Baxter, a corporate accountant who moved to New York City to work for a life insurance corporation he says is larger than the regular American city. Jack Lemmon, the sorriest, most hangdog-looking actor ever to have achieved celebrity, plays said regular guy-C.C.

The size of the new America dwarfs mere humans. The Apartment especially shows that, for the regular guy, national greatness might be a burden-the ambition to succeed in this brave new world can lead to debasement. His movies admitted life ain’t great, even at the postwar peak of American confidence. Wilder was wonderfully witty, and there was such joy in his comedies, but also quite a lot of cynicism, which also endeared him to American audiences. His comedies were somewhat more immoral than was usual in Hollywood at that time and his dramas somewhat more revealing of ugliness-that’s the European touch. Wilder was a Jewish immigrant, and his success in Hollywood shows how interested in America he was and how perceptive-after all, he was a writer, he had things to say, and for a generation, the audience agreed with him. He made one more great movie, One Two Three (1961), but a career was ending whose highlights we still love: Sunset Boulevard (1950) and Double Indemnity (1944), Some Like It Hot (1959) and Sabrina (1954), and Witness for the Prosecution (1957). It was nominated for 10 Oscars and won five-three of them went to Billy Wilder: Best Screenplay, Director, and Picture-the culmination of two astonishing decades in Hollywood. This is especially true of the best New Year’s movie, The Apartment (1960). However festive New Year’s Eve, with “Auld Lang Syne” playing, we’re haunted by our mortality. New Year’s movies are comparatively depressing they break our hearts by insisting on our failures-they are wistful. Humanity triumphs at the end of the story-for evidence, read my series of essays on The Bishop’s Wife, The Shop Around the Corner, Christmas in Connecticut, and Miracle on 34th Street.

Christmas movies tend to be sentimental, to emphasize the struggles that define our society and our souls, but ultimately they are hopeful and even joyful.

One two three full movie billy wilder