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DIRECTED BY: Billy Wilder
STARRING: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray
ABOUT:
Post-film Q&A with Norwalk Community College Professor Gary Carlson
Widely regarded as a comedy in 1960, The Apartment seems more melancholy with each passing year. Jack Lemmon plays C.C. Baxter, a go-getting office worker who loans his tiny apartment to his philandering superiors for their romantic trysts. He runs into trouble when he finds himself sharing a girlfriend (Shirley MacLaine) with his callous boss (Fred MacMurray). Director/co-writer Billy Wilder claimed that the idea for The Apartment stemmed from a short scene in the 1945 romantic drama Brief Encounter in which the illicit lovers (Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson) arrange a rendezvous in a third person's apartment. Wilder was intrigued about what sort of person would willingly vacate his residence to allow virtual strangers a playing field for hanky panky. His answer to that question wound up winning 6 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
GARY CARLSON has taught at Norwalk Community College since 1997. In the fall of 2000, he originated the annual CT Writers’ Conference at NCC, organizing and hosting the event for its first two years. He has also proposed, developed, and taught most of the creative writing courses offered at NCC, as well as courses such as “The Short Story,” “Beat Literature,” “The American Western,” “A History of Horror,” “Rock’n’Roll: The Post-WWII Generation,” and most recently, “Elvis Presley and the American Dream.” He was faculty advisor to NCC’s Literature Club for over 12 years, organizing and hosting more than 80 student trips to see great plays and hear famous writers read from their works. Carlson’s writing has appeared in various literary journals, newspapers, and magazines, including The Connecticut Review, The Apalachee Quarterly, The Vermont Literary Review, DISCoveries, The Hartford Courant, The New Haven Register, and The Fairfield Weekly. A lifelong film buff, Carlson has written film criticism for several area papers, including The Fairfield Weekly, The City News, and The West Haven Voice. Carlson also frequently teaches a course entitled “Film & Literature” at NCC (ENG 271). He is the original organizer and ongoing host of NCC’s successful film series, the Movies-of-the-Month (currently entering its 7th year). He also created and hosted several “retro” radio shows over the years, most notably “Bop Street” on WSHU and “Rock Therapy” on WYBC.
LANGUAGE: English
RATING: NR
RUNNING TIME: 125 minutes
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