest. Okay, here goes. I don't know about you, but when I watch some old works like The Apartment, The Seven Year Itch, or even some old Bewitched re-runs, I just see this theme over and over again of rich, white males with corporate jobs lying, being hypocritical, drinking a bit too much, having affairs (or being sorely tempted to) and generally losing touch with their wives. Usually they couples don't seem to divorce. Instead, they seem to stay in generally loveless marriages. I just keep on seeing comedies and dramas of the era about such things and I keep wondering it this was just Hollywood making stuff up that had no relationship to reality or if it actually was a reflection of the type of reality that was actually a part of (upper?) middle class America at the time. You know, that reality that Betty Friedan sort of implies was out there in her book The Feminine Mystique. How much of all of this was really happening outside of fiction, anyway? And if it's as much as the pop culture of the time implied it was, how can we really call the 1950s and early 1960s "the good old days", if their "family values" included cheating on their spouses?
