27 Days With Billy Wilder And Me

Every Movie He Directed…From Mauvaise Graine to Buddy Buddy

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Day Twenty Seven: Buddy Buddy

July 26th, 2011 · 1981, Adaptation, Buddy Buddy, Francis Veber, Jack Lemmon, Klaus Kinski, Paula Prentiss, Walter Matthau

Buddy BuddyBilly Wilder’s twenty-seventh movie, Buddy Buddy, starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, was released in 1981. Billy was 75 years old.

With Buddy Buddy, Billy Wilder’s directorial career ended not with a whimper, but with a wretch.

Buddy Buddy is the story of a hitman (Matthau) trying to do one last job before retiring. A distraught man (Lemmon) — whose wife (Prentiss) is fooling around with the head (Kinski) of a sex clinic — continues to inadvertently cross paths with the hit man, disrupting his schedule, confounding his concentration, and making a mess of his life.

It’s hard to make a movie about a hit man and have it be a comedy. Grosse Pointe Blank pulled it off, but that’s because of John Cusack and Dan Akroyd. Plus, there’s an actual story (and quite a few laughs) in Grosse Pointe Blank. But there are neither in Buddy Buddy.

Principle Cast:
Victor Clooney…………………………………………….Jack Lemmon (1925–2001)
Trabucco……………………………………………………Walter Matthau (1920–2000)
Celia Clooney………………………………………………Paula Prentiss (1938- )
Dr. Hugo Zuckerbrot……………………………………Klaus Kinski (1926-1991)

Buddy Buddy was written by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond, and based on the story and play by Francis Veber.

My wife said this after watching Buddy Buddy: “My opinion of [Read more →]

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Day Twenty Six: Fedora

July 25th, 2011 · 1978, Fedora, Hildegard Knef, José Ferrer, Marthe Keller, William Holden

FedoraBilly Wilder’s twenty-sixth movie, Fedora, starring William Holden and Marthe Keller, was released in 1978. Billy was 72 years old.

It was hard to find this movie. It’s out of print in the U.S. Or it was never on DVD in the first place. Either way, don’t expect to pick one up at your local Best Buy.

The DVD I’m watching is an import, Region 2 from Spain. So I am forced to watch it through my computer’s DVD player (because my Blu-ray player and my DVD player are Region 1), connected to by hi-def TV via a snake-like coil of cables. Even when I was able to make the connection, I had to futz with the subtitles and audio. Apparently, the default is Spanish. So I turned off the Spanish, clicked on English dubbing, and clicked off the subtitles, English or otherwise.

I can tell immediately that this movie isn’t going to be any good. The sound is tinny, the picture is washed out, and the acting is overwrought. (Part of that could be the fault of the DVD transfer. But not all of it.)

Above all, the dialogue is stilted. And I find that oddest of all. Billy Wilder with Charles Brackett was first-rate. With I.A.L. Diamond, sublime. Yet, [Read more →]

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Day Twenty Five: The Front Page

July 24th, 2011 · 1974, Adaptation, David Wayne, Front Page, IAL Diamond, Jack Lemmon, Susan Sarandon, Vincent Gardenia, Walter Matthau

The Front PageBilly Wilder’s twenty-fifth movie, The Front Page, starring Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, and Susan Sarandon was released in 1974. Billy was 68 years old.

There is absolutely no reason why this movie should have been made — not when His Girl Friday stands as the definitive remake of the play The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. Billy Wilder’s version is a lethargic, foul-mouthed, loud, uninspired, and unfocused film with characters shouting their lines as if everyone in the room with them is deaf.

Again, I am disappointed by a Billy Wilder movie — and by the screenwriting of Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond. This makes every movie since The Apartment another step down.

Principle Cast:
Hildy Johnson………………………………………….Jack Lemmon (1925–2001)
Walter Burns…………………………………………..Walter Matthau (1920–2000)
Peggy Grant……………………………………………Susan Sarandon (1946- )
Sheriff……………………………………………….Vincent Gardenia (1920–1992)
Bensinger……………………………………………..David Wayne (1914–1995)

It’s an interesting cast. And, normally, seeing Lemmon and Matthau together again would make me really happy. But not this time. For one thing, as fun as those two are, they’re no Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, who played Walter Burns and Hildy Jonson, respectively, in the 1940 Howard Hawks remake of the story of hard-boiled newspaper men scrambling to cover the story of a cop-killer about to be executed. Plus, in this movie, they’re just not much fun, together or apart.

This movie was a waste of my time.

What happened to Billy Wilder, anyway? How can this be the same guy who created Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, Some Like It Hot, and The Apartment?

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Day Twenty Four: Avanti!

July 23rd, 2011 · 1972, Adaptation, Avanti, Clive Revill, Edward Andrews, Italy, Jack Lemmon, Juliet Mills, Nude Scene

AvantiBilly Wilder’s twenty-fourth movie, Avanti!, starring Jack Lemmon and Juliet Mills, was released in 1972. Billy was 66 years old.

Avanti! is the story of a brusque American executive (Lemmon) who must travel to Italy to pick up the body of his father who passed away unexpectedly. There, he discovers that his father died in a car accident, and that he was not alone — he was with his mistress. Shocked to discover his father’s decade-long marital indiscretion, the son’s already sour disposition worsens. So when he meets the daughter (Mills) of his father’s mistress, he’s less than congenial. However, the two soon strike up a friendship. Then, they become more than friends, and so continue in their parents’ footsteps.

Jack Lemmon is a great actor. In this movie — his fifth to date with Wilder — Lemmon plays a completely different character from the ones in previous Wilder movies. He’s much less [Read more →]

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Day Twenty Three: The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes

July 22nd, 2011 · 1970, Adaptation, Arthur Conan Doyle, Christopher Lee, Colin Blakely, Gabrielle Valladon, IAL Diamond, Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Robert Stephens, Sidney Lumet, Tamara Toumanova

The Private Life of Sherlock HolmesBilly Wilder’s twenty-third movie, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Stephens and Colin Blakely, was released in 1970. Billy was 64 years old.

This movie represents another career twist for Billy Wilder. It was released four years after The Fortune Cookie, and is not a comedy — slapstick, frenetic, or otherwise. It’s a fairly straightforward detective movie of the Sidney Lumet variety. Something about it reminds me of Murder On the Orient Express. Perhaps it’s the cinematography.

I like Sherlock Holmes. I own The Complete Sherlock Holmes two-volume annotated set, and the leather-bound Complete Sherlock Holmes edition. I’ve seen a few Sherlock movies starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce (to my mind, the best Holmes and Watson of all time). So I’m totally into the subject matter.

Yet this movie bored me to tears.

Robert Stephens, as Holmes, is too angry, too sexually ambivalent, and too preoccupied with his 7% solution (of cocaine) for my tastes. Watson was no better. I couldn’t get interested in the story. I’m not that interested in Sherlock’s private life. I want to see his public cases, as told by Watson. Those offer plenty of excitement.

Principle Cast:
Sherlock Holmes……………………………………Robert Stephens (1931–1995)
Dr. Watson…………………………………………..Colin Blakely (1930–1987)
Geneviève Page…………………………………….Gabrielle Valladon (1927- )
Mycroft Holmes…………………………………….Christopher Lee (1922- )
Madame Petrova…………………………………….Tamara Toumanova (1919-1996)

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Day Twenty Two: The Fortune Cookie

July 21st, 2011 · 1966, Academy Award, Cliff Osmond, Ed Sikov, Fortune Cookie, Howard McNear, IAL Diamond, Jack Lemmon, On Sunset Boulevard, Walter Matthau

The Fortune CookieBilly Wilder’s twenty-second movie, The Fortune Cookie, the Academy-Award winning film starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, was released in 1966. Billy was 60 years old.

It’s a good thing I like Jack Lemmon. Here he is again in The Fortune Cookie. (All told, Lemmon appears in seven Wilder films!)

Fortunately, this time he’s with Walter Matthau, another of my favorite actors.

This is a genuinely funny movie. Act I is, anyway. As soon as jowly, dour Walter Matthau appears on screen, the movie takes off. Everything he says is funny because of the way he says it. Matthau won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his portrayal of an ambulance-chasing lawyer (“Whiplash Willie”) who smells a big payoff when [Read more →]

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Day Twenty One: Kiss Me, Stupid

July 20th, 2011 · 1964, Adaptation, Dean Martin, Ed Sikov, Howard McNear, IAL Diamond, John Fiedler, Kim Novak, Peter Sellers, Ray Walston

Kiss Me StupidBilly Wilder’s twenty-first movie, Kiss Me Stupid, starring Dean Martin and Kim Novak, was released in 1964. Billy was 58 years old.

Kiss Me, Stupid opens with Dean Martin on stage, essentially, playing himself — Dino, a lecherous Vegas singer. In between puffs on his cigarette, and swigs from his glass of bourbon, he sings and laughs about performing with Sinatra, Bishop, and Sammy…then cracks a joke about Bing Crosby (“I don’t know why he works so hard. He’s got 21 million dollars…on him”) before leaving the stage.

In one early scene, Dino encounters a police road block and asks, “What’s the matter — is that Sinatra kid missing again?” That now-obscure reference is to Frank Sinatra, Jr., who had been kidnapped the year before Kiss Me, Stupid was released.

Author Ed Sikov (who wrote the definitive biography [Read more →]

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Day Twenty: Irma la Douce

July 19th, 2011 · 1963, Academy Award, Adaptation, Alexandre Breffort, Bruce Yarnell, Grace Lee Whitney, Herschel Bernardi, Howard McNear, Irma la Douce, Jack Lemmon, Lou Jacobi, Paris, Shirley MacLaine

Irma la DouceBilly Wilder’s twentieth movie, Irma la Douce, starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley Maclaine, was released in 1963. Billy was 57 years old.

Once again, Billy’s directorial output takes a turn — this time for the better. It’s possible this is a better movie than the one that preceded it (One, Two, Three, starring James Cagney) because the actors are better in Irma la Douce. Jack Lemmon is always a joy to behold. And Shirley MacLaine is cute as a button. But it’s equally as possible the reason I enjoy Irma la Douce more than One, two, Three is because these characters aren’t shouting every single line.

Written by Wilder and I.A.L.Diamond, Irma la Douce is based on the play by Alexandre Breffort and is the story of an ex cop (Lemmon) in Paris who falls in love with a prostitute (MacLaine) — with all the ensuing challenges that inevitably follow.

It’s nice to see Lemmon and MacLaine together again. They had great chemistry in The Apartment (1960), and they have terrific in this film.

André Previn won an Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment.

Principle Cast:
Nestor Patou / Lord X………………………………Jack Lemmon (1925–2001)
Irma La Douce…………………………………………Shirley MacLaine (1934- )
Moustache……………………………………………….Lou Jacobi (1913-2009)
Hippolyte………………………………………………..Bruce Yarnell (1935-1973)
Insp. Lefevre…………………………………………..Herschel Bernardi (1923-1986)
Kiki the Cossack………………………………………..Grace Lee Whitney (1930- )
Concierge………………………………………………..Howard McNear (1905-1969)

I was surprised by two familiar faces: Howard McNear, who played (brilliantly) Floyd the Barber [Read more →]

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Day Nineteen: One, Two, Three

July 18th, 2011 · 1961, Adaptation, Arlene Francis, Berlin, Coca-Cola, Horst Buchholz, IAL Diamond, James Cagney, One Two Three, Pamela Tiffin, Zany

One, Two, ThreeBilly Wilder’s nineteenth movie, One, Two, Three, starring James Cagney, was released in 1961. Billy was 55 years old.

I know I’m in trouble when the blurbs on the DVD box announce the movie inside is: “A fast-paced, lighthearted farce crammed with gags!” and “Wilder and Diamond at their zaniest best!”

“Gags” and “zany” are not words I like associated with my movies. And what’s with that second blurb? “Zaniest best”? Shouldn’t it be “zany best”?

One, Two, Three is a movie about an American Coca-Cola executive (Cagney) working in West Berlin who’s asked by his boss in Atlanta to watch over his young daughter for two weeks. The girl is sent to Berlin where she proves to be a wild child, and the Coca-Cola executive quickly learns he has his work cut out for him.

Principle Cast:
C.R. MacNamara…………………………………..James Cagney (1899–1986)
Otto Ludwig Piffl………………………………..Horst Buchholz (1933–2003)
Scarlett Hazeltine……………………………….Pamela Tiffin (1942- )
Phyllis MacNamara ……………………………….Arlene Francis (1907–2001)
Wendell P. Hazeltine …………………………….Howard St. John (1905–1974)

Despite the red-flag words (“gags” and “zany”), One, Two Three starts with promise — voiceover narration revealing [Read more →]

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Day Eighteen: The Apartment

July 17th, 2011 · 1960, Academy Award, Apartment, Fred MacMurray, IAL Diamond, Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine

The ApartmentBilly Wilder’s eighteenth movie, The Apartment, the Academy-Award winning comedy starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray, was released in 1960. Billy was 54 years old.

In typical Billy Wilder fashion, The Apartment starts with voiceover narration — lots and lots of exposition, which is usually the kiss of death for a screenwriter with less deftness. But, Wilder and screenwriting partner I.A.L. Diamond reveal everything there is to know about the protagonist and his world by telling, rather than showing…and it’s fascinating. So the audience doesn’t realize there’s a lot of talking going on; they’re just captivated by what’s being said.

The Apartment is about a nebbish named C.C. Baxter (Lemmon) who’s apartment is used by some of the executives in the insurance company where he works. Under the guise of promising him a promotion in exchange for his cooperation, the executives borrow [Read more →]

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