Shut Up and Deal

"Shut up and deal" is one of the great last lines in movie history.  And the movie in question is the 1960 production, The Apartment, written, produced, and directed by Billy Wilder, the man who ten years earlier gave us Sunset Boulevard (see my blog post of 11/1/2015).  The movie starred Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray.

 

The Apartment won five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Writing (Original Screenplay), Best Film Editing, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White.  It was also nominated for five other Academy Awards including Best Actor (Lemmon lost to Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry), Best Actress (MacLaine lost to Elizabeth Taylor in Butterfield 8), and Best Supporting Actor (Jack Kruschen, lost to Peter Ustinov in Spartacus-see my blog post of December 4, 2016).
 

I chose to write about this movie, not only because it is a great movie, but, as today is New Years Day, 2017, we can celebrate The Apartment as a New Years Eve/Day movie since its climax happens on New Years Eve/Day.

C. C. Baxter (Lemmon), a nebish, works for a large insurance company in a skyscraper office building in New York City.  He lives alone in a small apartment on the west side of Manhattan near Central Park.  In an attempt to climb the corporate ladder, Baxter agrees to permit four of the company's executives to use his apartment for their extra-marital trysts.  This creates problems for him such as being unable to enter his apartment during the normal dinner hour, having to abandon his apartment late at night when he needs to sleep, and dealing with his landlord and neighbors who think he is the one who is entertaining a myriad of girlfriends multiple evenings during the week.  Baxter also has to maintain a supply of liquor, snacks, and clean glasses (not sure about clean sheets).
 

Although Baxter has no girlfriend, he has a crush on one of the office building's elevator operators, Fran Kubelik (MacLaine).  He casually suggests that she have lunch with him, but she kindly avoids responding to his suggestion.  Kubelik likes Baxter, but she is in love with Jeff Sheldrake (MacMurray), the company's Personnel Manager, who is a married man.  Kubelik and Sheldrake are having a secret affair.  Unbeknownst to her, she is one of a long line of Sheldrake's mistresses.

  

When Sheldrake discovers what Baxter is doing, he tries to force him to cancel his arrangement with the four others so that Sheldrake can have the exclusive use of Baxter's apartment.  In exchange, Baxter receives a promotion which he can only keep if Sheldrake can keep using his apartment.  Baxter accepts the arrangement.  This is sexual harrassment, a term unknown in 1960.

On Christmas Eve, Sheldrake takes Kubelik to Baxter's apartment for a private party.  However, they get into a fight as she has discovered Sheldrake's past history of affairs.  He abandons her to return to his family in the suburbs, but not before giving her an impersonal $100 bill as a Christmas present.  Depressed, Kubelik tries to commit suicide by swallowing a huge number of sleeping pills she finds in Baxter's bathroom.

When Baxter arrives later, he is surprised to find Kubelik asleep in his bed.  When he can't awake her and finds the nearly empty pill bottle, he realizes what she has done.  With the aid of his neighbor/doctor (Kruschen), Kubelik's life is saved.  However, she must remain in Baxter's apartment for a couple of days to recuperate.  During this time, Baxter and Kubelik start to develop a relationship.

Upon his return to the office (and Kubelik to her home), Baxter cancels his arrangement with Sheldrake and quits his job.  He said he wants to become a mensch. 

On New Years Eve, Sheldrake takes Kubelik to their favorite Chinese restaurant for the celebration.  He tells her about Baxter's surprising (to him) decision.  Sheldrake mentions that Baxter emphasized that he could no longer bring Kubelik to his apartment.  However, Kubelik understands Baxter's motivation.  At the stroke of midnight, when Sheldrake is singing Auld Lang Syne with the others in the restaurant, she leaves.

Kubelik now realizes that she is in love with Baxter, who is in love with her.  She runs to his apartment.  When Kubelik arrives, she tells him that she has left Sheldrake.  She also wants to engage Baxter in a game of cards, something they did a lot when they spent their two days together.  When Baxter tells her that "I love you, Miss Kubelik...I absolutely adore you," her classic response is "Shut up and deal."  It is a unique way to end a movie and begin a beautiful love story.