Does anyone else feel that the last nine minutes of *The Apartment * do not work? The movie should have ended with Bud walking away from the newspaper stand in the lobby. Maybe I could buy Baxter finally growing a backbone and standing up to his boss, but there is no way that Miss Kubelik would ditch Mr. Sheldrake. This movie did not need a tacked-on happy ending because it goes against the tone of the rest of the movie.
Disagree.
I disagree too.
When the neighbour lady is feeding Miss Kubelik soup, and when Baxter tells her about his gun shot wound - you know she wouldn’t stay with him, even if he left his wife.
Also the way she mirrors Baxter’s “-wise” speech habit, you know she’s fallen for Baxter. And Baxter has been crazy for her all along.
Lastly - Fran wasn’t a gold digger. She wasn’t using Sheldrake for money, power or gifts - she loved Mr. Sheldrake. Why would she stay with him if she fell for someone else.
The clues are all there.
I’m one of those rare people who find this movie waaaay overrated, not being much of a Billy Wilder fan (except for *Ace in the Hole *and A Foreign Affair), but my problem isn’t with the ending. So specifically in this thread, I too must disagree.
Third the disagreement. Did you even watch the first part of the movie?
Why? Her dissatisfaction at being his kept woman was evident. She might have thought him leaving his wife would make everything okay, but it didn’t help as shown by her boredom at the New Year celebration. Baxter had been nice to her and when she found out he wasn’t the manipulative heel she might have thought (to wit - he quits the cushy job he’d earned for keeping Sheldrake unlinked to Kubelik’s suicide attempt), that sealed the deal.
You want a movie with a useless ending, watch Ransom. Or A.I..
Sure she would ditch him. I think the realization came when Sheldrake handed her cash for her Christmas present. She realized what she was to him then.
I agree that she did not want to be with Sheldrake anymore. And it is pretty obvious that Bud loves Kubelik. But the whole theme of the first 116 minutes is that the modern corporate environment will crush your desires. The only choices are compromise or opting out completely and being left with nothing. Which is pretty much what Bud and Kubelik are left with. But this is not what people choose. Sheldrake’s secretary does not stick around because she is happy seeing Sheldrake’s new affairs paraded in front of her everyday. She does it because to not do it would mean losing her career which is essentially her life. The first 116 minutes are a study in how corporate culture can alienate us from the things we want because we have to meet our needs. And then at the end we are supposed to believe that two people throw it all away for love? How many do you know that live lives of quiet desperation? How many have thrown it all away for an attempt at happiness? And were those people quintessential examples of un-assertiveness?
I dunno, how many teenagers from rival families fall in love and then kill themselves? The movie you describe, though possibly more realistic, would be less entertaining.
Of course, my version of a happy ending has Baxter and Kubelik blackmailing Sheldrake into arranging another good job for Baxter, somewhere else in the company. She remains an elevator operator and they walk to work each morning from the apartment and live somewhat satisfactory lives until they marry and move to the suburbs, at which point she stays home with their kids and he starts an affair with his 22 year-old secretary, which is somewhat inconvenienced by not having a good place to hook up.
Blackmailing him with what?
“Hey, everybody’s nice and scandalized about you going to Reno for six weeks for a divorce, should we start talking about why? And your mistress’s suicide attempt, that’s gotta be juicy.”
Glad you started the thread. I saw it on Turner Classic Movies yesterday. My problem is having seen Jack Lemmon as a comedian so often. I was impressed with Glengarry Glen Ross, but I kept wanting to see the movie as a comedy.
But to the OP. When Fran’s BIL beat him up was the point I think she fell in love. Heck, it’s a love story, so of course she would leave, er, Fred MacMurray. 
Boy, Fred could play a real bastard when he wanted to, couldn’t he? The Apartment, along with The Caine Mutiny and Double Indemnity are Fred at his creepy best, with Double Indemnity being my favourite.
You want The Apartment as comedy?
How about as musical Comedy?
Promises, Promises* took the plot of The Apartment and was written by Neil Simon, with music and lyrics by Burt Bachrach and Hal David (!!). It was never filmed or taped, to my knowledge, but you can read Neil Simon’s play, or get the Broadway album.
When it opened on Broadway back in 1968, Jerry Orbach had the Jack Lem,mon role (!!!)
**Not to be confused with the Jayne Mansfield movie. In the European version, you get to see her naked. But the Neil Simon wit in the other play is arguably better. YMMV.
No, I expected Lemmon to be doing comedy.
I understand you – I was using your phrase as a lead-in to a related topic.
But Lemmon’s done plenty of non-comedic roles.
Yeah, if one wants to see him really dark, watch Days of Wine and Roses.
The Apartment is a comedy in the same way The Philadelphia Story is a comedy.
Sublimely.