Great Moments From Cinema - 21

The Deck Of Cards
Movie: The Apartment (The Mirisch Corporation; 1960)
Director: Billy Wilder
Screenplay: Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond
Major Cast: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine and Fred MacMurray

Film Synopsis: Lemmon, a young clerk in an insurance company, finds that lending out his apartment to the executives for their affairs is an easy ticket for getting promoted. However, he did not expect to find that the secret love of his life, MacLaine, is in fact his bosses (MacMurray) mistress and who frequents his apartment regularly.

My Favorite Moment: MacLaine to Lemmon, “Shut up and deal”

Why I Like It: Only Billy Wilder can pull this off. This is a movie which deals with a sleazy topic such as adultery; the main character is as immoral as anyone else and yet it is funny while being surprisingly heart-breaking. Although we frown at some of the things the people do in this movie, we cannot help but feel sorry for them as we identify with their loneliness and insecurities. What could have been a B-grade adult drama, ends up as one of the fantastic movies of all time, which won the Academy award as ‘Best Film’ of 1960.

The line mentioned above is the very last one of the film. That should not deter from the overall greatness of the movie. Lemmon is a lonely man who has nobody at home and nothing much to look forward to in life. He is one of the hundreds of insurance salesmen who are in a dull job. However, unlike the others, he cannot even go back home in the evening since he ‘lends’ his apartment out to the executives, who in return promise to help him move up the ladder. He does like the elevator girl, ‘Miss Kubelik’ (MacLaine), but is shy to ask her out. What he doesn’t know is that she is involved in an illicit affair with MacMurray, Lemmon’s sweet talking boss. One day Lemmon finds a compact mirror in his apartment and returns it to MacMurray. Later when he sees it in MacLaine’s hand, he realizes the truth and is heartbroken, but doesn’t say anything. He has surrendered completely to his loneliness and would much rather be promoted in his professional life than be happy in his personal one. Later on, finding that MacMurray has no intention of divorcing his wife, MacLaine tries to commit suicide in Lemmon’s apartment, but he saves and nurses her back to health. One of the pastimes as she recovers is playing cards. Despite their mutual attraction towards each other, he doesn’t want to tell her to stop seeing his boss and she wants him to say that he loves her and that he will quit his job.

Finally, she goes back to MacMurray and when Lemmon’s conscience gets the better of him, he resigns and is preparing to leave town. MacLaine learns about this, leaves MacMurray and comes to Lemmon’s apartment as he packs. When he realizes that she has come for him, he tells her “You hear what I said, Miss Kubelik? I absolutely adore you.” She looks oblivious to all of this and is shuffling cards. She just smiles at him with tears in her eyes, gives him the deck of cards and says the famous last dialogue. Nothing else was needed; no romantic dialogue, no kiss. It is a perfect end to a perfect scene. Wilder has another last line winner after the fantastic ending words in Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard and Some Like It Hot. Yes, we should really despise Lemmon for what he does. But how can you not feel sorry when you see him on cold nights, shivering outside in the park, looking sorrowfully at the light inside his apartment.