27 Days With Billy Wilder And Me

Every Movie He Directed…From Mauvaise Graine to Buddy Buddy

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Day Seventeen: Some Like It Hot

July 16th, 2011 · 1959, IAL Diamond, Inciting Incident, Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe, Mid Point, Plot Point I, Plot Point II, Some Like It Hot, Tony Curis

Some Like It HotBilly Wilder’s seventeenth movie, Some Like It Hot, the irrepressible comedy starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Marilyn Monroe, was released in 1959. Billy was 53 years old.

This is what movie-making is all about!

Some Like It Hot is my second favorite movie, following closely on the heels of Casablanca.

This is note perfect, from the jazz-era setting in gangster-ridden Chicago, 1929, to the mouth-watering performance by Marylin Monroe, to the antics of Curtis and Lemmon in drag, to the last line of the movie, arguably one of the best ever penned and spoken (again, second only to Rick’s famous line, “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship” in the final scene of Casablanca).

The story, written by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond (based on the story by Robert Thoeren and Michael Logan) is about two penniless male musicians who witness a gangland hit (the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre). To hide from the thugs, they pose as two women to land a gig in an all-girls band bound for Florida for a run of shows. One of the men — Curtis (posing as Josephine) — falls for a shapely female musician (Marilyn Monroe, who plays Sugar Kane Kowalczyk). Knowing he can’t reveal his true identity, he [Read more →]

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Day Sixteen: Witness For the Prosecution

July 15th, 2011 · 1957, Adaptation, Agatha Christie, Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester, Harry Kurnitz, Larry Marcus, Tyrone Power, Una O'Connor, Witness For the Prosecution

Witness For the ProsecutionBilly Wilder’s sixteenth movie, Witness For the Prosecution, starring Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton, and Elsa Lanchester, was released in 1957. Billy was 51 years old.

After watching The Spirit of 76 and Love in the Afternoon — two of Billy Wilder’s weaker movies — Witness For the Prosecution looks like an Academy-Award winner.

Even without the previous two clunkers, Witness For the Prosecution stands on its own as a very good movie. Charles Laughton, alone, is worth the price of admission. But, an admission: I love courtroom dramas. Some of my favorite movies take place in the courtroom. The higher the stakes, the more clever the revelation of facts, the more taut the dialogue, the better it is. Witness For the Prosecution features a compelling story and a twist of an ending. It’s a corker.

Written by Billy Wilder, Harry Kurnitz, and Larry Marcus, Witness For the Prosecution is based on the play by Agatha Christie, the world’s most popular mystery writer.

This is another plus for me. I’ve been reading Agatha Christie lately. And [Read more →]

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Day Fifteen: Love In the Afternoon

July 14th, 2011 · 1957, Adaptation, Audrey Hepburn, Claude Anet, Gary Cooper, IAL Diamond, John McGiver, Love in the Afternoon, Maurice Chevalier

Love In the AfternoonBilly Wilder’s fifteenth movie, Love in the Afternoon, starring Gary Cooper and Audrey Hepburn, was released in 1957. Billy was 51 years old.

First, a few comments:

1. Maurice Chevalier has always given me the creeps. Anyone who can sing a song like, “Thank Heaven For Little Girls” (from Gigi, 1958) while gazing with a leer at girls of “five or six or seven” shouldn’t be in films. He should be behind bars.

2. Gary Cooper makes Keanu Reeves look like Marlon Brando. ‘Nuff said.

3. Ewww. Gary Cooper was 56 in this film. Audrey Hepburn, his love interest, was 28 — half his age. It shows. Coop looks like Hepburn’s grandfather. Even the DVD cover photo gives me the willies. Maurice must have felt right at home in this picture.

The movie is about a private investigator (Chevalier) hired by Monsieur X (McGiver) to spy on his wife. The PI takes photos of an American playboy (Cooper) making out with [Read more →]

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Day Fourteen: The Spirit of St. Louis

July 13th, 2011 · 1957, Adaptation, Charles Lindbergh, Jimmy Stewart, Spirit of St Louis

Irma la DouceBilly Wilder’s fourteenth movie, The Spirit of St. Louis,The Spirit of St. Louis, starring James Stewart, was released in in 1957. Billy was 51 years old.

Principle Cast:
Charles Augustus ‘Slim’ Lindbergh…………………………….James Stewart

I don’t know what to say about this movie. For one thing, Lucky Lindy was 25 when he made his famous solo trans-Atlantic crossing. Yet, in this movie, James Stewart is actually in his late forties. He doesn’t necessarily look 48 or 49. But he certainly doesn’t look 25.

I’m not sure why Billy Wilder cast another old guy in a role that should have been given to a much younger actor. But two movies, back to back (this one and the next one, Love In the Afternoon) feature miscast lead characters.

Often, when I see a movie with an obvious flaw, I can’t get past the obvious flaw. It’s like trying not to notice the two-ton elephant in the living room.

On top of that, the story just isn’t that interesting. The real story — of Charles Lindbergh’s flight — is fascinating. But The Spirit of St. Louis is bland fare, indeed.

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Day Thirteen: The Seven Year Itch

July 12th, 2011 · 1955, Adaptation, Ally McBeal, Billy Wilder In Hollywood, Billy Wilder Interviews, James Thurber, Marilyn Monroe, Maurice Zolotow, My World and Welcome To It, Robert Horton, Seven Year Itch, Tom Ewell, Walter Mitty, William Windom

The Seven Year ItchBilly Wilder’s thirteenth movie, The Seven Year Itch, starring Tom Ewell and the legendary Marilyn Monroe, was released in 1955. Billy was 49 years old.

This is a fun film that remind me of James Thurber’s humor, sort of a Walter Mittyesque fantasy. Or, if anyone remembers it, the short-lived TV series called My World and Welcome To It, starring William Windom. Lots of narration, scenes that spring from the protagonist’s mind, causing a blurring of reality and fantasy. This thematic device was used successfully many years later in the TV series Ally McBeal.

Although people think of Marilyn Monroe when they think of The Seven Year Itch, the movie really belongs to Tom Ewell. The vast majority of the film rides on his shoulders. It’s his narration and wry, often deadpan delivery that makes or breaks the movie. Ewell does a fine job. But I can’t help but look forward to every frame Marilyn is in. She is magical, the epitome of breathy, sultry (albeit ditzy) sensuality. She oozes sex appeal from every pore.

The movie is about a man (Ewell), married (for seven years) with a child, whose family [Read more →]

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Day Twelve: Sabrina

July 11th, 2011 · 1954, Adaptation, Audrey Hepburn, Ernest Lehman, Humphrey Bogart, Sabrina, Samuel Taylor, William Holden

SabrinaBilly Wilder’s twelfth movie, Sabrina, starring William Holden, Humphrey Bogart, and Audrey Hepburn, was released in 1954. Billy was 48 years old.

Apparently, during the filming of this movie, Humphrey Bogart was a turd. And so was Billy Wilder. All of them exchanged words, with Bogey and William Holden nearly coming to blows.

This is an odd movie. It’s got all the hallmarks of a Wilder film — especially the narration at the start to set the tone and reveal information to the watching audience. It features William Holden (for the third time in a Wilder film!), clever dialogue, and a rollicking, character-driven plot.

But it’s just not all that good. It’s a cross between a drama and a comedy, with an ending that’s [Read more →]

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Day Eleven: Stalag 17

July 10th, 2011 · 1953, Academy Award, Adaptation, Don Taylor, Harvey Lembeck, Neville Brand, Otto Preminger, Peter Graves, Richard Erdman, Robert Strauss, Stalag 17, William Holden

Stalag 17Billy Wilder’s eleventh movie, Stalag 17, starring William Holden, was released in 1953. Billy was 47 years old.

This is a great movie, one I’ve seen many times. And I’m sure I’ll see it many more times to come.

In typical Billy Wilder fashion, it relies heavily on narration, well-rounded characters, and clever plotting.

William Holden — fresh from Sunset Boulevard — won an Oscar for his portrayal of J.J. Sefton, a prisoner of war in Stalag 17 wrongly accused of being a stoolie.

Principle Cast:
Sgt. J.J. Sefton…………………………………William Holden (1918–1981)
Lt. James Dunbar……………………………..Don Taylor (1920–1998)
Oberst von Scherbach………………………..Otto Preminger (1905–1986)
Sgt. Stanislaus ‘Animal’ Kuzawa………….Robert Strauss (1913–1975)
Sgt. Harry Shapiro…………………………….Harvey Lembeck (1923–1982)
Sgt. ‘Hoffy’ Hoffman………………………….Richard Erdman (1925- )
Sgt. Price………………………………………….Peter Graves (1926–2010)
Duke………………………………………………..Neville Brand (1920–1992)

Stalag 17 was written by Billy Wilder, Edwin Blum, and Donald Bevan. It was based on the play by Edmund Trzcinski.

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Day Ten: Ace In the Hole

July 9th, 2011 · 1951, Ace In the Hole, Ed Sikov, Frank Cady, Jan Sterling, Kirk Douglas, Lesser Samuels, On Sunset Boulevard, Porter Hall, Robert Arthur, Victor Desny

Ace In the HoleBilly Wilder’s tenth movie, Ace In the Hole, starring Kirk Douglas, was released in 1951. Billy was 45 years old.

According to the book On Sunset Boulevard On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder, by Ed Sikov, Ace in the Hole is an unabashedly cynical Billy Wilder movie.

It’s the story of a crusty, down-on-his-luck, and morally bankrupt newspaper reporter from New York who — knocked down by a libel suit — wanders from job to job throughout the Midwest until he finds himself begging for a job on a small-town paper in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

He gets the job. And pines for “the big story that’ll get me outta here.”

He gets that, too. But it turns out to be more than [Read more →]

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Day Nine: Sunset Boulevard

July 8th, 2011 · 1950, Academy Award, Ed Sikov, Erich von Stroheim, Fred Clark, Gloria Swanson, Jack Webb, Lloyd Gough, Montgomery Clift, Nancy Olson, On Sunset Boulevard, Sunset Boulevard, William Holden

Sunset BoulevardBilly Wilder’s ninth movie, Sunset Boulevard, arguably one of the greatest films ever made, was released in 1950. Billy was 44 years old.

If all Billy Wilder had ever directed was Sunset Boulevard it would have been enough to secure him a place on the Mount next to Zeus. This is the stuff of legend. It is flawlessly scripted, perfectly cast, and brilliantly directed.

I’m not worthy to watch this.

It’s the kind of movie that both sickens and beckons me. I am drawn to its luminescence like a moth to a flame, yet I am afraid of it. Do I have a snowball’s chance in hell to rise to this level?

Principle Cast:
Joe Gillis…………………………………………William Holden (1918–1981)
Norma Desmond………………………………Gloria Swanson (1899–1983)
Max Von Mayerling…………………………..Erich von Stroheim (1885–1957)
Betty Schaefer………………………………….Nancy Olson (1928- )
Sheldrake……………………………………….Fred Clark (1914–1968)
Morino………………………………………….Lloyd Gough (1907–1984)
Artie Green……………………………………..Jack Webb (1920–1982)

Sunset Boulevard is similar in construction to Double Indemnity. It [Read more →]

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Day Eight: A Foreign Affair

July 7th, 2011 · 1948, A Foreign Affair, Berlin, Charles Brackett, Jean Arthur, John Lund, Marlene Dietrich, Millard Mitchell

A Foreign AffairBilly Wilder’s eighth movie, A Foreign Affair, is a comedy/drama set in Berlin post WW II starring Jean Arthur and Marlene Deitrich. It was released in 1948. Billy was 42 years old.

This movie was also written by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett. But it’s no Lost Weekend. It’s not even a Major and the Minor. It’s closer to an Emperor’s Waltz, which means it’s campy, blustery, and clunky.

Principle Cast:
Congresswoman Phoebe Frost………………..Jean Arthur (1900–1991)
Erika Von Schluetow……………………………..Marlene Dietrich (1901–1992)
Captain John W. Pringle………………………….John Lund (1911–1992)
Col. Rufus J. Plummer……………………………Millard Mitchell (1903–1953)

I have an admission to make. Two, actually:

1. I don’t like Jean Arthur. Her bio on IMDB says this about her:

This marvelous screen comedienne’s best asset was only muffled during her seven years’ stint in silent films. That asset? It was, of course, her squeaky, frog-like voice, which silent-era cinema audiences had simply no way of perceiving, much less appreciating.

I perceive it. But [Read more →]

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