The best film of 1960 ?

I just never wanted to see THE APARTMENT, and avoided it for 50 years until yesterday when I gave in, and it has left me with mixed feelings. I love every second of Wilder's previous, SOME LIKE IT HOT, and also his next ONE TWO THREE, but the idea of THE APARTMENT left me cold and I felt it could only have won best picture and best director as Wilder lost out in 1959 for SOME LIKE IT HOT (the best comedy ever) as BEN HUR swept the board, in that very strong year with those great films by Preminger, Zinnemann, Kramer, Hitchcock, Hawks, Sirk, Mankiewicz and others. Also over the years I developed a strong antipathy to both Lemmon and McLaine. Lemmon was marvellous of course in DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES in 1962 but by 1964's GOOD NEIGHBOUR SAM those annoying mannerisms and that grating persona were settling in - SAM at over 2 hours seemed far too long with its obvious satire of advertising and suburbia and was only bearable for Romy Schneider in one of her American movies.

But back to THE APARTMENT - its wonderful and I like it a lot, though the premise that all these executives would not go to hotels or have an apartment of their own, but would be using schmuck C C Baxter's humble apartment, seems unreal. McLaine's Fran Kubelik is one of her most genuinely appealing roles and they are perfect together here, as is Fred McMurray and that tiny role by Edie Adams and that great party scene. Best Film of 1960? - not quite in the year of PSYCHO and L'AVVENTURA but certainly one of the best. Just don't expect me to watch IRMA LA DOUCE !