DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Billy Wilder
PRODUCTION CO: The Mirisch Company
SCREENPLAY: Billy Wilder, IAL Diamond
PHOTOGRAPHY: Joseph LaShelle
EDITOR: Daniel Mandell
MUSIC: Adolph Deutsch
WITH: Jack Lemmon (CC 'Buddy Boy' Baxter), Shirley MacLaine (Fran Kubelik), Fred MacMurray (Jeff D Sheldrake), Ray Walston (Joe Dobisch), Jack Kruschen (Dr David Dreyfuss), Frances Weintraub Lax (Mrs Liebermann)

REVIEWS

“Billy Wilder perfected his signature mix of cynicism and sentiment with this sardonic romantic comedy, which won him his second Best Director Oscar and also took home trophies for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. Jack Lemmon stars as Bud Baxter, a lowly office drone at a giant insurance firm who looks to scale the corporate ladder by loaning out his apartment to higher-ups for their extramarital assignations. Heartbroken when he discovers that his crush Fran (Shirley MacLaine) is the mistress of his callous boss (Fred MacMurray), Bud becomes her unlikely saviour when she attempts suicide from romantic despair. Nursing her back to health in his apartment, the corporate mouse becomes a lion in love, fearlessly facing down his bosses even as he can’t quite confess his feelings to Fran.”

– TIFF Cinematheque

“When Wilder and Lemmon worked together, their strongest films brought darkness and delight to the screen with sophistication, humour and a biting satirical edge. This is their masterpiece, a wry comment on the vicious world of corporate America, but with an ending as romantic and beautiful as Hollywood ever mustered.”

– Hannah Gatward, British Film Institute

FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS

​​Nelson  
Wednesday, 25 February, 6.00pm

Wellington    
Monday, 09 March, 6.00pm

​Wellington    
Monday, 09 March, 8.30pm

Timaru  
Tuesday,17 March, 6.30pm

New Plymouth  
Wednesday, 08 April, 6.00pm

Hamilton     
Monday, 20 April, 6.30pm

Bigger Picture Ōamaru
Thursday, 28 April, 7.00pm

Dunedin     
Wednesday, 08 July, 7.30pm

Queenstown  
Tuesday, 22 September, 8.00pm

Whanganui    
Monday, 05 October, 7.00pm

Tauranga   
Wednesday, 14 October, 6.00pm

Canterbury  
Monday, 02 November, 7.00pm

Westport  
Monday, 11 November, 7.00pm

Auckland
Monday, 23 November, 6.00pm
RETRO CLASSICS >>