Call me biased, but I love Billy Wilder's work (from what I've seen, movie-wise). Having only seen Sunset Boulevard and Ace in the Hole, I expected to see similar cynicism injected into this particular screenplay, The Apartment. There are tinges of it in The Apartment, but this never detracts from the light feeling of comedy it gives the reader. The screenplay is a very entertaining and funny read. While reading, I found myself picturing that distinct Billy Wilder style in my head. The dialogue works. It's very witty and manages to feel 'real' within the world of the film. I love the back and forth's that Bud has with his co-workers. The characters are nothing short of endearing either. They are very intriguing and really present some problems for Bud to overcome. Every character seems to be crafted carefully, and with comedy in mind. I also like the idea that the story basically takes place in the office, the apartment, and occasionally the diner. The simplicity of the location reflects the simplicity of the plot, allowing more room for the complexity of the character interactions to really shine in this screenplay. I finished the screenplay with a complete sense of satisfaction. Now I want to watch the movie. Everything worked for me in The Apartment, story-wise, character-wise, dialogue-wise, and everything-in-between-wise.
Krystian Lorenzana
Questions.
- Did anyone else feel like they would have liked to see the MacDougall character come back to present Bud with more conflict, instead of just being there for a brief scene?
- How did you like the attention to detail given to the way the characters spoke (Bud says things like newspaper-wise, police-wise, cookie-wise...and Kirkeby says buddy-boy)?
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I would have like to see a a little more confict with Mrs. MacDougall, but it might have taken away from the conflict between Bud, Fran, and Mr. Sheldrake. That was, in my opinion, the most important, and entertaining conflict.
I enjoyed the dialogue. It added value to the characters. I think, in the case of the big money characters, their "slang" showed how humanly flawed they were and put them at the same level, if not lower, than Bud.
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