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Billy Wilder and comedy: An analysis of comedic and production techniques in "Buddy Buddy".

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Billy Wilder and comedy: An analysis of comedic and production techniques in "Buddy Buddy".

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Content BILLY WILDER AND COMEDY:
AN ANALYSIS OF COMEDIC AND PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES
IN BUDDY BUDDY
by
Richard Parker Hadley, Jr.
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirement for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(Communication— Cinema)
May 1989
Copyright Richard Parker Hadley, Jr. 1989
UMI Number: DP22447
All rights reserved
INFORMATION TO ALL USERS
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a note will indicate the deletion.
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bt>.
CM
H i 3 l
n
This dissertation, written by
. Ri . .Esxfcex. Ji&alay *.. J. r.«.......
under the direction of h is Dissertation
Committee, a n d approved by all its members,
has been presented to and accepted by The
Graduate School, in partial fulfillm ent of re
quirements fo r the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Dean of Graduate Studies
D a te teii 1989
DISSERTATION COMMITTEE
Chairperson
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I INTRODUCTION............................. 1
Statement of the Problem................
Significance of the Study..............
Scope of the Study............ .........
Review of the Literature................
Methodology..............................
Organization of the Remainder
of the Dissertation..................
II THE ROOTS OF BUDDY BUDDY: SOME LIKE
IT HOT. THE APARTMENT. AND THE
FORTUNE COOKIE...................... 24
III THE ADAPTATION OF L"EMMERDEUR....... 82
IV ACTORS AND ACTING........................ 108
V ART DIRECTION: INTEGRATING SETS
AND LOCATIONS.......................... 139
VI THE CAMERA................................ 165
VII EDITING................................... 188
VIII SOUND AND MUSIC..... .................... 215
IX SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.................. 240
X REFERENCES................................ 264
ii
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
In December, 1981 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released Buddy
Buddy. co-written and directed by Billy Wilder. This film
was eagerly awaited by this writer. It would be the first
comedy by Billy Wilder in seven years, and the first
reteaming of Wilder, Jack Lemmon, and Walter Matthau since'
the moderately successful The Front Page (Universal,:
1974). I was fortunate enough to be on the set for eleven
of the twelve weeks of the shooting of the film, and along!
with most of the cast and crew expected this film to be a
comic success. Many even felt that we might be witnessing
the creation of another comic masterpiece. On the set
Jack Lemmon stated, "This is the best film I've been in,
I
since Some Like It Hot.1 1 Wilder himself was more guarded,j
"Let's wait and see." j
I
J
Surprisingly, the film opened in December, 1981 toj
generally bad reviews and an even worse performance at the
box office. After its brief theatrical run, it returned
only $3,014,23 0 in film rentals, covering barely one-third
of its budget.^- Variety was unhappy to report that it
" . . . is undoubtedly the weakest of Billy Wilder's 25
Hollywood pictures . . . "2 The Hollywood Reporter
said, "Despite some strong credentials— namely the
participation of Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau and director
Billy Wilder— MGM's "Buddy Buddy" basically suffers a case
of the blahs."3 Only auteurist critics like Richard
i
Corliss in TIME. Andrew Sarris in The Village Voice and
Vincent Canby in The New York Times attempted to findj
glimmers of quality in the generally mediocre proceedings*!
Instead of Buddy Buddy being a major success, it became
1
the last film that Billy Wilder would make in a long j
and illustrious career. |
i
Wilder would be quick to acknowledge the treachery of
comedy directing and the failure of Buddy Buddy. He has'
i
said:
. . . We just never know .... You
always enter a dark room and you can
always fall over a piece of furniture •
and break your neck. Some of us see a j
little better in the dark than others. i
But there is no assurance, whatsoever, j
that it is going to come off.4 j
What then accounts for the failure of one comedy and thej
I
success of another? How could one of the great comedyi
actors, Jack Lemmon, think he was making a great film, ifj
later that film would prove to be a dismal failure?
l
Despite the lack of commercial and critical success of|
i
Buddy Buddy. a study of the film still provides valuablej
insights into the nature and fragility of the comedy I
form. The film's lack of success does not invalidate!
i
Billy Wilder's insights into comedy directing and!
techniques. This study will analyze these two areas!
and in the process show how truly difficult and
treacherous comedy directing is, particularly of thei
farce.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The purpose of this study is (1) to define the
! working methods of Billy Wilder from the script stage
I i
| through the production of Buddy Buddy. his final film, j
i
j and (2) analyze his film-making style (use of script, [
j actors, camera, sound, sets, and editing) as these
J elements are used to create comedy. j
| The specific questions this study will attempt to!
answer will be: ,
1. In a comedy how does Wilder attempt to get the
audience to participate, to take part in the game that he
I
has created? To what extent do film-making techniques add!
to or detract from this sense of audience participation,
which creates involvement and laughter?
2. Why is Buddy. Buddy an important part of Billy
Wilder's career rather than an isolated failure? Why |
I
would he be attracted to this particular piece of
material? Why did he think that this particular "game"
would work? What other films were an influence on the j
I
creation of Buddy Buddy? Is Buddy Buddy similar to his |
I
3
comic successes such as Some Like It Hot. The Apartment.
and The Fortune Cookie. in terms of construction,
character, dialogue, and visual humor?
3. What methods did Billy Wilder and I. A. L.
Diamond use in adapting L'Emmerdeur by Francis Veber, a
1973 French farce directed by Edouard Molinaro, into the
screenplay of Buddy Buddy? What changes were made in the
story and why were they significant? To what extent were
the story choices good ones? To what extent bad ones?[
i
Was the piece of material a good one to begin with? j
4. How does Wilder work on the set? How does he!
I
relate to the crew? How does he set mood, pace, and tone?'
What is unique about his way of directing comedy? Is it!
i
effective? Does he represent an outdated "classical"I
Hollywood style or has he adapted his methods to the "new"j
i
Hollywood? i
l
i
5. What are the specific techniques that Wilder usesi
i
in creating his unique comedy style? How does he use the
elements of film (actors and acting, script, camera,
sound, art direction, and editing) to create humor? To
what extent are his techniques effective? Are thesej
techniques being used as effectively in Buddy Buddy as;
they were used in his "classic" comedies, Some Like It
Hot, The Apartment. and The Fortune Cookie?
4
6. Explain why Buddy Buddy was a failure even though
most of the people on the set felt they were watching a
comic masterpiece evolving. What went wrong?
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROBLEM
Few Hollywood directors have had more distinguished
careers or more artistic freedom over such a long period
of time than Billy Wilder. During his forty year career
I
(as a director) he has received twenty-three Academy Awardj
nominations, six Academy Awards, and has twice been I
awarded the coveted Laurel Award of the Writer's Guild Of;
I
America for lifetime achievement. He was the first;
director to win three Academy Awards in one night (fort
C ■
writing, directing, and producing The Apartment in 1960). ■
Leonard Maltin in his book TV Movies rates twenty-five!
films that were co-authored by Wilder either three and a;
half or four stars, a feat unrivaled by any other writer j
i
or director in Hollywood. Yet despite these remarkablei
achievements, Wilder's star became tarnished in the |
sixties. He has not had a commercial hit since Irma La
Douce in 1963 and for the next two decades fell out of
critical favor, partly because of the disastrous reception
1
I
of his comedy, Kiss Me Stupid, and the development of the j
auteur theory.6 Auteur critics such as Francois Truffaut!
i
(also a French New Wave director) and Andrew Sarris I
championed more flashy directors such as Douglas Sirk and
Nicholas Ray in an attempt to debunk the Hollywood
establishment that Wilder represented to them.7 They
looked on him as primarily a writer, whose films lacked
visual style. Many of the critical attitudes that these
two men fostered are still influential today; however,
they had failed to see the complexity of Wilder's style.
Contrary to popular belief, Wilder's camera style is
l
j highly elegant and complex with moving camera shots that
cover four pages of dialogue; however, his style has gone*
I
j
unnoticed because he is the epitome of the "invisible"j
director. He does not believe in calling attention to the
i
camera and the director for he wants the audience to!
i
i
; forget they are watching the screen. At the end of the(
I ■
i filming of Buddy Buddy. he was proud that there was.
I ^
"... not one phony or pretentious set-up in the entire]
t
film." Public and critical acclaim change with the years,!
i
and even Andrew Sarris would later admit in an important t
article in Film Comment that in his seminal study The!
American Cinema he had severely underrated Billy Wilder,
probably more than any other director.
In the last few years public acclaim has again j
i
returned to Billy Wilder. In the past three years Billy!
i
Wilder has received more public recognition than at any;
i
other time in the past decade. He has received three of,
6
film-making's most prestigious awards, the Lifetime
Achievement Award from The American Film Institute, the
D. W. Griffith Directing Award from the Director's Guild
Of America, and the Irving Thalberg Award (for Producing)
i
from the Motion Picture Academy. With the success of the
1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan, the term "screwball
comedy" has re-emerged, a form that he helped to make
famous. Clearly, Hollywood is recognizing that his views:
on film-making have relevance today, a fact that was j
i
I
highlighted by his recent tenure as a consultant to United
Artists. Once again critics and film-makers are
recognizing his unique genius, particularly in the!
difficult arena of comedy. ^
l . .... . .
I This study is significant because the time is long
i
overdue for a detailed analysis of Billy Wilder's comic!
style and techniques. Although there is extensive!
literature on Wilder, particularly focusing on his themes,i
this would be the first detailed analysis of his workingj
methods. Also, it will provide insight into the "lost'
art" of traditional Hollywood film-making. At the
beginning of the filming of Buddy Buddy, Wilder told me,
"This is a good film to watch because it is a classical
film. Not that it will be a classic. It is carefully
i
prepared, expensive, but with a beginning, middle, and i
end. They don't make films this way anymore." Indeed, in
many of the recent blockbuster comedies such as Animal ~ j
House, Ghost Busters. and Porky/s. construction and
character are sacrificed for the gag. However, there are
signs that story construction is returning to vogue. In
the last few years some comedy hits have had stronger
stories: Tootsie. Desperately Seeking Susan. Romancing
The Stone. Back To The Future. Splash. Outrageous Fortune.
I t
, and Moonstruck.
i 1
In these days of runaway comedy productions, such as '
Howard The Duck (1986), Ishtar (1987), and Terry Gilliam's j
new film, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989),
Wilder's working methods are the model of economy. Had it 1
not been for a serious accident to Walter Matthau on the
|
next-to-last day of filming, Buddy Buddy would have been j
i
completed one week ahead of schedule. Wilder always knows j
what he wants on the set and is economical in shooting and j
printing film. Although he shoots in continuity (which
would normally take more time) , he shoots virtually no
coverage of a scene, and prints only one take of a shot
for the most part.
Although there is extensive literature on Wilder,
this study is significant because it is the first detailed
analysis of his methods of directing comedy based on the
firsthand observation of the entire production of a ;
i
feature. This study should be particularly useful to |
8
cinema students that are interested in either directing
comedy or Billy Wilder's film-making style. The producer
of Buddy Buddy. Jay Weston, commented during the filming,
"Every director should come and watch Billy on the set for
a half hour. They would learn how to treat their actors
i
and crew." However, this study should also have broad
appeal. Hopefully, anyone interested in comedy will find
it revealing and informative.
Above all, this study will provide new insights into
comedy technique and one of America's foremost comic
geniuses, a man who deserves study not merely as a writer
or personality, but as a major director.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study will focus on the making of a single
comedy, Buddy Buddy. There have been exhaustive studies
of Wilder's filmography and themes, and only three other
films from his filmography, Some Like It Hot. The
, Apartment. and The Fortune Cookie, will be examined in any
detail. These films will be discussed because of their
direct influence on Buddy Buddy. They establish the comic
rules and themes on which Buddy Buddy depends. They will
also be used as a basis of comparison in discussing the
, comic techniques of Buddy Buddy and evaluating their
relative success or failure.
9
Although pre- and post-production will be briefly
I explored, the emphasis will be on the writing and
p
I
production stages where Wilder makes most of his directing
decisions. The film is virtually edited in the camera; on
; The Front Page editing was completed in four days.8
i
The study will not be concerned with the business
aspects of film-making (how the film was produced) except
when production decisions affect on the set decision
making or the writing process.
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Although probably more has been written about Billy
Wilder than any other American film-maker, a review of the
literature reveals that there is no full-length work that
examines, in detail, either his methods of working on the
set or his film-making style. The University Film
Association publication A Bibliography Of Theses and
, Dissertations On Film contains no entries on Billy Wilder.
One reason that there is so little relevant information on
Wilder's techniques is that he is an incredible
personality and wit. As a result, many of the books and
articles on him become mired in gossip and anecdotes about
his experiences in the film industry. In total, there are
six full-length studies of Wilder's life and filmography.
10
The most relevant information for this study, however, is
to be found in film magazines, journals, and newspapers
(although no single article contains extensive
information).
Of the six major studies on Wilder, Tom Wood's The
Bright Side Of Billy Wilder. Primarily is the least
useful. Wood becomes a Boswell to Wilder, collecting his
pithy sayings and stories. Axel Madsen's Billv Wilder
provides some insight into his working methods,
particularly the writing process, but it is sketchy in its
approach, jumping from one film to another. Billv Wilder
by Bernard F. Dick and Journev Down Sunset Boulevard; The
Films Of Billy Wilder by Neil Sinyard and Adrian Turner
are critical analyses of the entire filmography of Wilder.
Dick's judgments are suspect and generally unsupported;
Sinyard and Turner are more reliable critics, but they
attribute to Wilder pretentious themes and symbols that he
certainly would deny. Neither of these works contain any
: information about Wilder's working methods.
Of more use are Steve Seidman's The Film Career Of
Billv Wilder and Maurice Zolotow's definitive biography,
Billv Wilder in Hollywood. Seidman's work contains an
excellent introduction that traces Wilder's film career,
noting the important influences such as Ernst Lubitsch and
Erich von Stroheim and the consistency of Wilder's themes.
11
This is the first attempt to do an exhaustive survey of
the Wilder literature and filmography. It contains an
excellent annotated bibliography and points out the need
for a re-evaluation of Wilder's career. Zolotow's
biography is the most complete account of Wilder's life,
1
: but only contains a few insights into his working methods,
based on Zolotow's experiences on the set of The Front
Page. By far, this is the best attempt to explain Billy
Wilder, the man, and his driving obsessions. Although
many of the stories contained within are in other sources,
Zolotow goes further in unveiling the man behind the
stories and myth, and provides insight into the evolution
of the women characters in his works.
Several books contain entire chapters or else
extended treatments on Wilder's films but are of limited
use to this study. These include Raymond Durgnat's The
Crazy Mirror. Gerald Mast's The Comic Mind. Charles Higham
and Joel Greenberg's Hollywood in the Forties. John
I Baxter's Hollywood in the Sixties and Molly Haskell's From
Reverence To Rape. Durgnat sketchily examines Wilder's
comedies, and his judgments are eccentric and
unsubstantiated. Mast points out the central plot element
of a Wilder film— the liar who is brought to a moment of
crisis— and his use of significant objects and the happy
ending. Higham and Greenberg show the influence of German
12
Expressionism on his camera style in the forties. Baxter
compares Wilder's sex comedies to the tame, but popular
Doris Day comedies that lacked his satiric bite. Molly
Haskell provides unusual insight into the neurotic nature
of Wilder's female characters.
, The two most damning works that discuss Wilder are
Andrew Sarris' The American Cinema and David Thomson's A
Biographical Dictionary Of Film. Both critics are
auteurists, who find deficiencies in Wilder's style and
films. Sarris relegates Wilder to his "Less Than Meets
The Eye" category and criticizes his films for their
cynicism and nastiness toward their featured players such
, as Jean Arthur, Gary Cooper, and Marlene Dietrich.
Thomson faults Wilder's films for their sugar-coated
satire and their emphasis on narration, which he feels is
a writer's rather than a director's tool. Both of these
works contributed to Wilder's critical decline; however,
both critics have misunderstood his work. Even Sarris
admits in a later article, "Billy Wilder, Closet
Romanticist," that he had "grossly underrated Wilder
: perhaps more than any other American director."9
Several articles from periodicals and journals are
helpful in isolating the influences on Wilder's style,
particularly Marika Aba's "Billy Wilder: He Chose
Hollywood"; Stephen Farber's "The Films of Billy Wilder";
13
John Gillett's ''Wilder in Paris"; Joseph McBride's "The
t
Importance Of Being Ernst" and "The Private Life Of Billy
Wilder"; and Douglas McVay's "The Eye Of A Cynic." These
articles discuss the influence of Berlin and the German
Cinema in addition to the stylistic contributions of
Lubitsch and Stroheim. |
The following articles contain insights into his!
j directing style and his use of the camera: "Broadcast to^
Kuala Lumpur" by Vanessa Brown; "High Key vrs. Low Key" by
Frederick Foster; "The Message in Billy Wilder's Fortunet
Cookie" by Richard Lemon; "Hating People For Fun Andj
j
Profit" by Jim Murray; and "Wilder in Italy: Order Amongj
j
l The Extroverts." They reveal his experimental use of low!
1 ' !
key lighting for comedy, and his respect and passion fori
comic story-telling. He considers comedy directing to be'
a treacherous business, much more difficult than straight!
drama.
His methods of working with actors are lightly
touched upon in "Walking On the Wilder Side" by Mary j
Blume; "The Two Faces Of Shirley" by Robin Beam; "Talk\
With A Twosome" in Newsweek: and "The Decline and Fall Of
Hollywood" by Lloyd Shearer. These articles contain brief
i
comments by Wilder's stars, including Jack Lemmon, Shirley>
i
MacLaine, Marlene Dietrich, and Robert Stephens. All of 1
these actors have a tremendous respect for Wilder as a !
i
14 1
t
director who knows what he wants and has a keen eye for
performance.
The following articles contain limited insights into
Wilder's editing methods: "Wilder Still Working Without A
Net" by Charles Champlin; "The Old Dependables" by Colin
Young; and "Putting Life Into a Movie" in Life. All three
confirm that Wilder shoots no coverage and briefly explain ]
his attitude toward cutting. Overcutting or shifting a j
i
continuity will kill a scene, he feels.
By far, the most informative and entertaining sources
I
are the unedited transcripts of two interviews conducted •
at the American Film Institute and kept on file there. In
I
these interviews he articulately and humorously reveals
his attitudes toward contemporary comedy, much of which he !
finds sloppy. The audience no longer appreciates neat '
I
construction and considers it old-fashioned. He states j
j
that nudity hurts comedy. He also justifies his approach i
!
of often leaving the camera in one place and letting the
scene play. Chris Columbus' interview, "Wilder Times," in
American Film provides further insights into his views of
current Hollywood and its obsession with sequels.
METHODOLOGY j
For this study I employed a method similar to the
participant-observation method in social research. I |
i
I
I
15
! _________
observed Wilder firsthand throughout the entire production
of the film under study although I was not an active
participant in the film-making process. I attempted to
record as objectively and faithfully as possible all of
the details of his directing techniques and his comments
to cast and crew. I was as unobtrusive as possible, often
observing the rehearsals or action from the catwalks above
the set, a vantage point that allowed me to record the !
i
details of the rehearsals without being observed. Several ■
i
hundred pages of notes were recorded in all. [
t
I
Before the production of Buddy Buddy began in the}
I
winter of 1981, I had formed many preconceptions aboutJ
I
Billy Wilder, particularly from reading Axel Madsen's'
Billv Wilder and Maurice Zolotow's Billy Wilder in'
Hollywood. These books helped me to formulate questions
I
I
about Wilder's films and film-making style, and refreshed'
|
my memory of the ten Wilder films that I had previously j
seen. Both works were useful, but in the case of the i
I
Zolotow book I formed an inaccurate preconception of j
Wilder as a martinet on the set. I was also able to
obtain a copy of the script of Buddy Buddy. which I
studied in detail. On the first shooting day of exterior
locations in Riverside, California and interiors at the j
historic Mission Inn, I began my observation. At this
time I was feeling my way and did not have official
permission to be on the set. As a result, my judgments
were faulty and clouded by the preconceptions that I had
formed from the reading. I was not close enough usually
to overhear conversations that Wilder had with his actors, !
but X was able to note his methods of working on location
with large groups of extras.
When the company returned to the sound stages at j
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Film Studio in the third shooting
week, I received official permission to observe shooting'
j
and finally was able to meet Billy Wilder. For the next
eight weeks I observed the shooting each day at close j
range and viewed the dailies with the director and crew, j
I kept detailed notes of each shot, using the numbers |
i
assigned in the shooting script and daily crew sheets for J
quick reference; I recorded as fully as possible all of j
i
the details of Wilder's working methods. During the daily;
screenings I noted scenes and lines that evoked the most
laughter or caused Wilder to comment on them. During this
period, I continued to formulate questions and read the
other four major studies of Wilder.
During the production I carried on informal
interviews with Billy Wilder; I.A.L. Diamond, his
collaborator; Jay Weston, the producer; Harry Stradling,
Jr., the cinematographer; Dan Lomino, the production
designer; Don Sharpless, the production sound mixer; Jack
17
| Lemmon, the main star; and other members of the crew,
. particularly the camera operator, Tim Vanik. They helped
I
, me gain further insight into Wilder's style of film-making
both on the set and on location. When the crew went on
l
location (back to Riverside and to Agoura) , I went with
! them. However, I did not observe the shooting of the
: final sequence in Hawaii.
Following the production, I researched relevant
articles in magazines, newspapers, and film journals in
Doheny Library at the University Of Southern California,
The American Film Institute Library, and the Academy Of
Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Library. Of particular
help was the Academy's extensive collection of clippings
tracing his career from the thirties. I also read scripts
i
to many of Billy Wilder's comedies including Midnight.
Ball Of Fire. Sabrina. Some Like It Hot. The Apartment.
and The Fortune Cookie.
Prior to the release of Buddy Buddy I saw in local
i
\ revival theatres Sunset Boulevard. The Seven Year Itch.
Witness For The Prosecution. and The Private Life Of
Sherlock Holmes. I took notes on these films, looking for
verification of the answers I was formulating concerning
Wilder's style. After the release of Buddy Buddy. I
continued to view Wilder's films, looking for similarities
in character and theme and consistency in his film-making
18
style. I have now seen all twenty-five American films that
Wilder directed and six of the films that he wrote prior
. to becoming a director including the German film, Menschen
Am Sonntaa (People On Sunday) . I have also viewed many
films of those people who influenced him, particularly
Ernst Lubitsch.
All of my initial research was predicated on the
belief that Buddy Buddy. once completed and released,
would be a critical, if not a commercial success. After
its unsuccessful release, I had to re-evaluate the basic
premise of my dissertation, a process that necessitated
going back and doing further research and reviewing all
i of his comedies.
In addition I attended several interview sessions
with Billy Wilder at the Norris Theatre at U.S.C. as part
i
of a Delta Kappa Epsilon Retrospective of his films, an
interview session with him at the Los Angeles County
Museum Of Art, and I viewed several television specials
including "The Lincoln Center Film Tribute To Billy
Wilder," "The American Film Institute Tribute To Billy
Wilder," and a special segment on Billy Wilder on the
C.B.S. show, "60 Minutes."
In re-formulating my thesis I examined frame by frame
Buddy Buddy. L'Emmerdeur. Some Like It Hot. The Apartment,
19
and The Fortune Cookie, the five films that this thesis
i
most closely examines.
I
i
I
ORGANIZATION OF THE DISSERTATION
j Chapter I will present the introduction: the
; statement of the problem, the significance of the problem,
I
the scope of the study, the methodology, and the review of
the literature.
Chapter II will examine the three Wilder comedies
that have a direct influence on Buddy Buddy and will help
( to place Buddy Buddy within a context of his other films.
i
, This chapter will show how this final comedy combines the
: strains of three of his previous films: Some Like It Hot
(the buddy film and the farce) , The Apartment (the Lemmon
persona and the character comedy/drama), and The Fortune
Cookie (the Lemmon/Matthau team and the black comedy).
Chapter III will examine the script of Buddy Buddy
focusing on the adaptation of L'Emmerdeur. the French
, farce written by Francis Veber and Edouard Molinaro. This
chapter will examine significant changes in construction,
character, dialogue and humor. Wilder feels that 80% of
the film is the script so this analysis is highly
significant. Why was Wilder attracted to this piece of
material? How did he hope that the audience would want to
play this game that he had created?
! 20
i The first part of the dissertation (Chapters I, II
I and III) will establish the rules of the game. The second
part of the dissertation (Chapters IV - VIII) will be an
: analysis of the production techniques of the film; how
effectively have the elements been used to get the
audience to participate in the game (the comedy)? To what
extent does he get the other 20%?
Chapter IV will examine his method of working with
actors and his ideas about comedy acting. In interviews
he has stated that he never relies on improvisation. His
experience has been that the actors will at most add
another 3% of inspiration to what has already been set out
in the script.
Chapter V will examine art direction, and the
differences between shooting on location and on a sound
I
stage. To what extent did decisions in art direction
affect the comedy?
Chapter VI will examine the use of the camera and
, camera movement. It will also analyze how use of process
shooting affected the comedy. It will also examine the
comedic use of the frame.
Chapter VII will examine his editing technique and
compare the use of the long, single take with the
carefully orchestrated edited sequence.
21
Chapter VIII will analyze the use of music and sound
as it contributes to or detracts from the comedy.
Chapter IX, the final chapter, will present the
conclusions of the analysis and the study of Billy Wilder.
NOTES
1 "Big Film Rentals Of 1982," Variety. 77th
Anniversary Edition 12 Jan. 1982: 46.
2 Todd McCarthy, "Buddy Buddy," rev. of Buddy Buddy.
by Billy Wilder, Variety 9 Dec. 1981: 3.
3 Robert Osborne, "Buddy Buddy," rev. of Buddy Buddy.
by Billy Wilder, The Hollywood Reporter 9 Dec. 1981: 9.
4 Billy Wilder, "One Head Is Better Than Two," Films i
and Filming Feb. 1957: 7. j
5 Ben Irwin, "Chasing Billy Wilder, the Man," Los
Anaeles Times 10 July 1977, "Calendar": 1.
f i « I
Richard Lemon, "The Message in Billy Wilder's
Fortune Cookie," The Saturday Evening Post 17 Dec. 1966:
30. j
7 Steve Seidman, The Film Career Of Billy Wilderj
(Boston: Hall, 1977): ix. ;
8 Charles Champlin, "Wilder Still Working Without a j
Net," Los Angeles Times 14 July 1974, "Calendar": 1.
9 Andrew Sarris, "Billy Wilder: Closet Romanticist,"
Film Comment July-Aug. 1976: 7.
CHAPTER II
THE ROOTS OF BUDDY BUDDY:
SOME LIKE IT HOT. THE APARTMENT.
AND THE FORTUNE COOKIE
Buddy Buddy is the story of Victor Clooney (Jack
Lemmon), a television censor (in Standards and Practices)
for C.B.S., and Trabucco (Walter Matthau), a deadly hit
man for the Mafia. The film opens with Trabucco disguised
first as a mailman and then as a milkman, murdering two
key witnesses in a Riverside, California land-grabbing
scandal. The first he blows up by putting a letter bomb
in his mailbox, and the second he poisons by putting
cyanide in his milk. After each murder, he celebrates by
smoking a cigar. He is now on his way to Riverside to do
one final "extraction," the murder of the final witness,
Rudy "Disco" Gambola, as he is brought into the courtroom
in Riverside.
On his way to Riverside, he stops for gas and to use
the facilities when his path crosses with anxious and
somewhat priggish, Victor Clooney, who is throwing up in
the bathroom. He is also on his way to Riverside to try
to win back his wife, Celia, who has run away from him and
is living with Dr. Zuckerbrot, the head of the Zuckerbrot
Institute For Sexual Fulfillment. The two lovers met when
24
Celia, a researcher for "60 Minutes," went to investigate
the clinic and instead fell in love. Victor Clooney
immediately tries to befriend the stony-faced Trabucco,
who is not interested in any new friends.
Trabucco checks into a third story room at the Ramona
Hotel in order to have a clear shot at Gambola when he
walks up the stairs of the courthouse directly across the
street. But, who just happens to check into the room next
to him in the hotel? None other than Victor Clooney.
Just as Trabucco is setting up his telescopic rifle on a
stand, he hears strange noises next door, and sees water
coming in from under his door. He quickly disassembles his
rifle and storms into the room next door. There is Victor
Clooney, semi-passed out in the bathtub, having
unsuccessfully tried to hang himself after Celia again
refuses to see him. The bellhop suddenly appears to try
and stop the water which is spraying all over the two
adjoining rooms. He shuts off the water valve, and is all
ready to call the police to report Victor Clooney's
suicide attempt, when Trabucco strong-arms him and
convinces him that what Victor really needs is a little
sympathy and understanding. Trabucco is the last person
in the world to convey any of these qualities, but he sure
doesn't want any police nosing around when he is about to
assassinate Gambola from the window of the next room.
Reluctantly, the bellhop agrees to keep his mouth shut,
warning Trabucco that he'll probably try it again. To
assure this doesn't happen, Trabucco ties up Victor in a
chair.
Before Trabucco can reassemble his rifle, Clooney is
out on the balcony threatening to jump unless Trabucco
calls his wife, Celia, and gets her to see him. Trabucco
goes to the phone and pretends to call Celia just to get
Victor off the ledge and out of the sight of the police
guarding the courthouse across the street. He then tells
Victor that he will drive him to the sex clinic to see his
wife. Victor misinterprets this as a sign of friendship,
when, in fact, Trabucco intends to murder this pain in the
ass so he can get back to the business at hand, the murder
of Gambola.
On the way to the clinic, Trabucco stops the car and
tells Clooney that he'd better go and throw-up before he
sees Celia, just to clear his nerves. Just as he is about
to shoot the unsuspecting Clooney, a police car appears
out of nowhere, escorting an expiring Pinto with a hippie
and his very pregnant girl friend inside. Trabucco and
his car are commandeered into transporting the couple to
the nearest hospital, which turns out to be the sex
clinic. Trabucco is anything but delighted.
26
As soon as the couple is out of the car, Trabucco
drives off leaving Victor to his own devices. Victor is
repulsed as he walks through the clinic observing strange
rituals: a man with a plastic woman-doll, nude sun-
bathers, and a lecture on premature ejaculation. He,
eventually, tracks down Celia, who is in the library doing
a term paper on erogenous zones. He professes his love
and tries to drag her away, but she mocks his prudishness
and refuses to go. He tells her that he is going to
commit suicide by self-immolation.
Just as Trabucco is once again getting his rifle
assembled in his hotel room, Victor Clooney reappears next
door. There is a loud retort like a gunshot, in fact a
champagne bottle opening, as Victor drinks a last toast to
life. Before Trabucco can stop him, he is out the window,
climbing to the roof to set himself on fire. When
Trabucco pursues, a window falls on his head, knocking him
out. Feeling guilt for the plight of his "friend,”
Clooney drags Trabucco back to his room.
Just then, Dr. Zuckerbrot comes dashing into the room
determined to stop the suicide of Clooney, fearing that it
will bring bad publicity to himself and his clinic. He
gives a knock-out injection to the semi-unconscious
Trabucco, whom he mistakes for Clooney. Just then, Celia
dashes into the room, correcting his mistake. He asks
27
Clooney to drop his pants for an injection, sending
' Clooney into a rage that is further augmented when he sees
: Celia's wedding ring dangling from Zuckerbrot's neck,
j having been melted down into the shape of an erect penis.
Celia is turned on by Victor's show of emotion, but Victor
i
| is so repulsed that he kicks both of them out, content
1 never to see Celia again.
He then turns his attention to his friend, Trabucco,
who is trying desperately to revive himself. He drinks
coffee, smells lighter fluid, takes cold showers, has
Victor slap him; nothing works. Finally, he reveals his
; true identity to Victor, telling him that the mob will
kill him if he doesn't pull off this job. At first Victor
! is repulsed, but then he decides that he owes his buddy a
1 favor; he will do the job for him.
, As Gambola is led up the steps of the courthouse,
! Victor fires and accidentally shoots a policeman.
Fortunately, the policeman turns out to be Gambola in
i disguise. Immediately, shots and tear gas fill the hotel
}
i
room. Trabucco drags Clooney out of the room and down a
laundry chute to the basement before the S.W.A.T. team
I
. arrives to arrest them. They try to escape in a car, but
Trabucco, disguised as a priest, is called to deliver the
last rites to the dying Gambola. He tells his buddy to
get the hell out of there.
28
Trabucco gets his dream: he has retired to a desert
island in the South Pacific complete with topless Hawaiian
maid, cooks, and even the Super Bowl on his television.
But who suddenly appears on the horizon in a boat? None
other than that "piss-brain" Victor Clooney. He has been!
searching fifty islands for his buddy. Trabucco is
anything but glad to see him, but before he can send him
off, Clooney's boat is wrecked on the rocks. The film
i
i ends with Trabucco lighting a cigar as he suggests to one i
I f
of the natives that they revive the old custom of human j
i
sacrifices in the nearby volcano.
On the surface Buddy Buddy (1981) would appear to]
have little similarity to Billy Wilder's other films. The'
i :
j story of a hit man and a television censor whose lives.
become hopelessly intertwined seems uncharacteristic of
the Wilder world; however, on closer examination, Buddy
Buddy is indeed closely related to Wilder's other films in
terms of theme, construction, and character. This film is
an outgrowth of three of his most successful comedies:
Some Like It Hot (the buddy film and the farce) , The
Apartment (the Lemmon persona and the character
comedy/drama), and The Fortune Cookie (the Lemmon/Matthau
team and the black comedy) . The buddy theme that is
overtly referred to in the title, Buddy Buddy. is indeed a
driving obsession in all four works. This pairing of I
29
____ !
opposites into a buddy relationship can be seen in Joe and
Jerry in Some Like It Hot (1959) and in the ironic
"friendships" of Bud/Sheldrake/Dobisch/Kirkeby in The
Apartment (I960), Harry Hinkle/Whiplash Willie and Harryj
Hinkle/Boom Boom in The Fortune Cookie (1966) and Victor
Clooney/Trabucco in Buddy Buddy. The reason for this
driving obsession is subject to speculation, but I would
i
suggest one source may be his own writing "marriages,"
first with Charles Brackett for thirteen years and later
I
with I.A.L. Diamond for thirty-one years. In both teams
i
the writing partners have been temperamentally dissimilar,j
perhaps a mirror reflection of the characters they create'
1
for the screen.
In fact, twenty-five years before George Roy Hill |
revived the popularity of the buddy film with the Academy!
I
Award winning, Butch Cassidv and The Sundance Kid. Wilderj
explored the same theme in the masculine, but touching!
relationship of mutual admiration between Walter Neff
(Fred MacMurray) and Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson) in
Double Indemnity (1944).1 In fact, the roots of the buddy
film go back even further to Wilder's days as a writer in
the German film industry and Ein Blonder Traum (1933),
which he wrote in collaboration with Walter Reisch with j
I
whom he would later team on the successful Ninotchka
1
(1939). In this film two window-washers fall in love with I
30
a circus performer when the three live in an abandoned
railroad car. In Wilder's and Reisch's original script,
Lou-Lou, the circus performer, can't decide whom she loves
the most. In the end, the two men ride off together on
bicycles as raindrops fall on them. Apparently, both the
female star, Lillian Harvey, and the producer were
outraged by the homosexual implications that they saw in
l
I this ending and demanded that it be changed. In the end |
! !
i Lou-Lou marries one of the window-washers, and the other
t
i i
ends up with a dog, which Wilder sardonically suggested!
i
O I
could act a lot better than Lillian Harvey. In his final|
film, Buddy Buddy. Wilder would return to this original
ending from Ein Blonder Traum. this time with his twoj
i
j buddies ending up on a desert island together after Victor|
Clooney (Jack Lemmon) abandons his wife, forever. j
Some Like It Hot is Billy Wilder's first American
comedy that explores the buddy relationship and
establishes the parameters of the buddy film that he will
draw on in subsequent comedies, particularly Buddy Buddy.
Some Like It Hot opens in Chicago in 1929 during
prohibition. Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon)
are two musicians, down on their luck and behind on their
rent, who are playing saxophone (Joe) and bass fiddle
(Jerry) in a speakeasy which is raided by Chief of Police
Mulligan. They escape, but need a new job, particularly
31 |
_____1
after Joe loses all of their money at the dog track. Joe,
the womanizer, borrows a car from an old girl friend, but
when they go to the garage to pick it up, Spats Colombo, a
mobster, arrives to murder an informer, Toothpick Charlie,
and his gang. Joe and Jerry escape, but they know that
their days in Chicago are numbered. In order to escape
from Spats Colombo's death grasp, they shave their legs,
j dress as women, and join an all-female jazz band, Sweet
I f
j Sue and Her Society Syncopators, which is headed by train:
to an engagement at the Seminole-Ritz Hotel in Miami, j
Florida. Joe becomes Josephine, and Jerry becomes Daphne,|
but they run into immediate temptation in the form of
I
Sugar Kowalczyk (Marilyn Monroe), the ukulele player and |
singer in the band. On the train trip to Florida, doe;
keeps reminding Jerry that he is a girl. Meanwhile, Joe,
himself, falls for Sugar, and hatches a plan of his own!
t
after she tells him that she hopes to meet a rich, but;
helpless millionaire who wears glasses, once they hit j
Florida. He tells her that she will, and sets out to;
ensure it by stealing a new disguise from Bienstock, Sweet
Sue's assistant: a yachting outfit, white shoes, and
glasses.
When they arrive at the Seminole-Ritz, Joe puts his
plan into action; meanwhile, Jerry develops a problem of |
his own, a real millionaire in the form of Osgood j
Fielding III (Joe E. Brown), an elderly "grabber" who]
i
1
can't keep his hands to himself, as Daphne finds out when]
I
she is stuck in an elevator with him. Jealousy and!
I
rivalry continue to erupt between the two friends as they|
I
vie for Sugar's attentions, Jerry takes her down to thei
i
beach for some water sports. Later, when he throws a ball;
I
over her head on the beach, she is tripped by a man in aj
j yachting outfit sitting in a beach cabana. It is in fact,
Joe, in Bienstock's clothes, passing himself off as Shell,
Jr., the heir to the Shell Oil fortune. To impress him,
Sugar pretends to be a wealthy ex-debutante. Jerry
immediately stumbles upon the new couple and almost,
j reveals Joe's real identity. Angry, Jerry insists that he
J and Sugar run back to the room to tell Josephine about
Sugar's good fortune. Jerry hopes to catch Joe in the act
of undressing. But Joe beats them back to the room,
barely in time to hide fully clothed beneath the bubbles
of a bubble bath. Jerry is foiled, and Joe is fuming, but
i
Sugar is already in love. Once she leaves the room, Joe
is prevented from killing Jerry by a phone call. It turns I
l
out to be Osgood wanting a date with Daphne on his yacht.
Joe accepts for Daphne, only because he wants to use the
yacht to court Sugar. He convinces Daphne to get Osgood
ashore for a night of dancing, thus, leaving the yacht
unattended for his own unscrupulous plans. j
I That night Shell, Jr. woos Sugar with champagne, cold
pheasant, and moonlight on Osgood's empty yacht while
j
! Osgood and Daphne tango until dawn in a "hot" Cuban club.
Actually, Joe pretends to be impotent, thus, causing Sugar
| to attempt to "de-thaw" him.
When Joe and Jerry meet back at the room, Daphne, to
his surprise, is now "madly" in love, having received a
proposal from Osgood. Joe keeps telling Jerry to remind
himself that he is a "boy," but Jerry is half-way serious;
the thought of being a millionaire is quite appealing to
i
him. Sugar comes into the room to tell about her own
adventures; she is hopelessly in love.
The next morning in the lobby, Josephine and Daphne
I
, get a terrible surprise. It is Spats Colombo and his
henchmen, who have arrived for a gangland convention,
disguised as a meeting of the Friends Of The Italian
Opera. Josephine and Daphne get right back in the
elevator, but Spats and company join them. They go
: unrecognized, but they know their disguises will not fool
anyone for long. As they are climbing down the side of
the building to escape, they are spotted by Spats, who now
recognizes them as the two witnesses from the Toothpick
Charlie Massacre.
Joe and Jerry escape by ducking back into the hotel,
but are forced to hide right under the feet of Spats
34
; Colombo at a table in the convention room during the
meeting of The Friends Of The Italian Opera. During the
meeting Spats is assassinated by a rival gang leader,
allowing Joe and Jerry to escape once more, this time with
Little Bonaparte's henchmen after them. Jerry decides to
accept Osgood's proposal if he will meet them at the dock
with an escape boat. Joe, dressed as Josephine, races up
to the stage to give Sugar a good-bye kiss, thus,
revealing his "true" identity. Realizing that it is
really Joe she loves, Sugar races for the dock, too. Once
the two couples are safely in the boat headed out into the
harbor, Jerry reveals his "true" identity to Osgood, the
fact that he is not a girl and hence, can't marry him.
Osgood's only reply is, "Nobody's perfect."
Some Like It Hot is an example of farce at its very
best; it is Billy Wilder's best-realized comedy, and
considered by many, the funniest film ever made.
Superficially, much of the humor comes from the farce
1 convention of simply putting two male actors, Tony Curtis
and Jack Lemmon, in drag. But the success of the film
goes beyond this to a careful blending of script, sound,
camera, and art direction into a perfectly choreographed
whole. Throughout, the lively proceedings are peppered
with some of the most amazing "pure" farce shots ever put
on film such as Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon racing into an
35
: elevator, and in the same shot emerging in drag just eight
seconds later; in fact, almost every shot in the chase
j sequences is hilarious because of the camera tricks and
Wilder's adroit use of the frame.
• On repeated viewing, though, the film has an
incredible complexity of characterization, which goes far
beyond the one gag of two male actors in drag. What is
particularly interesting are the dynamics of their
relationships, how both their personalities change and
with it their relationship as "buddies." Here, we see the
roots of the Lemmon and Matthau personae to be developed
in later films.
Initially, the two buddies are somewhat
stereotypical. Joe is the womanizer, who can easily talk
Nellie out of her car for the evening, even if she does
not go along as part of the bargain. Jerry is the
1 practical one. Here, is the germ of the Lemmon persona in
the Wilder film. Jerry is meek, practical, and anything
i but a ladies' man. Jerry and Joe are opposites, as
i
revealed by their different intentions for the money they
i will earn from their job at Spats' speakeasy. Joe wants
to gamble it all at the dog track, while Jerry wants to
1 pay the back-rent and the grocer, and above all, he wants
to go see a dentist to have his tooth fixed. Soon,
though, the more aggressive and masculine, Joe, talks
36
Jerry out of his overcoat, which will remain in permanent
hock at a local pawn shop after Jerry loses everything at
the track. In terms of back story, very little is known
about these two main characters, just that they are
mismatched friends down on their luck. They don't even
have last names; however, part of the brilliance of the
screenplay is the complexity that is heaped on these
basically one note characterizations; until the end of the
film, we will never find out any more about the "real" Joe
and Jerry; however, their disguises will add substantial
complexity and humor to the script. In Some Like It Hot
Wilder manipulates the conventions of the farce,
particularly the disguise, to create complexity. Here, the
multiple disguises create tension and force the audience
into the game (story) because Wilder extends to it the
superior knowledge that his characters lack. This
omniscience forces the audience to participate because
only it has full knowledge of the multi-levels of each
scene. The audience, however, is forced to keep its
secrets from the other characters.
Once Joe and Jerry become women they reverse
personalities. On the train Daphne (Jerry) becomes the
womanizer while Josephine (Joe) becomes practical, the one
intent on seeing that their disguises go undetected. As
37
he tells Jerry, there'll be no butter, no pastry, and
above all, "no Sugar" on this trip.
Another element of the Lemmon persona that is
introduced is his gullibility, his ability to be talked
into anything by his good buddy: first, dressing as a
woman, and then enduring the ultimate, absurd humiliation
of dating and even "marrying" a man. This gullibility
I
*
! will re-appear in the other three films under
investigation. In The Apartment C.C. Baxter ("Bud") will
be talked into giving up the keys to his apartment ;
i
j (against his will) by his good "buddies," Mr. Kirkeby, Mr. |
j Dobisch, Mr. Vanderhof, Mr. Eichelberger, and Mr. i
i ;
Sheldrake. In The Fortune Cookie Harry Hinkle is talked
into carrying out the insurance scam against his will by J
his good buddy, his brother-in-law Willie Gingrich, who is i
only looking out for his best interests. And in Buddy j
i
Buddy Clooney is gullibly duped by Trabucco even into ,
I
committing murder. In each of the films the Lemmon
persona questions the demands of these "buddy"
relationships. In Some Like It Hot he asks, "Why do I let
you talk me into these things?" Curtis answers, "Because
we're pals--buddies— the two musketeers." Their
friendship is a given despite their rivalry for Sugar and j
the tension that results. They have been together forever I
in a "murky" past, and there is no question that their
friendship will continue in the future.
On the train the Wilder woman is introduced in the
form of sexy but innocent Sugar Cane from Sandusky, Ohio.
She too is hiding from her past; she has changed her last
name from Kowalczyk to Cane and is running away from men,
particularly saxophone players, who always leave her with
the "fuzzy end of the lollipop." This character is
similar to Fran Kubelik in Wilder's next film The
Apartment. who has drifted through a series of
relationships with the wrong man, and is now involved in a
depressing affair with a married man who feeds her the
same lines that he used on several other women in the
office, including his secretary. Both characters are from
the Midwest, from working class families, and have a
certain amount of self-hatred because they allow
themselves to be used by bad men. This self-hatred has
led Sugar to run away with a female band (and Fran to run
to New York) , and now Sugar also uses the bottle as an
escape. Sugar Cane's sexuality will be a major part of
the characterization of later Wilder women, particularly
Sandy in The Fortune Cookie and Celia in Buddy Buddy.
Once Joe and Jerry arrive in Florida, a third level
to the characterizations is added. Having stolen
Bienstock's yachting clothes, Josephine (Joe) puts his new
39
identity of Shell, Jr., oil scion, into action. It is
interesting to note the male/female split in Joe. As
Josephine he is the sisterly confidante, too homely and
nice to attract a millionaire of his own, but as Shell,
Jr. he reverts to the scheming womanizer at his worst. He
plays on all of the fantasies that Sugar reveals to him on
the train about her dream man, the helpless millionaire,
who wears glasses and has his own yacht. To his "fantasy"
characterization of Shell, Jr. he even adds a Hollywood
touch by imitating Cary Grant in speech and voice. He
uses his Josephine persona to hide his rakish desires as
he pushes Sugar to Shell, Jr. by predicting their affair
and telling Sugar, "You'd better go after him if you don't
want to lose him." Here, the audience is forced to be an
accomplice because it is unable to warn Sugar of his
intentions.
To further complicate matters, once Sugar meets
Shell, Jr., she borrows Daphne and Josephine's fake
identity of upper-class women who have attended the
Sheboygan Institute Of Music. Instead of being the
daughter of a railroad conductor, she now re-invents
herself as a former debutante, who runs around with the
same jet set as Shell, Jr. Even up until the end, when
Joe rejects her over the phone, she clings to this fake
identity by thanking him for his "inside" stock
40
information. She will call her broker tomorrow. And when
i
he sends her the orchids, her reaction is "Oh— white
orchids. Would you believe it— I haven't had white
I
orchids since I was a debutante." But at the same time
she is dying inside, and comes over to Joe and Jerry's
I
| room to find the hot water bottle of alcohol that she had
^ abandoned on the train along with her true identity. The
multiple levels of scenes such as this create tension in
the audience, which is unable to reveal its secrets.
In a parallel love story a real millionaire, Osgood
Fielding III, is fooled by Jerry's disguise, falling madly
for what he thinks is a woman. Initially, Jerry is
anything but flattered, particularly when he gets pinched
by this "grabber" in the elevator. Jerry is still after
Sugar, and even tries the same elevator trick on her when
1 they are swimming underwater on the beach. Once he
realizes that Shell, Jr. has won Sugar, however, he drops
, the role of womanizer and begins to take his identity as
Daphne seriously. After his first date with Fielding he
, is ecstatic, having received a real engagement proposal
from a real millionaire. The fact that he is a man seems
; to barely dawn on him as Joe tries to remind him now,
"You're a boy" when earlier on the train he had told him
: to keep telling himself, "You're a girl." He tells Jerry,
"There are laws— conventions— it's just not being done."
41
But Jerry, perhaps commenting on their own buddy
relationship says, "I'll never find another man who's been
so good to me." Indeed, in courting and finally rejecting
Sugar, Joe steals all of Osgood's gifts to Jerry (the
flowers, the bracelet, and the orchids) and gives them to
Sugar (just as Willie will borrow Harry's car and money in
The Fortune Cookie). He emphasizes their buddy
relationship by telling Jerry, "It's our bracelet." Jerry
asks him why he is suddenly giving away the gifts. He
never left a woman before with anything "but a kick in the
teeth." Joe replies, "That's when I was a saxophone
player. Now I'm a millionaire."
In the end, all of these different identities are
resolved. As the boys try to escape from Spats' and Little
Bonaparte's henchmen, Joe, still in drag, runs up to the
stage as a melancholy Sugar croons, "I'm through with
love." Joe then kisses her and tells her that "no man is
worth it." For the first time in his life Joe is feeling
remorse. Rather than using Osgood's bracelet as an escape
hatch, he gives it to Sugar. He is the first man to leave
her with a gift, and it is certainly the first time that
Joe has given one. Here, there are suggestions that
taking on the role of Geraldine and even Shell, Jr. has
had a humanizing effect on Joe. As in Tootsie, a film
clearly influenced by Some Like It Hot. Joe becomes a
, better man in the process of becoming a woman. As Joe and
i
Jerry arrive at Osgood's motorboat, Sugar arrives also.
Joe tries to talk her into going back. He reveals his
true identity; he is a male, saxophone player. But she
insists on staying. Meanwhile, in the front seat a
parallel confession is going on. Jerry attempts to tell
Osgood that he can't marry him: first, because he isn't a
natural blonde, he smokes, and his name isn't really
Daphne. In every case Osgood, unfortunately, forgives
him. Finally, in desperation, Jerry takes off his wig and
says, "I'm a man." In probably the most famous line in a
Wilder film, Osgood takes the news with absolute
nonchalance, "Nobody's perfect." He will not be deterred.
The film ends on this absurd note, the sexual farce of
mistaken identities having been pushed to its absolute
limit.
In his next film, The Apartment (I960), Billy Wilder
moves from the farce to a new form, the comedy/drama,
again using Jack Lemmon as his star. Although the
dramatic elements often overshadow the laughs, it is clear
that in Billy Wilder's films there is little difference
between comedy and drama. Walter Matthau said at the
American Film Institute Tribute to Billy Wilder that it
had taken him a number of years to realize that in Billy
43
Wilder's films there is no distinction between comedy and
i
The Apartment is the story of C.C. Baxter, known by
his friends at the office as "Bud” or "Buddy-boy." These
friends are Mr. Dobisch (Ray Walston), Mr. Kirkeby (David
1 Lewis), Mr. Eichelberger (David White), and Mr. Vanderhof
• (Willard Waterman), all influential department heads at
Consolidated Life Of New York, a large insurance company
in New York City where Bud works as a lowly accountant.
The reason that he has so many "friends" is that these
gentlemen, all married, are borrowing Bud's apartment to
i have extramarital affairs; Bud doesn't really like this
arrangement, but he is the type that just can't say no,
particularly when each is promising to recommend him for a
promotion to Mr. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray), the head of
personnel.
At the outset of the film Bud is working late, not
because he wants to, but because Mr. Kirkeby is using his
: apartment. When he finally vacates the apartment, it is
late. Bud cleans up the mess left behind, and heats a
T.V. dinner to be watched in front of the "Late Show."
Just as he is climbing into bed, the phone rings. It is
Mr. Dobisch, who has just scored in a bar with a blonde
who looks like Marilyn Monroe. He talks Bud into vacating
his apartment by mentioning a report he is about to write
I
44
I
! to Hr. Sheldrake. Bud spends most of the evening sleeping
i in Central Park, and then is locked out of his apartment
; when Mr. Dobisch leaves the wrong key under his mat.
As a result, Bud arrives at work the next morning
i
with a terrible cold. He decides that he is going to have
to cancel Mr. Vanderhof's "appointment" for that evening.
i
For once he is going to put his foot down; he is going to
use his own apartment that night to get a good night's
sleep. Changing this one appointment becomes complicated,
and requires also changing the appointments of his other
three "customers."
He receives word that Mr. Sheldrake in Personnel has
been trying to reach him on the phone for the past twenty
minutes. He is to report to his office immediately. Bud
thinks that this is his promised promotion, but initially
Mr. Sheldrake seems suspicious of all of the glowing
reports. He indicates that he has figured out Bud's
racket. Disappointed, Bud turns to leave, telling
i Sheldrake that there will be no more hanky-panky in his
j
' apartment. Then, Mr. Sheldrake reveals the real reason
for the meeting. He, too, wants to join the club, and
that very evening at that. Despite his cold, Bud gives
over the key to his apartment in exchange for two tickets
to The Music Man.
45
Bud has a bit of a crush on Fran Kubelik, one of the
elevator operators, but their relationship is fairly
formal, if friendly. He calls her Miss Kubelik and she
calls him Mr. Baxter. He waits for her after work, and
gets up his nerve to ask her to the show. At first she
i says no, indicating that she is meeting someone for a
drink, but then says she will meet him at the theatre.
Fran then goes to a Chinese restaurant, The Rickshaw,
to meet Mr. Sheldrake with whom she has been having an
affair, although she is trying to break it off. He tells
her that he really loves her, and she agrees to go to
Bud's apartment with him (although she has no idea it is
Bud's apartment) . Bud is left alone in the rain standing
outside the theatre.
Soon, thereafter, Bud is promoted upstairs. He also
returns to Mr. Sheldrake a broken compact that he found on
, his couch the night before. Mr. Sheldrake laughs it off,
saying that his date threw it at him when she realized he
j had no intention of marrying her. Bud buys a bowler to
i
show off his new executive status. On Christmas Eve at
i
the party he runs into Miss Kubelik and invites her to
have a drink with him. He forgives her for standing him
up and is about to ask her out again. But first he wants
i
, to show her his new office and the bowler. When she
46
produces the broken compact so he can admire his new image
in a mirror, he realizes that she is Mr. Sheldrake's date.
Crushed, he goes to a bar and gets drunk, while Mr.
Sheldrake and Fran use his apartment. Fran has just
discovered that Mr. Sheldrake had previously had affairs
with four other women in the office including his
secretary; she is upset. They argue, but then begin to
make up. She gives him a recording of music from "The
Rickshaw Boy." Stuck empty-handed, he gives her a hundred
dollars to go buy herself something. He then leaves to
catch the train home for Christmas with his wife and
family. Humiliated, Fran discovers some sleeping pills in
the bathroom at Bud's and attempts to commit suicide.
In his drunken stupor, Bud picks up a woman in the
bar and brings her home. There, he discovers Fran's
comatose body on his bed. He runs next door to get his
neighbor, Dr. Dreyfuss. Bud already has a bad reputation
with his neighbors as a womanizer, based on all the
rumblings coming from his apartment. When Dr. Dreyfuss
sees Bud with two women in his apartment, he is disgusted,
but still saves Fran's life. Bud sends the other woman
home, and he and Dr. Dreyfuss spend the evening walking
Fran around the apartment until they revive her.
The next day Fran awakes, mortified. She had no idea
that this was Mr. Baxter's apartment. Meanwhile, he cares
47
for her, with the help of Mrs. Dreyfuss, who is also]
]
repulsed by his so-called "womanizing". Bud calls Mr.;
!
Sheldrake at home on Christmas to tell him about thej
suicide attempt. Mr. Sheldrake wants nothing to do withj
!
it, telling Bud to keep everything quiet. Bud tries to;
protect Mr. Sheldrake and lies to Fran, telling her thatj
Mr. Sheldrake is really concerned about her. In thej
I
meantime, he is falling in love with her. He insists that1
she stay in the apartment until she is well.
The following Monday neither Bud nor Miss Kubelik show
up at the office. Mr. Kirkeby, who had tried
unsuccessfully to use the apartment over the week-end and
seen Miss Kubelik there, tells Miss Kubelik's brother-in-
law, Karl, that she is shacked up with "buddy-boy," Mr.;
Baxter. When Karl arrives at the apartment, he is
outraged. What appears to be a romantic Italian dinner is;
i
in progress. To protect Mr. Sheldrake, Bud tells him that*
Fran tried to commit suicide over him. Karl responds byj
socking him in the jaw. It doesn't really hurt, though,!
because Miss Kubelik kisses him on the forehead for the!
i
first time before Karl drags her out of the apartment.
The next day Bud returns to work to tell Mr. 1
|
Sheldrake that he is going to take Fran off his hands. To|
<
his dismay, Mr. Sheldrake has left his wife (or in fact, t
she has left him), and he is going to marry Miss Kubelik.j
He does, though, promote Baxter as his assistant, giving
him a new office and a key to the executive washroom.
Later, Bud runs into Miss Kubelik, congratulating her on
her good fortune, telling her of his new job, but all the
time trying to hide his real emotions.
On New Year's Eve Mr. Sheldrake comes to see him,
wanting to again borrow the key to his apartment for that
night. Bud not only refuses, but he also quits his job,
leaving his bowler on the head of a janitor as he exits.
That night Mr. Sheldrake takes Miss Kubelik to The
Rickshaw. There, he reveals that Bud wouldn't let him use
the apartment, "particularly not with Miss Kubelik." Fran
then realizes that Bud is the one who really loves her,
not Mr. Sheldrake. She runs to his apartment. As she is
running up the stairs, she hears what sounds like a
gunshot in Mr. Baxter's apartment. Terrified, she bangs
on the door. He opens it, holding an open bottle of
champagne. The apartment has been stripped bare. He is
packing to move. She says she is going to move too, and
asks him to get out the cards so they can finish the game
of gin they started when she stayed over. He tells her
that he is madly in love with her; she smiles, takes off
her coat, and says coyly, "Shut up and deal."
In The Apartment Billy Wilder creates the Lemmon
"persona," an expansion of the character of Jerry in Some
Like It Hot. Here, he deepens his characterization,
making Lemmon the sole focus of the film. Bud wants to
advance in the company, but he is never calculating, like
Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) in Wall Street, for instance. He
is just a nice guy who can't say no. Here, he has a whole
new set of friends like the Joe character who "borrows"
I
his overcoat, his necklace, and his flowers. In this film
l
they borrow his apartment. j
i
Although The Apartment is not a buddy film in the !
! . . I
I traditional sense, the term "buddy" is used ironically ,
throughout to comment on the artificial friendships of '
i
C.C. Baxter in the business world. Indeed, C.C. Baxter, j
better known as "Bud," has lots of friends, Messrs. i
. I
Dobisch, Kirkeby, Eichelberger, Vanderhof, and Sheldrake, ■
i I
J but only because they want to use his apartment to carry j
on extra-marital affairs. These "five bad apples" impose ;
on him in the guise of friendship, always using the j
J
appellation, "Buddy-boy," and promising him promotions in j
exchange for his continued compliance and threatening him !
i
if he should hold out. Mr. Dobisch tells his date within J
earshot of Bud that the apartment belongs to his mother,
and "one squawk out of her, and she's out of a job." Just j
like Jerry, Bud is opposed to these impositions, but he j
i
I
just can't refuse his friends. At the opening of the film ,
I
j he is kept out of his apartment by Mr. Kirkeby, who j
reminds him, "I put in a good word for you with Sheldrake
; in Personnel. You're on your way up, Buddy, boy." Later,
as he is going to bed, another "buddy," Mr. Dobisch,
I
J
forces him to vacate the apartment by reminding him that
the monthly efficiency ratings are being compiled, and Bud
! is in the top ten. Bud spends most of the night sleeping
I
in the park, muttering to himself as he goes, "We never
close at Buddy-boy's."
A second element of the Lemmon persona that is
established at the outset is his loneliness; this
characterization is enhanced and emphasized by the
plaintive musical theme that accompanies his lonely clean
up of the "party" apartment. As he picks up the martini
pitcher, he pours himself one, toasting an imaginary
partner. In fact, everything in the sequence reminds us
; of the essential solitude of this character. Even when
his neighbor chastises him for his partying, his statement
of surprise, "A nebbish like you," is an ironic reminder
to the Lemmon character of his aloneness. Unlike the
others that use his apartment there are no women in his
life. He is the bachelor whose only companion during his
meal, a T.V. dinner, is the "Late Show"— and a not very
good companion at that. Wilder satirizes television by
introducing an endless series of commercials that prevent
Bud from enjoying his dinner companions, Greta Garbo and
51
| John Barrymore in Grand Hotel. This entire opening
[ sequence of cleaning the apartment (with all of the
reminders of others having a good time) creates tremendous
i
: audience sympathy for the Lemmon persona.
A third element of the Lemmon persona, which is
1
actually part of his "initial" difficulty with women, is
i
his basic chivalry, the way that he views women as
romantic objects on a pedestal outside of his grasp.
Unlike Mr. Kirkeby, who uses Joe E. Brown's elevator trick
from Some Like It Hot when he pinches Fran Kubelik, Bud is
the only character who treats her like a lady. He is the
only one in the elevator who doffs his hat, and he never
goes beyond a formal, "Miss Kubelik," in addressing her.
Later, he chivalrously defends her character to Mr.
Kirkeby, who "would like to get her on a slow elevator to
China," saying that she's "just a nice, respectable girl—
there are millions of them." Mr. Kirkeby immediately
I
retorts, "Listen to him. Little Lord Fauntelroy."
Initially, the Lemmon persona has difficulty with women
! because he is too nice, too respectful, but in the end
these very qualities and his absolute devotion to her will
win over Miss Kubelik. Unlike his "buddies" the Lemmon
persona has a basic kindness, goodness, and a sense of
morality that sets him apart. If he has a problem, it
52
r ■
will resurface again in The Fortune Cookie when Sandy, his
i
i
ex-wife, tells him, "You're just too nice a guy."
! In the comedy/drama Wilder abandons the direct use of
i multiple disguises; but, yet, there is again complicated
role-playing with characters imitating other characters
t
and borrowing their personae and even their direct speech
patterns in conversation. This role-playing again forces
the audience to participate because again it is given
superior knowledge. Although the Lemmon persona can never
change or even hide his basic decency, there is some wish-
fulfillment on his part in the second half of the script,
1
when Bud "assumes" the Sheldrake persona of the swinging
bachelor in order to protect Miss Kubelik from public
exposure. He tells Mrs. Dreyfuss the morning after the
! suicide attempt, "I didn't really do anything— honest— I
mean, you take out a girl a couple of times a week— just
for laughs and right away she thinks you're serious—
marriage-wise." Here, he is repeating verbatim what
i Sheldrake had confided to him about his date who had
thrown a compact at him. As Miss Kubelik pointed out to
him earlier, he has already subconsciously taken on Mr.
Kirkeby's habit of adding "wise" to the end of nouns.
Throughout, Bud covers up for his superiors by pretending
he is the swinger. This role-playing on his part only
reinforces for him the basic loneliness and emptiness of
53
^ his condition, a bachelor who suffers from unrequited love
for Miss Kubelik. He continues to play out the Sheldrake
fantasy persona to the end, even as he tells Karl
! Matuschka, Miss Kubelik's brother-in-law, that she tried
to commit suicide over him. All the time, however, he is
really true to his own character, incredibly caring,
i
; devoted, and although he attempts to hide it, desperately
in love. This final lie to Karl causes Karl to sock him
in the jaw, but he doesn't mind because for the first time
1 Miss Kubelik kisses him on the forehead allowing him to
momentarily experience a hint of the pleasure that Mr.
i
Sheldrake receives. This kiss causes him to decide to
quit his job and take Miss Kubelik off Sheldrake's hands.
When he arrives at work the next day, he prepares to tell
■ Mr. Sheldrake, "All your troubles are over. I'm going to
take Miss Kubelik off your hands." Almost as if the role-
playing had become too effective and their characters had
• been transposed, Mr. Sheldrake greets him with the
devastating repetition of the very line that he had been
practicing. At this point, though, the Lemmon persona has
recognized his basic nature, his loneliness (which he
realized during Miss Kubelik's stay in his apartment);
however, he still temporarily gives in to another
promotion sacrificing himself for Miss Kubelik's happiness
(since he still assumes that she really wants to marry Mr.
54
; Sheldrake). When he sees her later, he tries to tell her
that they both got what they wanted, Mr. Sheldrake and his
promotion respectively, while inside he is dying.
It is not until the end of the film that the Lemmon
persona works its full magic on Miss Kubelik, whose self-
hatred allows her to return to Mr. Sheldrake, also afraid
to admit that she is falling for Bud. It is not until she
is back in the dingy confines of The Rickshaw on New
Year's Eve that she realizes the true extent of Bud's
devotion for her. He has quit his job rather than allow
Mr. Sheldrake to take her to his apartment one more time.
I Earlier, when he nursed Miss Kubelik back to health, she
had said to him, "Why can't I ever fall in love with
somebody nice like you?" and Bud had replied, "Yeah.
Well— that's the way it crumbles cookie-wise." She now
understands his level of commitment and self-sacrifice for
i
her. She, then, repeats Bud's line when Sheldrake tells
her they can't go to the apartment, "I guess that's the
way it crumbles, cookie-wise." She now really understands
her own feelings for Bud. She runs out of the club as the
full strains of the "Theme From The Apartment" play,
transformed from a tawdry theme reminding her of a secret
affair with a married man to a confession of love for a
single man, who really loves her.
55
As she climbs the stairs to the apartment, Wilder
uses a sound trick that he will repeat in Buddy Buddy.
Suddenly, the love theme is shattered by the sound of what
appears to be a gunshot. She thinks it is too late; he
has committed suicide. Desperately, she bangs on the
door, which he opens holding a newly popped champagne
bottle. This same gag is again used in Buddy Buddy just
before Victor attempts self-immolation. Interestingly, in
Buddy Buddy the trick ends in Lemmon's recognition of his
"true" friendship with Trabucco just as the scene in The
Apartment ends in the affirmation of love between Miss
Kubelik and Mr. Baxter.
Throughout The Apartment Wilder employs a complexity
of situation to play on the emotions of the characters and
to create tremendous sympathy for the two characters that
we care most about, Bud and Fran, the mismatched lovers
during most of the film. In the scene where Bud brings
Miss Kubelik to his office, the presence of Mr. Sheldrake
hangs over them like a specter even though he isn't
physically present. Bud tells her he could use his
influence with Mr. Sheldrake in Personnel to get her a
promotion. He then shows her a Christmas card from the
whole Sheldrake family. Little does he know that Miss
Kubelik is having an affair with Mr. Sheldrake or that
moments before Mr. Sheldrake's secretary had revealed to
I her that four other women in the office, including
I . .
herself, had previously had affairs with and been dumped
; by Mr. Sheldrake. The card, visually, is a painful
reminder to Fran of the tawdriness of her affair as is the
broken compact that she holds up later, saying, "It makes
■ me look the way I feel.” Indeed, when Bud looks in the
i
mirror, seeing a double image of himself, he too is
destroyed for he understands for the first time that Miss
Kubelik is the woman who threw the compact at Mr.
Sheldrake in his apartment. Immediately, the phone rings
and it is Mr. Sheldrake. Bud, hiding his pain, excuses
i
himself, saying, "If you don't mind— this is sort of
personal." Indeed, it is, for Mr. Sheldrake is calling to
make final arrangements for a Christmas Eve tryst with
Miss Kubelik at the apartment. What makes the audience
identification in this sequence so extreme is the fact
that none of the three characters reveals to the other the
! complexity of knowledge that they have. Only the audience
, has full knowledge of the powder keg that this artificial
triangle has created. The same use of superior knowledge
appears earlier when Sheldrake talks Miss Kubelik into
going to the apartment, leaving Bud standing alone in the
rain in front of the theatre in one of the most moving
> shots in the film. Again, here, only the audience has
full knowledge of the triangle, with the other characters
57
[ only knowing two sides. Even later, as Bud nurses Miss
Kubelik back to health, he calls Mr. Sheldrake, who
reveals an incredible insensitivity to Fran and her
suicide attempt. Again, Bud hides this information from
r
1 Miss Kubelik but not from the audience. He again
1 transfers his own feelings to Mr. Sheldrake, telling Fran
that Sheldrake really loves her and is concerned about
her. Although the element of disguise is absent, these
scenes have the complexity of the scenes in Some Like It
Hot where characters hide their identities from the
characters in the scenes, but not the audience. This
additional awareness on the part of the audience, not only
creates tension and interest, but also forces the audience
into the story because it knows the secret but is
powerless to tell or warn the other character who is left
i in the dark. This complexity is a powerful tool in the
r
= comedy/drama, and many of these situations will again
reappear in Buddy Buddy in the form of the multiple
suicide attempts and disguises.
The role-playing theme continues until the very end.
Even after Bud has taken Dr. Dreyfuss' advice to become a
"mensch," a human being, and quits his job, he still
passes himself off as the swinger to Dr. Dreyfuss when he
inquires about Fran, "You know me with girls, easy come,
easy go.1 ' He attempts to mask his true feelings, even as
58
Fran does in a more joyful way, as she attempts to
undercut her love and sentimentality with her final line
after he confesses his absolute love for her, "Shut up and
deal." In the end Miss Kubelik becomes the "good" buddy,
who replaces the "bad" buddies, just as Boom Boom will
replace Willie and Sandy in the Lemmon persona's
affections at the end of The Fortune Cookie. Although the
relationship between Lemmon and MacLaine is a romantic
one, it remains platonic throughout the film. As Shirley
MacLaine noted at the American Film Institute Tribute To
Jack Lemmon, in The Apartment and Irma La Douce "Jack and
I were a screen couple, but we never kissed."5
The Fortune Cookie is the most simple of the three
comedies structurally. Here, the action takes place in a
fairly straightforward fashion, but the black comedy and
satire are biting, particularly in the speeches of Walter
Matthau, who plays Whiplash Willie Gingrich, a character
which Wilder and Diamond described in the script in the
following way:
. . . a tall-loose jointed man of 40,
with a brain full of razor blades and
a heart full of chutzpah. He would
have run afoul of the law a long time
ago if he didn't have a slick
lawyer--himself. He wears an old
tweed coat and a felt hat, and is
smoking nervously.
To the Lemmon persona, Wilder adds the Walter Matthau
persona, creating a character that would win Matthau an
Academy Award (Lemmon had won for The Apartment) and
transforming a supporting actor into a star. It is clear
from the character description that Whiplash Willie with
his felt hat, his cigar, and his biting wit (all Wilder
trademarks) is an alter ego for Wilder himself. On the
set of Buddy Buddy Walter Matthau commented that no matter
what character he plays in a Wilder film, he always ends
up playing Billy Wilder. "I always play Wilder. Wilder
zr
sees me as a lovable rogue full of razor blades."0
In The Fortune Cookie Wilder again employs a three
act structure as in Some Like It Hot and The Apartment.
but here he breaks up his acts into a series of vignettes,
sixteen in all.
1. The Accident: Harry Hinkle is a sports cameraman
for C.B.S. covering a game between the world champion
Cleveland Browns and the Minnesota Vikings in the frigid
cold of Municipal Stadium, Cleveland. On a kick-off
return, Boom Boom Jackson, the star punt-returner for the
Browns goes for a few extra yards and in the process runs
out of bounds smack into Harry, who is knocked unconscious
over a rolled-up tarpaulin. Moments later, Harry himself
is rolled off the field on a stretcher. As Boom Boom
returns to the huddle, he has a look of remorse on his
face.
60
2. The Brother-in-law: Willie Gingrich, a.k.a.
Whiplash Willie, an unscrupulous lawyer and brother-in-law
to Harry, waits outside the emergency room of St. Mark's
Hospital with his wife Charlotte, Harry's sister, and
Harry's grief-stricken mother. Actually, it appears that
Harry is going to be okay. That is, until Charlotte ,
inadvertently reveals that as a kid Harry compressed a !
I ]
vertebra when he jumped off a roof and forgot to open his'
I
umbrella. The razor blades in Willie's head begin to
j mesh. He steals a dime from a collection box for unwed
i i
[ mothers and calls the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. As attorney
i
for his brother-in-law, he is suing C.B.S., the Cleveland!
Browns, and Municipal Stadium for one million dollars. |
i
3. The Caper: When Harry wakes up, Willie tells him!
I
of his scheme to fake partial paralysis and sue C.B.S. andj
' . i
the Browns. Harry feels fine and wants nothing to do with|
I
1
it. They argue, but are interrupted by a phone call from
Sandy, Harry's ex-wife, a singer who has run off with Gus
Gilroy, a band leader, leaving Harry bitter and angry. At
!
first he won't talk to her; she is just after the alimonyj
*
t
he figures; but when she seems to show concern for him on
the phone, he begins to melt. He agrees to go along with
Willie's scheme, only because he still loves Sandy and
|
sees it as a chance to win her back. She has even agreed!
to come to visit him. Meanwhile, Boom Boom Jackson, j
racked with guilt, shows up with flowers for Harry. Dr.
Krugman then comes in to examine Harry. Harry pretends to
i have double vision, no feeling in his legs, a numbness in
i
his fingers, and excruciating pain in his back. Seeing
the compressed vertebra (actually caused by the childhood
; accident) in the x-rays, Dr. Krugman's diagnosis brings
«
great pleasure to Willie. Boom Boom, who carries Harry
back to bed after he collapses on the floor, feels nothing
but remorse.
4. The Legal Eagles: Willie is in his hole-in-the-
wall office on the ground floor of the Terminal Building,
when he gets a call from the prestigious firm of O'Brien,
Thompson, and Kincaid, who are representing the
, Consolidated Life Insurance Company, the defendants in
Harry's suit. Willie breezes upstairs and into their
lavish suite of offices, immediately demonstrating why he
is known as Whiplash Willie, dazzling his opponents with
his twisted, but extensive knowledge of accident law. The
I three senior partners have only one mission, to allow
their doctors to examine Harry. To their surprise Willie
has no objections; in fact, he insists on it, producing
notarized releases in triplicate already signed by Harry.
i
Already the three lawyers are both suspicious and worried.
5. The Chinese Lunch: When Willie goes to visit
Harry, he is watching an old film in which Abraham Lincoln
62
gives his famous speech about how "you can't fool all of
the people, all of the time." Willie retorts that Lincoln
. was a great president but a lousy lawyer. He immediately
puts his scheme into action. He sends the vigilant nurse
: out of the room on a mission to get tea to go with the
i
| Chinese food, and then produces Dr. Schindler, a paroled
Mob veterinarian, who gives Harry a shot that will help
him fake all of the tests that the team of medical
specialists will give him later that day. He barely
finishes administering the shot before the nurse returns.
Harry says he doesn't want the Chinese lunch, but she
insists that he at least open his fortune cookie. Inside
is the fortune, "You can fool all the people some of the
time, and some of the people all of the time— ."
6. The Snake Pit: A team of doctors sent by the
1 O'Brien lawyers and led by Professor Winterhalter, a Nobel
Prize-winner, puts Harry through a grueling battery of
tests. After each one, the three other doctors are
; convinced, but Dr. Winterhalter keeps declaring ''fake."
j He says that in the old days, they simply threw the
patient into a snake pit, and if he climbed out, then they
knew he was faking. This causes Harry to call out for
Willie.
7. The Gemini Plan: O'Brien, Kincaid, and Thompson
try to get Willie to settle; he, of course, refuses
63
because at that very moment he has a tailor outfitting him
with new threads that will cost more than their offer,
particularly if you include the mink coat for Charlotte,
the trip to Florida for his mother-in-law and the new
Mustang he has bought for Harry (really himself, since
Harry can no longer drive) . Out of desperation the
' O'Brien team hires Purkey, a private detective, to put
into effect the Gemini Plan, "two operatives— twenty-four
hour coverage— a microphone in every room (of Harry's
apartment)— 16 millimeter camera— telescopic lens— and
Technicolor" to observe Harry's every waking and sleeping
move from the apartment across the street.
8. The Torch: Harry, despondent, is sitting in his
hospital room in a motorized wheelchair that Boom Boom and
the other Cleveland Browns have bought him. He is now in
a neck brace as Boom Boom packs his belongings. Harry is
upset because Sandy has not called; he never wants to see
her again or have anything more to do with this insurance
scam. Willie sends Boom Boom to get his car, and then
■ rips into Harry, telling him that he's a real loser if he
lets this one slip away. It's no wonder his wife left
him. At that very moment the phone rings. It is Sandy
telling him that she is coming to town. Again, Harry
melts when she asks if she can come and visit. When he
i
64
i hangs up, he lets out a jubilant cry and races down the
corridor of the hospital in his motorized wheelchair.
; 9. The Whirlpool: Boom Boom is in Harry's apartment
teaching him to walk with a walker, and attending to his
i needs. He also reveals that they are going to have Harry
Hinkle night at the stadium, where everyone lights a match
for his recovery. Harry is already feeling guilty, and
this doesn't help. When Willie comes for a visit, he
catches in a reflection in his cigarette case a telescopic
lens peering through a blind across the street. Willie
sees a microphone in the radiator and finds another one in
the bathroom. The whole place has been bugged by Purkey
and his partner, who had earlier posed as radiator repair
men. Willie turns on the Jacuzzi so their voices will be
drowned out and reveals his discovery to Harry. He has a
new plan, and it includes using the bugs to their own
i
advantage.
10. The Return Of Tinker Bell: Boom Boom picks up
i Sandy at the airport and is immediately suspicious. He
♦
. tells her that they both hurt Harry, but only she can make
amends. She doesn't seem to be overly sympathetic, that
is, until they get back to the apartment. Harry is
clearly in love again the moment Sandy arrives. He goes
into the kitchen and asks Boom Boom what he thinks of
Sandy. Boom Boom tries to hide his true feelings. When
65
Harry leaves the room, Boom Boom pours himself a shot of
bourbon.
11. The Longest Night: Boom Boom cooks dinner for the
i
reunited couple, but suddenly Sandy wants to play wife
again. She insists on taking over the role of nurse to
I
| Harry, causing Harry to let Boom Boom go. That night
Harry anticipates some love-making after he and Sandy have
a romantic dinner, but Willie calls to remind him that
they are under twenty-four hour surveillance.
Disappointed, Harry goes to bed with a copy of The
Carpetbaggers.
| 12. The Other Blonde: Boom Boom, out of guilt for
hurting Harry and not revealing Sandy's true nature, has
taken to drink at his bowling alley, which his father, an
ex-heavyweight, operates. An ex-girlfriend who has dyed
her hair blonde comes over to Boom Boom. He tells her to
beat it. Soon he is in a barroom brawl with some of her
new male friends, who chide Boom Boom for his terrible
i play in the last game.
i
13. The Indian Givers: Willie arrives at the
apartment the next day to announce that he is forming a
i
, foundation; all of the money that Harry wins will be given
to charity. Sandy is surprised. When Willie leaves, she
slips outside to confront him. He admits it is a scam;
once O'Brien and his partners hear of this plan they will
66
settle. Sandy, revealing her cynical side, agrees to keep
Harry out of trouble for a few more days. Willie pats her
behind and tells her she's gained a little weight, say
about seven pounds.
14. The Gravy Train; O'Brien, Kincaid, and Thompson
1 come down to Willie's messy hole-in-the-wall office to
i
I settle. They offer ten thousand, but before they know xt
Willie has them up to a hundred and fifty thousand and
still climbing. In between, Harry discovers that Boom
Boom has been arrested and calls Willie to get him to
represent Boom Boom. When Willie refuses, Harry is again
, ready to give up the scam, but again Sandy cynically talks
him out of it, "I love you, Harry, but I don't want to
love somebody dumb.”
15. The Better Mousetrap: Willie bounds up the steps
to Harry's apartment with a check for two hundred thousand
dollars. He gloats and tells Purkey and his partner to
pack up their cameras and recorders. But Purkey has a
plan of his own. When Purkey goes up to retrieve his
; equipment, he has his partner keep rolling film. He then
stands in front of Harry and slings racial slurs about
j Boom Boom at him. Harry can't take it, and gets out of
his chair and slugs him. Purkey, holding his chin with
! delight, calls to his partner, but his partner isn't sure
he got it on film. Willie thinks he can still save the
67
scam, but instead Harry agrees to hit Purkey again for the
camera, and tops it off by doing acrobatics, and finally
kicking his wife with his bad leg. He's had enough of the
scam, his brother-in-law, and above all his wife. Willie
announces that he will sue O'Brien, Thompson, and Kincaid
for invasion of privacy and Purkey for Civil Rights
violations.
16. The Final Score: Harry drives to Cleveland
Municipal Stadium where he finds Boom Boom alone on an
empty field. He is threatening to quit football and
become a professional wrestler by the name of The Dark
Angel. Harry relieves his guilt by revealing the whole
scam to Boom Boom, and trying to convince him to stay in
football. Boom Boom just walks off the field. But Harry
punts a football in his direction. Without thinking, Boom
Boom automatically catches it and races down the field.
Playfully, Harry goes to tackle him and is knocked out
cold. Petrified, Boom Boom tries to revive him, but Harry
reveals that he was again faking. "Come on, play ball,"
he yells. Boom Boom runs down the field, and Harry tosses
him a touchdown pass in the darkness of the empty field.
"And that's the way the fortune cookie crumbles."
In The Fortune Cookie (1966) Wilder creates the
Lemmon/Matthau team which will reappear in both The Front
Page (1974) and Buddy Buddy (1981) and be immortalized in
68
the film version of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple (1968) .
Although the Gene Saks film is probably the most famous
I incarnation of this team in the public's mind, it was
Wilder who first conceived of the team and saw the
potential in their "odd pairing." Basically, this Jack
■ Lemmon/Walter Matthau team, each actor with a distinct
i
persona, is an outgrowth of the Joe and Jerry relationship
in Some Like It Hot, two friends bonded together for
eternity despite their opposite characteristics and
personalities. Interestingly, in real life these two
actors are best friends. The Matthau persona is an
outgrowth of the Joe character: aggressive, verbal, and
always in control. He is a user, like Joe. Just as Joe
"borrows" Jerry's objects, Whiplash Willie spends Harry's
future insurance money for a mink stole, a trip to Florida
for Harry's mother, and for a Mustang for Harry in
Willie's wife's favorite color, beige. Willie, though,
gets to drive the new car since Harry is in a neck brace.
The Lemmon persona in the team is like Jerry: a nice guy,
able to be talked into anything despite his natural
suspicion of the Matthau character.
The Matthau character in the team is much closer to
Wilder, himself, in personality. We see only shades of
the womanizer in Matthau (when he pats Sandy's ass on the
stairs at the end of The Fortune Cookie), the predominant
69
r
1 characterization of the Joe character in Some Like It Hot.
j Instead, the form of aggression that predominates in the
, Matthau persona is wit, tinged by an excessive world-weary
cynicism. He is a trickster, a manipulator, a shyster,
i
: but in all of these incarnations the audience marvels at
his inventiveness and his wit. In the team he is the
brains that will outsmart and outwit the innocent dupe,
the Lemmon persona, at every turn. He has razor blades in
his head that mesh into action when the pressure is on.
Anytime that the Lemmon persona even contemplates backing
out of the insurance scam, the Matthau character is at
work, chiding him for his spinelessness, and above all,
, playing on his one vulnerability, his love for his
estranged wife, Sandy, who has left him. The Matthau
persona in The Fortune Cookie and even in The Front Page
is the one who always has the last word, even if he
appears to be defeated. At the end of The Fortune Cookie
he announces that he is suing the O'Brien, Kincaid, and
Thompson law firm for invasion of privacy and Purkey for
Civil Rights violations, even though Harry has completely
unveiled the insurance scam. The Matthau character will
win out in the end. At the end of The Front Page Walter
Burns gets Hildy back from his marriage by announcing that
Hildy has stolen his watch. Again, at the end of Buddy
Buddy Trabucco has the final word as he hatches a plot
70
with a native to drop the Lemmon persona into a local
volcano. In spite of their natural antagonism, it is
clear that these two characters are as inseparable as
Siamese twins, joined at the hips. As Willie tells Harry
, in the hospital, "We're in this together— you and I—
| straight down the line--fifty-fifty." The "we" that
Matthau imagines is as unequal, however, as the Jerry/Joe
relationship.
Matthau may have the final word, but no matter how
hard he tries he will never be able to rid himself of the
Lemmon character any more than the Lemmon character can
rid himself of the Matthau character. The Lemmon/Matthau
films of Wilder are much darker in tone, precisely because
; the Matthau persona dominates, even if the Lemmon persona
appears to win out in the end. The essential darkness and
. cynicism of the Matthau character, who is a comic creation
(as opposed to the Sheldrake character in The Apartment
which is a dramatic version of the same) transforms these
films from potential comedy/dramas into black comedies.
Although the Lemmon persona again opts for morality in the
end as he does in The Apartment. it is really the Matthau
1 persona who stays in our mind at the end of the film.
Harry Hinkle is an extension of the Lemmon persona
! that was created in The Apartment ♦ In this film he is a
sports television cameraman, but as in the earlier film he
71
is an immediate victim of a "buddy", his brother-in-law,
who can talk him into anything. He wants no part of the
insurance scam, even when Willie tells him, "I want to see
you in a fastback Mustang, Italian silk suits, a decent
apartment— a go, go baby— all the way." Again, as in The
Apartment. all of the accouterments of the swinging
bachelor lifestyle are thrown before his eyes by his
Mephistophelean "buddy," but Harry is not tempted until
Willie presents the possibility of winning back his wife.
Willie interceding on the phone with Harry's wife, and
railing against him for his spinelessness will reappear in
the Trabucco/Clooney relationship in Buddy Buddy. Victor
will even define the Lemmon persona, "That's always been
my problem. No guts. No Spine. No cojones."
Despite protests to the contrary, the Lemmon persona
is again not really enjoying the bachelor life. He
protests that he has had three girl friends since Sandy
left him, but the look on his face tells the truth.
Again, the Lemmon character is a decent, honest guy, not a
swinging single. He is basically a lonely guy, living in
a less than lavish apartment (with its fake fireplace and
its sofa that needs reupholstering) hoping for another
chance at love. The apartment, here, has echoes of the
one in The Apartment. and in this film Harry is suing The
Consolidated Life Insurance Company, the same one he
72
1 worked for in the earlier film. As Willie points out to
him, he is carrying a torch for Sandy so clearly that he
1 "could carry it from Greece to Mexico City to open the
Olympic Games." The parallels here to Miss Kubelik are
also clear. Despite the protestations of the Lemmon
1 character, he is a hopeless romantic, desperately in love
i
with someone who has stood him up. In this case, however,
there will be no redemption for the woman character.
Sandy is as "bad" a woman as Celia will prove to be in
Buddy Buddy. Both have run off with other men that they
have met in the line of their professional duties, Sandy
as a singer and Celia as a researcher for "60 Minutes."
In both The Fortune Cookie and Buddy Buddy this basic
romanticism on the part of the Lemmon character does not
allow him to see until the end the "true" nature of these
women. Although he senses the worst, he remains hopeful.
Just as in Buddy Buddy, the Lemmon persona thinks that
"people are basically decent," even the Trabucco character
whom he cannot see as a deadly killer until the very end
anymore than he can perceive Sandy as a gold-digger in
this film.
Of the four films The Fortune Cookie is the most
direct in terms of characterization. With the exception
of the insurance scam and Sandy's own scam to prove her
devotion, there is no direct use of disguise here. The
73
morality comedy proceeds in a straightforward manner;
i
however, again the characters mask their true natures for
: most of the film. Only Boom Boom is morally honest and
i
I
direct, but when he too hides his true feelings from
Harry, he takes to drink. Here, the good buddy
relationship reappears in the form of Boom Boom Jackson,
: who is to replace the two bad "buddy" relationships in the
film, the unethical one between Willie and Harry and the
unsatisfying "sexual" one between Sandy and Harry. As in
, The Apartment the Lemmon persona is constantly addressed
as "buddy" throughout the film, but in this case by Boom
i Boom, the only other character that has the same basic
qualities as Harry, decency and honesty. Interestingly,
Boom Boom replaces the Fran Kubelik character in the
Lemmon persona's affections.
After the accident Boom Boom, in true grief, appears
at the hospital room, carrying flowers almost like a
suitor. These flowers become a key symbol again in Buddy
; Buddy. From the outset of the film, Victor Clooney is
carrying a similar bouquet of flowers hoping to win back
his wife with their help. It is not until the sex clinic,
realizing her true character, that he flings them in her
face. Here, Boom Boom is trying to atone for the
accident. Throughout he acts as the kind of ironic
"buddy" voice as did Mr. Kirkeby and his compatriots in
74
The Apartment. It is Boom Boom with his slavish attention
I
I
and his true acts of friendship that work on Harry,
i causing guilt and ultimately remorse. The flowers become
i
I
a visual symbol of that guilt. Boom Boom constantly
declares the basic goodness of the Harry character:
’ ’ They'd better have some empty beds around here— because
if anybody calls my buddy a faker— ." He then gives the
faker, Harry, a motorized wheelchair as a gift. "That's
okay, buddy. Use it in good health." Harry, at this
point, would like to get rid of Boom Boom. His constant
references to "his buddy" cause Harry's guilt, reminding
him at every turn of the reprehensibility of his scam.
In fact, when he leaves the hospital, it is Boom Boom
who again shows his unswerving friendship by feeding him,
cleaning, cooking, and becoming his all around "Gal
Friday." He has tremendous concern that continues to gnaw
away at Harry. He makes him exercise with his walker,
hoping he can help him slowly overcome his paralysis. At
this point, though, Tinker Bell returns in the form of
!
Sandy. Boom Boom immediately sees through her phony act.
He tells her on the drive back from the airport, "We both
hurt him. Except I can't do anything about it. But it's
i
; not too late for you to square things." Sandy's response
is rather cynical: "That's just like him— sweet
impractical Harry. If he had his way, nobody would get
75
anything out of this." At this point some of Harry's
guilt is transferred to Boom Boom who feels remorse when
he does not reveal to Harry how he feels about this woman
with the bleached blonde hair. He knows that Harry is
just too nice a guy and easily duped, but he cannot
disappoint Harry when he sees his joy on Sandy's return.
Ironically, her return causes his dismissal since Sandy
now claims to be able to cook. It is clear, though, as
Boom Boom teaches her how to exercise Harry in the
morning, she isn't really interested in the job, only in
the money that is going to come at the end.
This transferral of guilt results in a few scenes
where "true" characters mask their true feelings from the
other characters, such as Boom Boom hiding his face from
Harry as Harry tells him how great it is for Sandy to be
back. The complexity of this situation, the hiding of
"true" feelings, causes Boom Boom's downfall, his taking
to drink and his arrest after the bar fight which is
caused by "the other blonde," who only further reminds him
• of Sandy. In fact, the parallel "buddy" relationship is
made fairly clear here. Both have "fake" blonde partners
who are clearly unsatisfactory. Harry, again, can only
become a "mensch", a human being, by rejecting both Sandy
and Willie, the two unsatisfactory relationships in his
life, sexual and both family and business, in favor of one
76
i with Boom Boom, the other character who represents
honesty.
If there is a possible criticism of this black
comedy, it would be in the rather "topical" solution of
the moral dilemma that Wilder and Diamond have posited.
Harry realizes that both Sandy and Willie are "bad apples"
in the end, but he doesn't act on that knowledge until
Purkey, trying to provoke him, launches racial slurs at
Boom Boom. Here, unconsciously, Harry comes to the
defense of his true friend, hitting Purkey in the jaw,
thus inadvertently revealing that he has been faking. He
then repeats the gesture for a better second take, making
the same decision of rejection a conscious one. Purkey
holds his jaw, smiling, another echo of the scene in which
Lemmon holds his jaw, smiling, after Karl has punched him,
provoking Miss Kubelik to kiss him. Although this is a
clever solution, the racial nature of the "buddy"
relationship, and his "defense" are almost too strained
i and topical a solution. This minor problem of topicality
will be amplified in Buddy Buddy in the digression to the
sexual clinic and the satire on California mores. Here,
the "racial relevance" as a subtext seems a forced
solution to cause Lemmon to suddenly leap out of his
wheelchair. But his rejection of Matthau and Sandy,
ending with him using his bad leg to kick Sandy in the
77
I
i rear seems not only provoked, but completely natural after
the "pain and suffering" they have caused him. This
f ending will be refrained in Buddy Buddy when the Lemmon
persona kicks Celia out of his room, and even more
i
forcefully when he blows up the Zuckerbrot clinic,
determined never to see his wife or her lover ever again.
I
The final images of the film are the final
affirmation of the buddy relationship, with the Lemmon
persona seeking out his new black friend on the empty
field of Municipal Stadium just as Miss Kubelik found Mr.
Baxter at his "empty" apartment. He tries to make-up to
Boom Boom, but his black friend has been too hurt once he
realizes all along that Harry was a fake. He tells Harry
once again, "So long, Buddy. See you around," causing
even more remorse on the part of Harry for the game he has
played. He does, though, punt a football to Boom Boom,
who unconsciously catches it and runs with it, thus
unconsciously rejecting his choice to quit professional
football and become a professional wrestler. Lemmon tries
i to tackle him and again fakes injury, this time to wake up
to reveal his "true" character and also Boom Boom's when
he says, "Come on, play ball." The film ends with the two
buddies playing catch like little boys in the homoerotic
! paradise of the football field where no "bad" women can
c
enter. This ending will again be refrained in Buddy Buddy
when the Lemmon/Matthau team end up on a desert island
together. True, there is a woman on the island, a
topless, native cook, but the fact that the Lemmon
character has left his wife for another man, the Matthau
persona, seems significant.
This is not to press a reading of a homosexual
; subtext into Wilder's films. However, it is interesting
to note how seriously this buddy theme seems to be taken
in these later comedies. At the end of The Front Page we
have a reprise of the famous ending at the train station
from Love In The Afternoon. but this time it is Matthau
, trying to win back Lemmon from his fiancee rather than
Audrey Hepburn chasing after Gary Cooper. Wilder will
again return to this theme in the relationship between
Watson and Sherlock Holmes in The Private Life Of Sherlock
Holmes. Before the filming of the Holmes film, Wilder
stated here we are examining "... the story of a
’ friendship, so to speak, between two men."7 Male bonding
appears in other films in the Wilder canon, such as in the
party scene in Stalaa 17 where the men dance together,
half of them in drag. In Some Like It Hot there was even
, a scene scripted and apparently shot that did not end up
in the final film of Lemmon and Curtis in bed together on
the train, with Lemmon trying to seduce Curtis (mistaking
him for Sugar) as he confesses to "her" that he is not a
79
natural blonde or even a woman, just as he will to his
fiancee, Joe E. Brown at the end of the film. It is not
surprising then that in his final film Matthau and Lemmon
will end up on a deserted island together (just as Joe and
Jerry talk about doing in Some Like It Hot) . On the set
of Buddy Buddy Matthau jokingly asked Wilder why Lemmon
always ends up with a bad woman or Matthau, himself, in
Wilder's films. When Wilder brushed off the comment,
Matthau retorted, "I would look to your own misogyny," a
comment that raises more questions than answers about the
"homo-eroticism" in Wilder's films.
80
NOTES
1 Bernard Dick, Billv Wilder (Boston: Twayne, 1980)
111.
2 Maurice Zolotow, Billv Wilder in Hollywood (New
; York: Putnam's, 1977) 44-5.
; 3 Gerald Mast, The Comic Mind (New York: Bobbs-
Merrill, 1973) 276.
4 Paul Rosenfield, "Billy Wilder's Night of Honor,"
Los Anaeles Times 8 March 1986, sec. 5: 8.
5 Paul Rosenfield, "A Sweet Evening For A.F.I. Award-
Winner Lemmon" Los Anaeles Times 12 March 1988, sec. 6: 5.
6 Joseph McBride, "In The Picture: The Front Page,"
Sight and Sound Autumn 1974: 212.
7 Axel Madsen, Billv Wilder (London: Indiana UP,
1969) 144.
81
CHAPTER III
THE ADAPTATION OF L'EMMERDEUR
Buddy Buddy is one of the few times that Billy
Wilder has directly adapted another's work, in this case
L'Emmerdeur (1973), a French farce written by Francis
Veber, who was also responsible for the screenplay to La
Cage Aux Folles (1978) and other successful French
comedies, including Pardone Mon Affaire (1977), La Chevre
(1982), and Les Comperes (1984). Buddy Buddy takes the
characters and situations from L'Emmerdeur and transforms
them into a Wilder/Lemmon/Matthau film. The situations
; for the most part remain unchanged although significant
changes have been made in characterization, dialogue,
structure, and emphasis.
L'Emmerdeur first opened in France in September, 1973
and was later released in this country in New York on
August 10, 1975 under the American title, A Pain In The
t A**. starring Lino Ventura as Ralph, the hitman, and
Jacques Brel as Pignon, a romantic shirt salesman. The
film was directed by Edouard Molinaro (La Cage Aux Folles)
with the cinematography by Raoul Coutard (Godard's great
cameraman), and the music by Jacques Brel. The initial
reviews of the film were mixed to positive. Variety said
it " . . . remains a one joke affair, only intermittently
82
funny."1 Richard Eden in The New York Times said that
although it was "generally pleasant and amusing . . . it
becomes cloying."2 Leonard Maltin would later rate the
film three stars and call it a "very funny black comedy"
with "wonderful performances by Ventura and Brel."J
L'Emmerdeur opens with the attempted assassination of
Louis Randoni, who is to testify before a French Grand
Jury in Montpellier about theft of important documents in
a case that threatens to become a national scandal. An
assassin leaves a bomb in his car, but he escapes death
when an unknowing neighbor borrows the keys to move it.
Immediately, Ralph (Lino Ventura) is called to kill the
incompetent assassin. When the incompetent assassin comes
home, Ralph is waiting, unseen. He shoots him in the head
and moments later emerges from the excavation of a nearby
building, suitcase in hand. His next assignment is Louis
Randoni in Montpellier. The only problem is that Randoni
is under heavy police protection. Another car is on the
way to the Hotel du Palais in Montpellier, a Peugeot,
driven by Pignon (Jacques Brel), a shirt salesman who is
trying to retrieve his estranged wife, who is at a nearby
psychiatric clinic run by Dr. Fuchs, her new lover. His
dashboard is covered with flowers, trinkets, and a teddy
bear whose eyes light up when he steps on the brakes. An
American with knapsack is hitch-hiking in the rain; Ralph
83
drives by him, but Pignon picks him up and drives him to
Montpellier.
Pignon and Ralph check into adjoining rooms of the
hotel and are greeted and escorted to their rooms by the
same bellhop. Pignon calls his wife on the phone, but she
refuses to leave the clinic and come to visit him. Both
l
figures put "Do Not Disturb" signs outside their doors and
set to work. Pignon props a chair up against his door.
The noise disturbs Ralph, who tries to open the door
between the rooms, thus knocking down the chair. Pignon
props it back up and proceeds to the bathroom where he
plans to commit suicide.
Meanwhile, Ralph opens his suitcase and begins to
assemble a powerful rifle that is inside. He looks out
the second story window for a good view of the courthouse
across the street. Suddenly, the shutter on his window
falls down. He disassembles his rifle, hiding it in a
closet, and calls the bellhop. When the bellhop repairs
the shutter, they notice water coming in from under the
door to Pignon's room. The bellhop breaks in with a
1 passkey, and there in the bathtub they see Pignon, who has
broken a water pipe while trying to hang himself. The
bellhop wants to call the police, but Ralph tells him that
what Pignon needs is the milk of human kindness. He
84
promises to watch out for Pignon so he won't try it again.
Just no police.
j Pignon tries to get Ralph to call his wife and say
Pignon has tried to commit suicide; Ralph refuses and goes
; back to his room. But again he is disturbed by the sound
! of Pignon slamming a chair against the floor. He storms
into his room, asking for Pignon's wife's number. Dr.
Fuchs answers and Pignon grabs the phone away.
Ralph returns to his room, but soon the bellhop is
back disturbing him, saying that he is scared about
Pignon. Ralph convinces him that the "Do Not Disturb"
sign really means business. Just as he gets the gun out
again, Pignon slips a farewell note under the door.
Pignon takes out a revolver and storms next door, asking
Pignon if he wants to take a ride to see his wife,
i On the way Pignon gets the feeling they are going in
the wrong direction when he sees a rock quarry. He
distracts Ralph with some photographs of the new house he
has built for his wife, causing a collision with another
car that runs a stop sign. A man jumps out of the other
i car, demanding that Ralph drive his pregnant wife to a
hospital. Ralph refuses, but two motorcycle police appear
to convince him. Pignon continues to drive Ralph crazy by
i suggesting the delivery might take place in the car.
85
J
, Ralph throws Pignon out of the car and continues to the
nearby clinic.
j Pignon hitch-hikes to Fuchs' clinic where his wife,
; who is riding, rejects him despite his pictures of the new
house. He declares he will commit suicide, but she rides
off on her horse, undeterred by this threat.
When Ralph finally makes it back to the hotel, the
bellhop informs him that Pignon is also back in his room.
Again Pignon attempts to engage Ralph in conversation
about his wife, but Ralph emphatically tells him to leave
him alone. Moments later Pignon is out on the ledge
threatening suicide. Ralph tries to get him inside before
he attracts the police's attention, but he is too late.
Pignon slips on the ledge and falls, barely hanging on
with his hand. Ralph manages to save him and drag him
back into the room. Just as Pignon is expressing his
eternal gratitude, the shutter to the window falls on
Ralph's head, knocking him onto the ledge. He is only
semi-conscious, but crashes back into the hotel through
the window of an adjoining room, disturbing two lovers.
Dr. Fuchs arrives at the hotel and convinces the
police to stay out of it. He bribes the bellhop and goes
up to the room to sedate Pignon before he can commit
suicide. He finds Pignon attending to Ralph. Dr. Fuchs,
thinking that Ralph is Pignon, gives him a shot to keep
86
him sedated. Meanwhile as Dr. Fuchs leaves, he expresses
his contempt for Pignon because he bored his wife to
death.
When Ralph realizes what has happened to him, he
insists on going to Dr. Fuchs' clinic for an antidote to
the injection. He is in no condition to drive, so Pignon
agrees to take him so he can tell his wife off at the same
time. As he tells Ralph he would like to become good
friends, he runs a red light causing them to be stopped by
the police. Ralph escapes detection, but soon Pignon runs
out of gas.
Dr. Fuchs is interviewing one of his psychiatric
patients about her sexual dreams when Ralph breaks into
his office, tossing the patient out. As Ralph fights with
several attendants, Pignon seeks out his wife. When Dr.
Fuchs runs up to Pignon and his wife, Pignon demands to
know what has happened to Ralph, thus revealing his true
identity.
Dr. Fuchs leads them to a room where Ralph is now in
a straight jacket. As Dr. Fuchs attempts to release
Ralph, Pignon mocks his professionalism and shows his wife
pictures of the house. Dr. Fuchs rips up the pictures,
causing the ire of both Louise and Pignon, not to mention
Ralph, who is in a hurry to get back to the hotel. A
fight ensues, with Fuchs slapping Louise and Pignon trying
87
to defend her, while Ralph tries to get amphetamines from
Dr. Fuchs to counteract his sedation. Once he gets the
pills, he runs off with Pignon after him.
Ralph is picked up by a professional racer after he
stands in the middle of the road, forcing the racer to
stop. When the American hitch-hiker from the opening of
the film tries the same trick, he ends up in a tree. The
racer gets Ralph back to town at a speed that even scares
Ralph.
Ralph gets back to his room and is assembling his
rifle, when Pignon reappears, wanting to give him some
shirts as a token of his appreciation. Just as he is
about to strangle Pignon, the bellhop reappears. Moments
later the chief-of-police is up in the room to question
the man who had been seen out on the ledge. When he tries
to question Ralph in the hall, Ralph gives him a knock-out
punch. Pignon looks out in the hall and sees Ralph
dragging the chief-of-police's body to a closet.
When Ralph returns to his room, Pignon is holding the
i
rifle on him. He tells Pignon that the people he works
for mean business. Meanwhile, Louise appears at the door.
Pignon tells her to wait in the lobby. Ralph tries to get
Pignon to chase after his wife, but Pignon holds his
ground. When Ralph moves toward him, Pignon falls
backwards, accidentally causing the gun to discharge.
88
: Ralph crashes through the window, a gaping wound in his
shoulder. Suddenly, the police are firing bullets and
■ tear gas into the room.
Ralph escapes to the roof through a skylight in the
bathroom, with Pignon not far behind. Police race through
! the lobby past Louise and the bellhop. When Louise tells
’ the bellhop that Pignon is her husband, he says, "He's a
pain in the ass."
On the roof the badly wounded Ralph drops his gun,
which falls to the ground next to the car of Dr. Fuchs.
When Dr. Fuchs picks it up, police surround him, thinking
' he might be the killer. Meanwhile, Pignon chases Ralph
over the roof tops.
They head down a staircase as Pignon tries to
apologize for the accident. He says that "... nobody's
perfect. A friend in need is a friend indeed." He tells
Ralph that he'll get them out of there. They'll steal a
car. They'll run the road blocks and stay at his house.
He's really glad that he met Ralph because he has been
lonely the last three months. "We'll make it, you'll
see."
Abruptly, we cut to a prison jail yard where Pignon
is walking behind Ralph in a line. "It's all been
arranged," he whispers. "I asked them to put us in the
same cell." Ralph shoots him a look that could kill.
89
Buddy Buddy came into being when executive producer,
! Alain Bernheim, Edouard Molinaro's former agent, and
producer, Jay Weston, approached Jack Lemmon and Walter
Matthau about starring in a remake of L'Emmerdeur. They
! immediately agreed and suggested Billy Wilder as the man
I to write and direct the project.4 According to Jay
i
' Weston, "He showed the film to Lemmon on Tuesday, Matthau
on Thursday, Wilder on Friday and had a package on Friday
with a young Morris agent." Twelve weeks later, a record
; time for Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond, his long-time partner,
they had finished the script now reset in Riverside,
California. Wilder stated in an interview:
We took just the gimmick; everything
else was changed. I don't like to do
remakes. I like to start from scratch.
That way you needn't have respect for
what's gone before. But this French
film did seem to offer some amusing
possibilities.5
A close examination of the two works reveals that more
than just the gimmick was retained; however, there is no
question that this French story was transformed into a
Billy Wilder script, with Billy Wilder characters and
dialogue.
In terms of writing, Wilder and Diamond used the same
methods that they had employed for the previous twenty-
three years of their collaboration. Wilder has stated
that his methods have remained consistent since he first
90
started working with a partner in Hollywood fifty years
ago:
We meet, at say, 9:30 in the
morning and open shop like bank
tellers, and we sit there in one
room. We read Hollywood Reporter and
Variety, exchange the trades, and we
just stare at each other. Sometimes
nothing happens. Sometimes it goes
on until 12:30, and then I ask
[Diamond], "How about a drink?" And
he nods, and then we have a drink and
go to lunch. Or sometimes we come
full of ideas. This is not the muse
coming through the windows and
kissing our brows. It's very hard
work, and having done both, I can
tell you that directing is a pleasure
and writing is a drag. Directing can
become difficult, but it is a
pleasure because you have something
to work with .... But writing is
just an empty page. You start with
nothing, absolutely nothing.6
There is no outline, treatment, or first draft.^ They
always begin by typing C.D. in the upper left hand corn
er— an abbreviation for Cum Deo ("With God")— a formal
Q
recognition of the difficulty of the task ahead. Then
they hammer out the script line by line. They have talked
out the plot and character sympathy previously, but they
have not recorded a word.9 Being locked in by the words
can be a disadvantage. They spend most of the time
talking— one week of talking usually equates to one hour
of typing. Both writers could retain lines and scenes in
their heads until it was time to type. Once the typing
began, Diamond remained seated at the typewriter while
91
I Wilder paced around the office, often swinging a cane. As
!
the script develops, they work longer hours, now from 9 to
6, eventually adding Saturdays and Sundays and evenings.10
In the office they work out every line, every fade,;
i
every dissolve, and even discuss camera angles; on the set
there is little room for change; in a sense, the film hasj
j been pre-directed in the writing. Wilder even acts outj
! all of the parts, a practice inherited from his mentor,|
i
Ernst Lubitsch. Jack Lemmon says of Wilder's scripts:
I
They're lean and specific and simple.
There's not an extra 'if', 'and' or
'but'. I have never heard of an
actor wanting to change a line . . .
No, there was one in Some Like It
Hot. 'Now you're talking!' I wanted
to say it twice. Twenty minutes
Billy took before he decided to let
me do it. j
Before The Front Page no Wilder script was ever
I
finished before shooting began. Wilder explained: f
I don't think we ever started with a >
complete script. That sounds worse j
than it is. The third act is always !
constructed, but it's not down on ;
paper yet, because certain things j
happen once you get on the set, i
certain performances begin to come to |
life, certain things you see and feel 1
help you on writing the third act.
I
This method was even used on their most flawless comedy;
! \
Some Like It Hot. Early in the picture they filmed at the
i 1
j Coronado Hotel as Diamond explained:
. and we knew that Lemmon and
Curtis and Monroe were going to go
off with Joe E. Brown at the end, we
knew that much. We also knew there
was going to be a lot of costume
changes in the last act, that they
were going to change from girls'
clothes to men's clothes and back
again. We didn't know exactly where
we would come out. But we felt they
would probably wind up in girl's
clothes, and we shot it that way.
If, in the writing, it had turned out
we were wrong, that they ended up in
men's clothes, we would have had to
go back and reshoot it. 3
Even the famous last line, "Nobody's perfect," was thought
up at 11 P.M. the night before shooting. They hoped to
come up with something better on the set the next morning,
but fortunately they didn't.14
Out of the necessity of shooting Buddy Buddy by the
methods of "new" Hollywood, they were forced to complete
the entire script for approval before shooting. In the
past Wilder and Diamond (and also Brackett) had a joke.
If you didn't finish the third act in advance, the bosses
couldn't fire you.15 In the Hollywood of 1980 it would be
unthinkable to go into production without a completed
script. However, it is interesting to note how successful
Wilder's method had been in the past. Is it possible that
being locked into a completed script limited Wilder's
possibilities?
Although the story of Buddy Buddy is basically the
same as that of L' Emmerdeur. the story was rethought and
shaped to make it a Lemmon/Matthau film, two performers
that already had established personae very different than
either Lino Ventura or Jacques Brel, the stars of the
original film. Wilder always wrote his scripts for;
specific actors. If he had to make a change in casting;
i
(such as when William Holden replaced Montgomery Clift on’
Sunset Boulevard) , he would always rewrite for the new
star. Wilder has said:
Having decided on a subject, I
visualize in terms of specific artists.
However talented the star may be, none
is without limitations. The final
result on the screen is almost certain
to be better if you bend your script to
the personality rather than trying to
force a performance from an artist
against type and beyond his or her ;
limitations.16
Almost all of the dialogue from L'Emmerdeur was altered to,
fit the Lemmon/Matthau personae. The situations remained!
the same, however.
The key to writing in Wilder's mind is
simplification:
Once you have an idea, you have one I
million, one million, variants on how j
to tackle that idea. And then it |
becomes more or less a labor of j
elimination, of dramatization.17 j
I
Wilder now prefers the "simple story with ornamentation" {
to the complex story "... which has to be flattened out
so that it is understandable to the audience."16 In fact,j
the structural changes that were made in the adaptation
were ones of simplification. In L'Emmerdeur there are two
, trips to the clinic of Dr. Fuchs. In Buddy Buddy Wilder
and Diamond combined these two trips into the one that
forms the bulk of the second act (although technically
they call it a one act script with a prologue and an
j
epilogue) . It is the one of their few scripts that takes
place almost entirely in real time, the ninety-six minute
running time of the film. This structural simplification
is to keep the pace and clockwork mechanism of the farce
moving.
Most of the situations from L'Emmerdeur were retained
in Buddy Buddy with notable changes having been made in
the opening and the ending. In Wilder's mind the set-up
and the introduction of the main characters are crucial.
You must at the outset "explain the rules, involve people,
i
and they will do most of the work for you. You say 'This
guy is greedy, this guy is something else'— and you let
1 Q
the clashes of the drama unfold.” Buddy Buddy opens by
firmly establishing the comic mode of the film, and
clearly establishing in the audience's mind the Trabucco
character (an extension of the Matthau persona). Unlike
L'Emmerdeur which is much blacker in tone, Buddy Buddy
emphasizes the farcical elements of the earlier film.
L'Emmerdeur opens on an ominous tone, a zoom in and out
95
from a car which will seconds later explode, brutally
i
killing an innocent man. Moments later, the unsuccessful
assassin will also be brutally killed, shot in the head
by our main character, Ralph, the assassin. In Buddy
Buddy both assassinations are carried out by Trabucco, but
i
Wilder gives them a comical tone, thus preparing us for |
I
the farcical attitude that we should adopt to the j
I
proceedings to follow. In the first killing, a letter ,
j
bomb is employed, and although the witness is blown up,
j the letter bomb is funny, distancing us from the action.
! Similarly, when the second witness, Barney Pritzig, is
poisoned with cyanide, causing his head to slump into his i
i
cereal, Wilder adopts a comical, distancing tone. We know!
that this is farce; death is not to be taken any more]
seriously than it is at the opening of Some Like It Hot.
The fact that Matthau dresses as both a mailman and a
milkman, and celebrates each murder by lighting a big:
cigar, lets us know that this is the Matthau persona, not ,
i
a dreaded hitman of the Ventura variety in L7Emmerdeur.
I
who steps off an Air France flight, suitcase in hand, j
ready to kill. The comic tone at the opening of the j
script again prepares us for the introduction of the
i
second half of the Lemmon/Matthau team. Matthau may be a ,
hitman, but we know from the nature of this team that he
is not going to be efficient, certainly not when the
i
Lemmon persona is lurking in the background. Wilder
i
immediately begins to play off our "Odd Couple"
I expectations and knowledge of this team.
t
On the way to Riverside, the Matthau/Lemmon
characters have their first encounter in a "meet-cute"
(another Wilder trademark) in a gas station. In
L'Emmerdeur Ralph, the hit-man, stops in a petrol station
for a coffee, and Pignon passes him in a separate car.
There is no direct encounter between them until they check
into adjoining rooms in a hotel. Again, the
Matthau/Lemmon meeting is a classic introduction of the
team. Trabucco, surly and impatient, paces outside the
rest room as Lemmon is inside throwing up. When Clooney
comes outside, he immediately begins to apologize and tell
Trabucco his life story, how his wife left him.
Immediately, the audience knows that this will be another
Odd Couple relationship, with Lemmon the prissy pest and
Matthau, the more masculine character, who will be driven
up a tree. His stony non-reactions to the Lemmon persona
say it all. But then, as they drive toward Riverside,
Trabucco passes Victor in his car, and Victor tries again,
honking and waving. Thus, when the two characters check
into adjoining rooms, Wilder has already set the farce
into motion. Wilder has said:
97
Comedy is such a fragile product made
up for a fickle audience. You live
with the constant fear of winding up
with egg on your face. You hope that
what seemed fresh when you wrote and
filmed it will be fresh when seen by
the audience. And you have to grab
them at the beginning of the movie and
not let go.
The clockwork-like mechanism of this farce is clearly
established at the opening. The opening murders have been
comical, the star personae clearly established in the
audience's mind, and hopefully the audience will be
caught, ready for the clockwork mechanism of the farce to
sweep it up for the next ninety minutes. The script
begins strongly.
Once we arrive at the hotel the situations remain the
same although changes have been made in characterization
and dialogue. Pignon, the shirt salesman, becomes Victor
Clooney, a Standards and Practices man (censor) for C.B.S.
Again, Wilder continues his practice of satirizing
television as we have seen in Lemmon's T.V. dinner in The
Apartment and Sandy's T.V. linoleum ad in The Fortune
Cookie. Here, Wilder rejects the existential qualities of
the Pignon character, who is more forceful but has an
almost existential resign about his lot in life. Victor
Clooney, on the other hand, is another extension of the
established Lemmon persona. Victor is Wilder's put-upon
innocent, a priggish romantic in an unfeeling world. We
also see in the Lemmon persona his basic loneliness, now
that his wife has run off with another man. Again, Lemmon
plays a man who has difficulties with women; he is just
too nice a guy. Like Harry in in The Fortune Cookie he
has lost his wife to a man who represents sexual prowess,
the implication being that he just wasn't good enough in
bed.
| The Trabucco character is an extension of the one- j
I note characterization of the hit man in L'Emmerdeur as (
1 played by Lino Ventura, but again Wilder transforms the !
j characterization into one of his own. It is clear that '
j Trabucco with his hat, his world-weary cynicism, his wit, ■
and his cigars is another version of Billy Wilder,,
I !
I
himself. Again, this is an extension of the Matthau j
persona, who will always have the final word with his :
sarcastic wit. Wilder will again introduce the role of j
the disguise. Trabucco is first seen disguised as a!
mailman and milkman, then later he escapes through a
police barricade by dressing as a priest, and throughout
he passes himself off as a businessman/animal exterminator
to Victor Clooney. No use of disguise appeared in |
i
L'Emmerdeur♦ Here, again the ending is a significant ;
change. As in the ending to The Fortune Cookie. the > .
t
Lemmon persona rejects his wife in favor of a relationship •
in a "homoerotic" paradise with his buddy character. I
I
i 99
Here, paradise includes football on television, a topless
Hawaiian cook, servants, but again the Lemmon persona is
the fly in the ointment that will prevent Matthau from
enjoying his life in paradise, just as he upset his|
bachelor pad and lifestyle in The Odd Couple.
The Louise character in L/Emmerdeur becomes Celiaj
I
Clooney, a simplified version of the Sandy character in1
The Fortune Cookie. Louise is a softer character, one who
retains some feeling for her schlemiel husband and his
sensitivity. Several times she leaps to his defense when
he fights with Dr. Fuchs, and in the end she seems ready
to reject Fuchs for Pignon, if only he will give her one
more chance. In contrast, Celia, who will not be dragged
from Zuckerbrot's Clinic until she has achieved the
I ultimate orgasm, seems to be another version of the
| overtly sexual Sandy. Like Sandy, she is unredeemed in the^
end. She briefly is turned on by Lemmon's anger in the1
end, but it is too late for them. Again, the Lemmon
persona rejects his wife in favor of a relationship with|
another man. i
Dr. Zuckerbrot and his Institute For Sexual
Fulfillment appears to be another one of Wilder's
satirical looks at psychiatry that we have seen in The
Seven Year Itch and in the Dr. Winterhalter character in
i
The Fortune Cookie.21 Here, the Psychiatric Clinic of Dr.
Fuchs is transformed into an Institute For Sexual
Fulfillment. In L'Emmerdeur we see Dr. Fuchs interviewing
a patient about her sexual dreams, but there is no full-
blown satire of his entire practice. The other changes I
and additions in character have this same topical,
satirical emphasis. The American hitch-hiker and the
couple having the baby are combined into the hippie couple <
in Buddy Buddy. and another stereotypical character is :
I '
! added in the form of the Mexican maid. Louis Randoni, a 1
j
rather straight-faced witness, is transformed into Rudy
"Disco" Gambola, and the rather abbreviated role of the
police chief becomes the bumbling characterization of ,
Police Chief Hubris, played by Dana Elcar, but originally
written for Jack Webb.
i
Clearly, in retrospect Buddy Buddy is not one of i
Billy Wilder's greatest scripts; however, to be fair to j
i
the script one must turn the clock back to 1980 and the |
initial reactions of this reader and others to it. After j
a first reading, I thought this was a very funny script.\
i
Jack Lemmon agreed and at the end of filming he said, j
"This is the first time since The Odd Couple that I have j
been sorry to see a film end."
i
In terms of complexity, the script was not Some Like j
I
It Hot, but the lines were funny, and the reader savored i
i
the re-teaming of Matthau and Lemmon in a delicious farce.
On paper their conflicts--drawing on their clearly
established "Odd Couple" personae— had the potential to be
hilarious, with the pesky Lemmon character, frustrating
Matthau at every turn. The script was shorter, more
straightforward than Wilder's other scripts, but the
verbal humor again revolved around a complexity of
characterization (augmented by the disguises employed by
the Matthau character). In almost every scene there was
the potential for tension, created by the fact that the
audience is privy to Trabucco's true character while
Victor Clooney is not, until the very end. Again, the
superior knowledge given to the audience gives double
meanings to almost every line in the script and adds
another layer to the interplay between Matthau and Lemmon.
In retrospect, there were some clear weaknesses in
the script— the excessive use of stereotypes such as The
Mexican Maid, the Hippie Husband and Pregnant Wife, Man
With The Inflated Rubber Doll, and Rudy "Disco" Gambola—
but they were all minor characters which had the potential
to be funny if directed in the right way. Besides, in the
past many of Wilder's stereotypical "characterizations"
had proven to be a delight, particularly Spats and the
other gangsters in Some Like It Hot.
Although an improvement structurally on L'Emmerdeur.
the digressive second act was still a potential weakness.
102
I
| In retrospect, it is clear that this digression deflates
( the narrative drive of the story, an important concern of
I Wilder and Diamond in their comedy. As Diamond had said,
"I want to know what happens next, not what happened last
, year in Marienbad."22 Wilder agrees that the story "must
i go like a machine gun. Pop, pop, pop. Don't let the
audience get away."23 He states that you can get away
with more in a drama than in a comedy because "if a scene
in a comedy falls flat, it really flops, and the director
has to start all over from scratch to recapture the
audience."24 There were danger signs in the satirical
trip to the sex clinic, but knowing Jack Lemmon's ability
to add depth to a stereotype, the reader relished the idea
of the priggish Lemmon persona, a censor, forced to
confront the sexual irregularities of the sex clinic, an
anathema to his very nature.
There were, however, two other potential problem
spots in the script relating to characterization. Were
. Diamond and Wilder pushing Lemmon's gullibility too far
when he suddenly decides to pull off the assassination for
the Matthau character? On initial reading I felt that
this scene would make or break the ending. If they could
pull it off, it would make the ending a triumph of black
comedy. But the scene had an equal potential to fall on
its face. Another problem not apparent on initial reading
103
| was the division of screen time between the Matthau and
Lemmon characters. Neither can be seen definitively as
| the main character; this is a buddy film. At the opening
• and end it seems to be Matthau's story, but in the middle
; the focus is clearly on Lemmon. In both The Apartment and
; The Fortune Cookie Lemmon is clearly the main character
with the action filtered through his eyes. The weaknesses
caused by the split focus in Buddy Buddy would not be
clear until later.
However, despite these "potential" flaws, the script
seemed to be a potential delight— another sharp, biting
entry into the Wilder world. And as in his greatest comic
success, Some Like It Hot. we would be again in a hotel—
with the farce built around disguise and characters in
adjoining rooms. Wilder has stated, "Eighty per cent of a
picture is writing, . . . the other twenty per cent is the
execution, such as having the camera on the right spot and
being able to afford good actors in all of the parts."25
] It seemed that any potential "flaws" in the script could
be ironed out with proper casting and direction.
This script seemed to have the potential to be a very
funny film and throughout most of the filming, the
; performances on the set and the dailies seemed to indicate
that this might be the case. Why the film failed was
largely the execution on the set; the script had flaws—
104
I
I but the potential always seemed there. Wilder knew the
dangers. As he says, "... the most treacherous form in
| the entire realm is farce. Farce is what might be called
slapstick with a doctor's degree at Cambridge and
: Oxford."26 Ultimately, success or failure is determined
j by the audience. Wilder asks, "Do they care— that's the
important thing. Are they interested. It's a brand new
game. I've invented the rules— do they want to play or
0 7
not? Because they must do some of the work."'1'
I
105
NOTES
1 "L'Emmerdeur," rev. of L'Emmerdeur. by Edouard
Molinaro, Variety Film Reviews: 1971-1974. 16 vols. (New
York: Garland, 1983) 12 Sept. 1973, 13: N. pag.
2 Richard Eden, "A Pain In The A— ," rev. of & Pain
In The A— , by Edouard Molinaro, New York Times 11 August
1975: 33.
3 Leonard Maltin, Leonard Maltin's TV Movies, 1985-6
ed. (New York: Signet-NAL, 1984) 662.
4 Carol Shapiro Janson, “Buddy Buddy: Preliminary
Production Notes" (Culver City, Ca.: Metro-Goldwyn Mayer,
1980) 2.
5 Roderick Mann "Directors: French, American," Los
Angeles Times 27 Nov. 1981, sec. 6: 1+9.
6 Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond, "Dialogue On Film:
Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond," American Film July-Aug.
1-976: 34.
7 Wilder and Diamond 37.
8 Maurice Zolotow, Billy Wilder in Hollywood (New
York: Putnam's, 1977) 136.
9 Lincoln Barnett, "The Happiest Couple in Hollywood:
Brackett and Wilder," Life 11 Dec. 1944: 104.
10 Murray Schumach, "Bright Diamond," New York Times
Magazine 26 May 1963: 80.
- j i
Richard Lemon, "The Message in Billy Wilder's
Fortune Cookie," The Saturday Evening Post 17 Dec. 1966:
38.
William Froug, "Interview With I.A.L. Diamond,"
The Screenwriter Looks At The Screenwriter (New York:
Macmillan, 1972) 161.
13 Froug 161.
14 Froug 161.
15 Axel Madsen, Billy Wilder (London: Indiana UP,
1969) 43.
16 Billy Wilder, "One Head Is Better Than Two," Filins
and Filming Feb. 1957: 7.
17 Billy Wilder, "Going For Extra Innings," With
Joseph McBride and Todd McCarthy, Film Comment Jan.-Feb.
1979: 45.
18 Colin Young, "The Old Dependables," Film Quarterly
Fall 1959: 3.
19 Lemon 38.
20 William Touchy "Wilder in Italy: Order Among The
Extroverts," Los Anaeles Times 30 April 1972, "Calendar":
21.
21 Steve Seidman, The Film Career Of Billy Wilder
(Boston: Hall, 1977) 2-3.
22 Froug 152.
23 Madsen 118.
24 Tom Wood, The Bright Side Of Billv Wilder.
Primarily (Garden Grove, New York: Doubleday, 1970) 42.
25 Madsen 35.
26 "Billy Wilder: Cum Deo," Hollywood Close-up 26
March 1959: 6.
27 Lemon 42.
107
CHAPTER IV
ACTORS AND ACTING
I had many preconceptions about Billy Wilder— his
sardonic wit, irascible temperament, and Teutonic
demeanor— as I approached the Buddy Buddy set in February
1984. Maybe he had mellowed, I thought. After all, he was
seventy-four and certainly not as sharp as he had been in !
the fifties when he directed such classics as Some Like It ;
' Hot and Sunset Boulevard.
I
Entering the lobby of Riverside's Mission Inn, I ;
immediately spotted him: an imposing figure in flannel |
i
pants, white cardigan, and rain hat, puffing away at a i
huge cigar as he paced across the floor, rarely saying a ;
word except for an occasional joke to the crew or a sharp,
I
"none of your fucking business" when questioned as to the
next set-up. He never removed his hat, even though he was ;
inside and there was no rain in sight. j
As soon as the lighting was completed, he sprang into j
action, directing the extras, joking with Walter Matthau j
j
about the lighting on his face ("Why worry about it. Some j
I
people are born with it."), and commanding the respect of
t
the crew, most of whom addressed him with a tentative,
"Billy, sir." He asked for the framing on Matthau, and
the cameraman replied, "Down to the third buttonhole."
There was one quick rehearsal; afterwards, Wilder tersely
remarked, ’ "I wish it were already on celluloid." Then the
camera rolled, and Matthau was flawless on the first take.
Wilder said, "We need two of that." The second take was
also perfect, and in a brief five minutes the shot was
completed.
Then, the process began again: one and a half hours
to set up a complicated dolly/pan shot with Matthau and !
i
the bellhop crossing the lobby to the elevator and Matthau |
buying a cigar from Nellie McQueen, the actress stationed
behind a counter. The lighting was completed at four '
i
I o'clock as the daylight was quickly fading. On the first 1
three takes, the camera movement and timing were perfect, ;
but Matthau blew his lines. Wilder goaded him: "Come on,
Walter. We need that shot." On take four Wilder tiptoedJ
i
behind the dolly (silently mouthing the words along with j
Matthau) as he watched intently; again, the lines were |
muffed. Quickly the camera was returned to its opening
position. Wilder said, "Don't fall down, Walter.
Absolute precision. Quick before the day's light goes."
Finally, on take seven everything was perfect. "Print
only Take #7," Wilder said, and the crew began to wrap the
set.
On this first day of observation, I was struck by ;
Wilder's energy, his martinet-like precision and
109
insistence on absolute professionalism. Over the next
three months, I was able to observe him in action each
day. In the process I discovered that many of my initial
impressions of him were incorrect. Rather than a martinet
who intimidates his actors into a performance, a very
different portrait of Wilder as a director emerged. In
interviews Wilder likes to present a tough veneer in |
regards to his approach to actors. He says, "You have to
i
be pliable and feel your way as to what attitude to i
J 1
i strike, sadist, or nurse maid, to get the best results." !
i
| On the set of Buddy Buddy I never saw a hint of the
| sadist. He was very considerate of his actors and tried ,
i j
to make them comfortable, while at the same time demanding
!
absolute professionalism on their part. Since his j
l
primary cast consisted of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, j
i
two of his favorite performers, there was little need to
demand professionalism. Although Wilder does not have a j
|
reputation as an actor's director, he is clearly one of
the best in helping an actor to construct, achieve, and
control a comic performance. When interviewed by Peter
Bodganovich, Marlene Dietrich insisted that she had only
worked with two great directors, Josef von Sternberg and
Billy Wilder. Bodganovich was dumbfounded to note that
among those she had excluded from her list were Ernst i
Lubitsch, Alfred Hitchcock, Raoul Walsh, and Orson I
i
110
Welles.2 Wilder's methods of working as a director are
idiosyncratic, but extremely effective.
* * * * * * * * * *
Wilder's first concern as a comedy director is
creating the proper environment for his actors. He does
not feel that tension is conducive to performance, even in
a drama. As a director, he tries to ensure that both his
I
actors and crew are relaxed. He does this by putting ;
i
everyone at ease with his sense of humor. Wilder notes, |
"... one of the things I am proud of is that tension is
totally absent from my sets. People extend themselves to
do their best when they're happy, and I feel that it's my I
i
job to make them feel that way."3 Previous visitors to a'
Billy Wilder set have noted that Wilder as a director is ■
often funnier than the scene that he is filming. On Buddyj
Buddy he had his crew and actors in stitches because of j
his off the cuff remarks. During the shooting of Buddy
Buddy I only saw Wilder lose his temper once, when a j
publicity person brought her crying baby onto the set,
ruining a difficult take. Creating a happy set is an
admirable goal for most directors, however, Wilder is able
to achieve it to an unusual degree. Gloria Swanson in an
interview noted that even in the serious drama Sunset '
Boulevard. Wilder created a joyful environment, not one !
that mirrored the gloom of her character, Norma Desmond, ;
111 |
or the set of her home. Swanson said, "Each day that I
came to work I was singing all the way to the studio,
singing like the birds. On the last scene of the picture,
when I came down the stairs, I cried."4 Ironically,
playing the dour Norma Desmond had been one of her
happiest times on a studio set.
Wilder's prerequisite of a happy set should not imply
that there is a sense of disorder to the filming process.
Wilder has stated:
When I direct, I like to have a happy
set— no bullhorn, no panic. But I also
like to establish the fact that I am in
charge and we are there to get things
done. The crew likes to know they are
not being led aimlessly.
He adds, "I find that if there is a lot of confusion
during the making of a film, you get confusion on the
| screen."6 Filming comedy, particularly a farce such as
I
Some Like It Hot or Buddy Buddy, requires an even greater
sense of order and control. Wilder says, "You have to be
, *7
orderly to shoot disorder."
Wilder's concern for the actor and the working
environment also should not imply that he has never had
problems with an actor. His fights with Marilyn Monroe on
Some Like It Hot and Humphrey Bogart on Sabrina are well-
documented along with his difficulties with Peter Sellers
who was to star in both Kiss Me Stupid and The Private
i
] Life Of Sherlock Holmes. Apparently, Sellers did not
112
embrace the concept of the happy set. A month into the
shooting of Kiss Me Stupid he had a serious heart attack
and the part of Orville Spooner had to be recast with Ray
Walston.8 Nor, apparently, did Humphrey Bogart, who felt
that Wilder was giving too much attention to his friends,
Audrey Hepburn and William Holden, and not enough to him.
With Monroe the problem was her unpreparedness: she
l
would arrive hours late and try the patience of the j
i J
director and the cast, particularly Tony Curtis, because |
she would not know her lines. In the scene near the end |
!
of Some Like It Hot when the despondent Sugar searches for
the bourbon bottle in Joe and Jerry's room after Shell, j
Jr. has rejected her, she required over seventy takes to j
remember the simple line, "Where's the bourbon?"
i
According to Wilder he even typed the line and taped it
inside the drawers she was searching, but that did no
i
good. After the film, both Monroe and Wilder dragged 1
their differences into public view with a letter writing
campaign, emphatically stating that they would never work
I
together again. However, by the time that Wilder was j
I
getting ready to cast Irma La Douce he was mellowing, and
again considering Marilyn, who wanted the part.9
Unfortunately, her death intervened. Wilder, despite the
problems she caused him, always recognized her comic I
l
i ;
genius. Without Monroe Some Like it Hot would not be a
comic masterpiece. What other actress could have supplied j
that difficult mixture of innocence and sexiness on which
the comic plot hinges. Certainly not Jayne Mansfield.
Wilder says of difficult actors:
No, if a particular actor can
contribute something to a film— I'll
use him, whoever he is and whatever I
think of him. It doesn't have to be a
love affair. If you are a serious
film-maker, you have to overlook
insults and animosities and get on with j
the picture. If a person has talent,
I'll kiss his shoes, whatever I think j
of them personally. Anyway, making a
movie isn't a life sentence.10
Unlike a director such as Francis Coppola, Wilder
does not believe in extensive rehearsal before the start ,
of the film. On Buddy Buddy Wilder, Lemmon, and Matthau _
read through the script for two days early on, but there
i
was no painstaking deliberation of characterization and
motivation. Wilder has said: i
I don't come from the theatre; I i
haven't studied Max Reinhardt or Lee
Strasberg of the Actor's Club. I
think I have a pretty good idea of
what an actor is, a good ear for
dialogue, and I watch out and try not
to bore the audience. I'm just a
story-teller. 1
The reason Wilder does not believe in pre-rehearsal
he says is because "the actors forget what we were
rehearsing, I forget how I rehearsed it, absolutely
impossible.1,12 !
114
For Wilder the comic performance is created on the"]
set although he expects his actors to be prepared. His j
usual method is to rehearse the scene for about an hour J
with his cast. If it is a difficult scene, he will clear
the set of all observers, sometimes even his cameraman.
The scene is painstakingly rehearsed. Wilder does not
storyboard his sequences beforehand. He notes: i
There's no such thing as my coming on
the set in the morning with pieces of
chalk and drawing little blueprints j
and saying: 'He will move three steps
and take a cigarette out and now he
will sit on the couch.' We just fool
around with ideas until the scene
comes to life for all of us, then I !
talk to the cameraman . . . about
chopping the whole thing into
separate shots.13
Wilder is particularly concerned with the blocking of a
I
scene: that movements and staging be natural, rather than |
i
I
arbitrary. He will not lock his actors into a corner of a j
room because that is the way he had pictured it
previously. For him, the camera positions become obvious
once he and the actors have created the blocking of the
scene. When he is comfortable with the scene, he has the
actors rehearse once for the cameraman and crew. Then,
i
the actors go off to their trailers, and the set is lit
using stand-ins for the actors. The lighting may take up
to an hour; afterwards, the actors are called back to the j
115
set, and they fine-tune their performances, establishing
the blocking for the camera. Then, they shoot.
Although he doesn't storyboard, Wilder is never |
winging it. If you watch him between scenes or during !
lighting changes, he is often by himself pacing the set
like a tiger, mouthing the actors' lines to himself for
the next scene, as he puts himself through the movements |
of the characters. Sometimes he observes the set through
an imaginary viewfinder formed by his pinky and ;
j i
forefinger. As he paces, he looks like he is stalking an
imaginary prey; he can only know what to expect of his
I
j actors if he acts out the scene beforehand. On location
| near Riverside for the scene in which Matthau tries to :
\
I murder Lemmon, Wilder was out pacing the terrain, putting :
his own expensive sport jacket on a boulder to get a
feeling for what he would demand of Lemmon. Before the
final scene in the hotel where Lemmon discovers that
l
Matthau is a hit man, Wilder was pacing the set with an ;
i
(
imaginary gun in his hand, then slamming the door with his I
|
feet as Matthau would later do in the scene. By acting
out the scene for himself, Wilder comes up with ideas for
physical business.
The rehearsal on the set, however, is the key to the
scene; here, Wilder is meticulous; he notes that here is j
where the film is made; "You . . . have to improve the
smallest details, for if you polish up each detail in
comedy, the sum total will show through. So you can never
be sloppy with detail, timing, and nuance."14
Although Wilder is concerned with performance, he is
not particularly attuned to the Stanislavsky approach to
method acting. He believes in rehearsal and hard work,
not spontaneity or unearthing primal motivations. On The i
i
Apartment Shirley Maclaine felt at the beginning of j
I
filming that too much rehearsal cramped spontaneity and j
!
the natural delivery of lines. Wilder quickly changed her !
* 1 K 1
mind. He said, "She was infected with that one-take i
!
Rat-Pack-all-play-and-no-work nonsense, but when she came 1
t
to work for Iz and me in The Apartment. she got serious
and worked as hard as anybody."16 MacLaine was quickly1
!
won over by Wilder's attention to details. She said, "He i
directs every eyelash."17 Later she said, "I'd do
anything if Billy Wilder has something to do with it. I'd '
play a man. I'd be John Wayne."18 In discussing method
actors, Wilder said he sometimes runs "into an actor who
gives me that deep bit, 'Why do I have to cross to the
couch now? I don't feel like it. ' I usually tell them,
'Because now is the time to do it, and besides, you're
getting $75,000./19 He also doesn't like actors who stay
up late "practicing nuances" because "... that just
I
plasters veneer over veneer. Making a movie isn't like I
117
painting a picture. It's like a poster that hits you
instantly.»20
Again, this is not to suggest that Wilder is not
considerate of the actor or his needs. In working out the
blocking of a scene, he is concerned with its
believability; he will accommodate an actor if they find a
move awkward and he agrees. On the set he explained, "The
director must accommodate the actor, make him happy. If '
the actor is not comfortable— compromise." Wilder is a'
! stickler for little things, but not for the big things ;
} such as blocking. He likes to joke that "once you start I
i 1
I f
indulging in kindness to actors you might as well become >
an insurance agent." But, in fact, he is quite concerned;
with their needs. Also, he will not ask an actor to do !
something that he will not do himself. On Some Like It;
Hot he danced with Jack Lemmon in order to prepare for the i
tango sequence with Joe E. Brown. If the actor is
expected to crawl on the floor, it is not unlikely to see \
Wilder on the floor testing the action, first. j
i
Improvisation, however, is out as a method of either i
rehearsal or shooting in comedy. Wilder says:
You can't go out on the set with a ;
company that is costing you $20,000 j
or $30,000 a day and wait for the
muse to kiss your brow.
You don't hope that you or your
actors will come up with great jokes \
or dialogue on the spur of the I
moment. They won't. Sure, you want |
i
118
to stay flexible and incorporate
suggestions made on the set as you go
along.
But you don't depend on it. It
is my experience that you get only 3%
or at the most 5% extra with those
improvised bursts of inspiration. ]
Good film comedy is not created j
by winging it, but by preparation. j
And it doesn't hurt to have pros in i
the cast. You don't find a Cary |
Grant, a Carole Lombard, or a Jack j
Lemmon on the street.21 j
I
According to Wilder, "Don't ever depend on an actor to :
1 improvise. Otherwise you wind up like Cassavetes. He's a !
I
very fine director, but unprepared. If he were prepared '
he would be much better. How great a writer can Peter
i
Falk be, I ask you."22
I
In rehearsal Wilder insists that the scene be played
as written. But he does not impose an attitude on the 1
actor until he sees what the actor will do. He has a i
great belief in using professionals like Jack Lemmon and ;
Walter Matthau. "Particularly with Jack, it is like
writing for a virtuoso . . . it is like coaching Terry ,
Bradshaw. The coach does not tell him how to throw a pass
i
because he knows more about throwing a pass than anyone."
Once Wilder sees what the actor brings to a scene, he will
make adjustments, cutting out bits that are unbelievable, j
i
extraneous, or unwanted shtick. According to Lemmon, the :
great thing about Billy as a director is that "he doesn't
119 i
impose himself before he sees what an actor will bring.
And he has an eye and ear like a hawk."'5J
One of Wilder's greatest strengths as a comedy
director is helping the actor to invent business to create
a comic performance. In his best films he ingeniously
adds props such as the nasal spray and the tennis racquet j
in The Apartment. the wheelchair and flowers in The !
t
Fortune Cookie and the rose that Jack Lemmon and Joe E.
i Brown pass between their teeth in the tango in Some Like
It Hot. In an interview on the set of Buddy Buddy Lemmon
noted that in an ideal collaboration, such as his with j
Wilder, it is impossible to tell where the actor leaves ,
off and the director takes over. He noted that Wilder is
the best when it comes to inventing business and
"stringing together all of the pearls" in a strand.:
Lemmon has noted, "Working with Billy, I began to \
I
understand 'hooks'— those little bits of business an \
audience will remember long after they've forgotten ‘
everything else about the picture."24 Of The Apartment he
i
says: J
The average director would be afraid |
to play it like Billy did. They'd !
say, 'Let's get on to more action. ' |
But Billy let the scene run two
or three minutes. And he invented j
ideas as he went along. Like when I >
was cooking, having me straining the |
spaghetti through a tennis racquet. !
When he told me that. I knew it was
just the right touch.2 ,
j
1
I I
120
Lemmon considers the scene in Some Like It Hot where he
reveals to Tony Curtis that he is engaged to Joe E. Brown
one of the most brilliantly directed of his career.
When we got ready to do it, Billy
handed me a set of maracas, and I
thought he was crazy. I'd already
worked out everything at home and I
could not imagine what I was supposed
to do with these things. As we began
rehearsing it hit me what a genius
Wilder was in coming up with the
maracas. They served as perfect—
and critical— bridge; a piece of j
business that would fill in the gap !
between my lines, mroviding time for \
audience laughter. 6
i
The sequence in which Victor Clooney dresses to see i
i
his wife is a good example of Wilder's technique. First,
he told Lemmon, "You are dancing on clouds. You are going I
!
back to your wife, you schmuck." Then, as he watched
Lemmon dance and dress as he spritzed himself with after !
I
shave, Wilder added little flourishes. He told Lemmon to !
trill "Cecilia," and he added the toreador flourishes of
the snapping of the towel and his shirt on certain beats I
to further reflect Clooney's joy. Wilder admitted, "I
love shots like this." Just before shooting, Wilder made
subtle adjustments; "Less is more. Not for the camera.
Do it lovingly for yourself and they will call me the new
Rossellini. 'Less is more--more or less'— say it toJ
i
yourself, lovingly. Jackie-poo, a slight smile of j
anticipation." However, not all scenes require this type ;
121
of embellishment. Occasionally he will admonish Lemmon,
"No shtick. Don't drink the ink, if you remember that
story."
Occasionally, Wilder and Lemmon will disagree on a
piece of business. For example, in the sequence in which
Matthau takes Lemmon out in the car to murder him, Lemmon
formed a crab with his fingers as he delivered the lines, J
"I've never been good with women/I lack the killer j
instinct." After the first take, Lemmon deleted the ,
i
gesture. Later, I asked him why. Apparently, it was a |
piece of business he had first used at the gas station, j
i
but Wilder hadn't liked it. He said that here he had I
slipped it back in until Wilder had stepped up, and in his j
Germanic way said, "Jack, let's lose this." Lemmon went
on to say, "On my second film with Wilder I seduced him
I
(with my acting) and he lets me get away with murder, but j
i
is always suspicious that I have seduced him into doing !
something that he didn't want to do." After The Apartment J
Wilder complained that Lemmon had made his part funnier
than he had intended, and he wasn't going to allow it to
happen again on Irma La Douce.27 Of losing the crab
business, Lemmon said:
If this had been my first or second
film, I would have been hot that a
director made me lose a great piece
of business. But hell, I will slip
lots of pieces of business by Billy
before the film is over.
122
One nice example is in the sequence where Clooney
confronts the receptionist. Wilder added the nice piece
of business of the sliding glass being opened and closed,
but Lemmon just before shooting added the touch of the
flowers almost being caught in the window as Joan Shawlee
closes them. Wilder says of Lemmon:
Sometimes he comes up with marvellous
things, but at the times I don't j
I share his enthusiasm he will drop it
j instantly. He will not stand there j
with all the lights burning, the
j extras and electricians waiting, I
i money going down the drain, and argue 1
i with me.28
i
Although Wilder encourages suggestions about timing
and business, he does not like actors to changes lines,
j In Wilder's mind the script is a polished work and in many
j ways sacrosanct. He does not like actors to improvise new
i lines for something, "a writer has spent eight months on.
A script should be played the way it is written, like a ,
musical score. Every thing has a point."29 Lemmon
agrees, "You don't ad lib Wilder . . . just as you don't !
ad lib Shakespeare.1,30 In fact, during takes if you watch !
Wilder closely, you will see him silently mouthing the j
words to himself. During filming, his late partner,
I.A.L. Diamond, would stand nearby with his eyes glued not
i
on the actor, but on the script, making sure that the '
actor delivered the lines as written, down to even the ;
scripted "ahs" or other pauses. Often times if there had j
123 i
been a slight substitution, Diamond would tell Wilder and
I
i
the take would have to be redone. Joan Shawlee had to do
many takes while eating cottage cheese because she missed
one word, "ah." On a difficult take with Matthau at the
window and Lemmon on the ledge, a take had to be redone j
because Matthau substituted "out there" for "down there" I
I
in the line, "Jesus Christ! All those cops down there. ,
j |
They'll see you." j
i
i
Matthau would like to see a little more freedom m 1
terms of the lines. Matthau and Wilder play a cat and
mouse game where Matthau enjoys irking Wilder, j
occasionally requesting that a word be changed. One
afternoon a twenty minute argument ensued over whether the
line should be "What kind of shit is this?" or "What kind
l
i
of shit is that?" Wilder prefers the actor to just ]
deliver the lines although he enjoys his running arguments j
with Matthau. Wilder says:
The entire company can be demoralized !
by a star who arrives on the set and I
decides to change his lines. It is
very unprofessional and ruinous.
It's like driving a car. As soon as
you let someone else grab the
steering gear, you end up in a |
ditch.31
However, Wilder relished his revenge on Matthau in the '
third act when Lemmon had to slap Matthau in order to try ;
I
and revive him. "In no time in my life did I have a '
i i
i
I
124 !
desire to be an actor except on this shot. If I could
have a scene like this with Streisand— $5,000." Or when
they rehearsed the scene where Lemmon is bound and gagged,
Wilder joked, "Tomorrow, the dream of my life. An actor
who can not say one single line. I have to get down here |
at 6 A.M. and tangle with you wild animals. Now I get my
revenge." He then told the prop man who was binding
Lemmon's hands, "Tighter, M.C. We are making aj
i
documentary here . . . ." Matthau likes to kid Wilder |
about his attitude toward actors: "Why don't you think
that actors are smart? Robert Redford directs his first
j film and he wins an Academy Award." Wilder replied, j
| t
"Okay, Rod Steiger will direct your next picture." j
I
Part of the reason that Wilder is reluctant to change ■
lines on the set is because each line has a purpose, and j
t
is often a rhyme with a line or action that will take ;
place later in the script. Also, the script has an
internal rhythm and has been carefully paced out in his |
mind as a complete story. To tamper with the lines throws !
off the rhythm. On Sunset Boulevard Erich von Stroheim
had a great desire to contribute to the screenplay.
"Look, you bring me all the way from Europe to say 'Yes, j
madam' and 'No, madam.' Why don't you have me fixing her j
shoes and washing out her little bras?" According to 1
Gloria Swanson, "Every morning he would come with sheets J
( ,
[
i
125 |
and sheets of paper, and Billy Wilder would say, 'We
haven't time. We're telling a story. And we've got to
get on with the story, not detail.'32 The script is a
clockwork mechanism that he does not care to embellish or
elongate on the set unless absolutely necessary.
Although the actors relish the rehearsal,
occasionally they feel that too much can be a bad thing.
I Lemmon says that with other actors than Matthau he would ;
rehearse in the trailer while the set is being lit. J
Because they are such good friends and have worked ■
together many times, Lemmon does not want to over-rehearse j
with Matthau. He wants to be surprised on the set. He 1
doesn't want to know what Matthau will do and tries not to '
l
l
look at him before a shot. Matthau is the type of actor j
that hates to do things the same way twice. He likes to |
throw in surprises. Sometimes he feels that Wilder!
squelches these bursts of inspiration by insisting on too ;
much rehearsal. At one point he complained to Klaus
Kinski, "Billy overdirects." In this regard, I only saw
Lemmon annoyed with Wilder once. Before a take, Lemmon
can be seen preparing himself. Just before going on, he
says to himself one phrase, "magic time." On the sequence
I
where Matthau and Lemmon drive to the rock in rear j
l
projection, Wilder gave Lemmon one final direction before :
i i
shooting, "The attitude is a very simple one. Nervous i
F
I
126
expectation." Lemmon uncharacteristically replied,
"Please don't talk to me. I'll forget how I am going to
play it."
Once the time arrives for the actual shooting of the
scene, Wilder is particularly sensitive to the needs of j
his actors. Often the camera set-up will be subservient ;
i
to the actor rather than vice-versa. If the sequence is :
an important dramatic moment, Wilder will often shoot it :
<
j in an uninterrupted, but complicated medium shot. This
L • • '
] technique requires the actors to know as much as four
pages of dialogue for a single take, but in the case of ,
Matthau and Lemmon, they appreciate this opportunity to ,
stretch. Lemmon says that this long take style is
advantageous to him as an actor, and he does his best
acting under these circumstances. He says that few other
directors really give the actor the chance to "let it
roll" because they chop up their sequences into little
bits that never allow the actor to achieve full
characterization.
One example of a long take is the sequence in which
Lemmon opens the champagne bottle preparing for his j
suicide by self-immolation. Here, Wilder recognized the j
importance of the scene dramatically and decided to shoot j
the three-and-a-half page sequence in a single shot. It !
was an important scene because it set-up the reversal !
127 1
later in the third act when Clooney decides to save
Trabucco and do his job for him. Here, the camera
followed the movement of the actors and allowed them room
to perform. This complicated shot lasted one minute and
fifty-seven seconds and put great demands on the camera
crew (because of the many changes of focus, the intricate |
dolly moves and stops, and the 180 degree moves required j
of the operator) , but it was also one of the best pieces
of acting within the film. For the first time in the film
j Victor Clooney is a moving character, not just a schlemiel
chasing after his wife. Before the eyes of the crew, the ;
buddy relationship between Clooney and Trabucco became
defined. We feel that Trabucco may have undergone some
change of heart out in the woods. This was a difficult i
shot and the camera crew knew it was its time to perform. ;
On shots like this (or the four page sequence of Matthau
and Lemmon driving to the rock) Wilder insists, "No ;
mishaps outside the set because it is very tiring on the
*
i
actors." Before lunch they had shot ten or eleven takes, j
but still had not achieved the proper performances. Here, i
Wilder is very accommodating to the actors. He does not
pressure them, "Any time, Jack, no hurry." After lunch I
!
with a minor adjustment for camera, everything was !
I i
perfect. The entire sequence was completed in a single ;
shot. !
128
During the shooting, the first principle of Wilder's
directing technique is to get his actors to relax. Often
times, he will tell a joke just before a take, often a pun
on the lines the actor is about to deliver. Or he will
compliment the actor seriously or in his own inimitable
left-handed way: After an extended take, he said to
Matthau, "It is amazing that this man can remember four
pages of dialogue and also the number of his bookie." Or i
1 I
I at another time as Lemmon approached the set, "Oh, Mr. j
I Lemmon is here. Nothing can happen to us said the captain I
of the Titanic as he sat down to dinner." His compliments
to Paula Prentiss were more direct before they shot her I
running down the hall to Clooney's room. Within her
I
earshot Wilder said, "We will see very little of her face ;
J unfortunately— -but we will see her full figure in all its
i
glory." Then he turned to Paula, "When I see you run, it
I
is better than Baryshnikov." It only required one take to
I
shoot the scene. Afterwards he apologized, "I feel so i
I
guilty that it takes an hour and a half to set it up, and !
it takes one minute to shoot it."
In the final rehearsal or just before shooting,
Wilder will often set the attitude for the actor with a j
meticulous direction: To Matthau after Victor Clooney has ,
annoyed him for the fifteenth time, "Like you are von j
I
Hindenburg. What is this plebeian doing to me?" Or as
129
Matthau prepared to murder Lemmon, "Play the scene like
Iago .... Take your time. Put on your clothes like a
I
gentleman. The proper word that I have saved until now is |
deliberate— professional." Or he said to Lemmon as he was
about to discover the heater, the key to undoing his
bindings, "like nickels dropping in your head." |
i
Sometimes, these directions are funny. He told Matthau J
just before shooting the window falling on him, "Sound j
like Marie Antoinette did when they put the butter knife j
on her neck." After the take he joked, "You sound like a
little Pomeranian." To further aid his actors, Wilder
i
always uses his stars for off-screen lines. Even on the j
j
exterior balcony scenes when the camera was focused on |
i
Matthau in a single shot, Lemmon was up on the ledge ,
delivering the off-screen lines over the vigilant eyes of j
i .
| the crew who held a mattress just under him in case he j
slipped. In the sequence where Zuckerbrot delivers his j
i
(
lecture on premature ejaculation, Lemmon again appeared to 1
set the scene for the extras' reactions even though he had }
no lines, himself.
The following exchange between Wilder and Matthau is
indicative of Wilder's approach and attitude toward
comedy. As Matthau (Trabucco) picked up his suitcase to
take out his rifle, the gun tumbled out onto the floor
130
creating an unexpected laugh. Matthau wanted to leave the
action in, but Wilder was adamant.
Matthau: But if you left it in,
you'd have a four hundred
million dollar picture.
Wilder: But the character goes out
the window. What if Hamlet
fainted in the middle of
the soliloquy?
Matthau: But four hundred million
dollars?
Wilder: Do it efficiently--with
precision.
Matthau: I wanted it a little more
human. I've seen all of
your pictures. I saw Four
Graves To Cairo five times.
Wilder: That makes forty graves.
More human! That's for
pictures we make about the
Salvation Army.
Matthau was finally forced to laugh and do it Wilder's
way. However, this exchange conveys Wilder's attitude
toward character. In his mind, Trabucco is a cold, steely
hit man. By making him a bumbler at times may produce a
laugh, but all conception of character and story goes out
the window. As far as Wilder is concerned, the story is
all important, not individual laughs. Several times
Matthau and Lemmon did funny bits, intentionally or
otherwise, but these takes were not used if the actor went
out of character.
I
131
The question is, however, how effective are these j
methods in terms of getting performance. Certainly, these
methods would be difficult for another director to
imitate. Few directors have the experience of a Wilder,!
and certainly none can rival his off the cuff wit. The |
performances in Buddy Buddy are good with some exceptions, j
The question is, though, if the performances are good, why
isn't the film funnier. Wilder has a tendency to strip 1
all aspects of film down to their essentials, even the
j performances. Often times, Wilder invokes the standard'
| law about acting, "Less is more." But he adds, "More or'
! Less." Filming a comedy is not the same as making a
j documentary. On Some Like It Hot Wilder hired a famous
female impersonator to teach Lemmon and Curtis how to :
walk. Eventually, the female impersonator quit, disgusted <
with Lemmon's inability to walk like a woman.33 But that;
was entirely the quality that made the film funny. In I
Some Like It Hot it is essential that the audience buy the |
t
central premise, that two men can pass themselves off as !
women. But it is also essential that they not be too good !
I
at it. |
I
\
Although Lemmon's performance xs marvellous in Buddyj
| Buddy. it is not always funny. He plays each scene with !
I absolute seriousness. As Lemmon is the first to j
] i
acknowledge, "... comedy is far more difficult than;
drama to write, direct or act successfully. That isn't j
conjecture. It's an absolute fact."34 I think a problem!
in Buddy Buddy was finding that balance between dramatic
1
acting and comedic. In the champagne drinking sequence,!
i
the acting was terrific. There were no laughs, but the |
crew was moved by Lemmon's performance. Similarly, in the j
long single take in which Lemmon calls his wife on the ;
telephone, in fact a monologue on Lemmon's part, the;
j
acting is impeccable. In both cases I and the crew were !
! tremendously moved by his performance. But in each case;
i i
1 we were not necessarily laughing. Is it possible that
I
there was too much reality in Lemmon's performance? He
plays things absolutely seriously whenever he talks of his
wife or expresses his contempt for her and the sexual
attitudes she has adopted at the Zuckerbrot clinic. There
|
is never a hint of a smile on Lemmon's face; he is a man
in pain. There are no sequences such as the ones with the
nasal spray and the tennis racquet in The Apartment in
which he uses humor to charm the audience.
i
In Buddy Buddy the performances are good, but there !
|
are not those additional bits of magic, those tremendous j
pieces of business that you expect in a Billy Wilder film j
or in a Jack Lemmon or a Walter Matthau performance. >
Everything is too simple, too straightforward. Matthau is ■
i
very good in the film. His straight-faced performance is ’
j
133 i
the perfect counterpoint to the more animated Victor j
i
Clooney. But his performance is just that, one note, j
j
This is not his problem, or not really the fault of the
direction. There just is not the wonderful inventiveness
or build of the other films. Matthau has one piece of
business, the smoking of the cigar after each killing.
It is interesting to note that on the set the camera
has an interesting effect on both performers. What you !
i
see on the stage is not necessarily what you get on film.
I
Matthau, who on the stage seems incredibly low-key,
almost soporific at times, is just perfect on film. His !
i ;
dead pan reactions, although good on the stage, are1
actually magnified on film. The old "Less is more" adage;
truly applies to his style of acting. Lemmon'sj
i
performance sometimes comes down a notch or two on film,I
I
for example in the champagne bottle sequence. What had!
I
the entire crew in rapture on the set is just a little j
flatter on the screen. The performances in Buddy Buddyj
i
are good, always well-directed, but did they have that |
same magic as the first time that Matthau and Lemmon
worked together on The Fortune Cookie? Here, Matthau
j
seems somewhat restrained, mainly because the script calls j
for it. He is an excellent, reactive actor, but he really !
I shines when he is asked to do more. This is not the -
j j
j bravado performance of The Fortune Cookie.
j
134
I think where Buddy Buddy falls down is in some of
the performances of the minor characters. I think that
Klaus Kinski, although quite stiff in his performance on
the set, is quite funny in most scenes. But Paula
Prentiss is a problem; it is clear from the first scene in
the library that Wilder was having trouble getting the
| right level from her. In the final scene in the hotel
) j
| room, he encouraged her to shake her shoulder. She is i
just trying too hard throughout to be a screwball heroine, !
a la Carole Lombard, but her performance lacks reality and
certainly isn't funny. After he added the business of the
shoulder shake, Wilder said, "It is a comedy scene but by’
i
overdoing it slightly we may get the proper effect." In!
this case they didn't as the flatness of the end of this ,
final scene with Kinski and Prentiss indicates. ]
There are other spots where the attention to the j
I
performances of the minor characters is not great. If one j
I
I
looks back to Some Like It Hot. The Apartment, and The
Fortune Cookie. there are no bad moments when it comes to
the performances of minor characters, and the leading
performances of Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Walter Matthau,
and Shirley MacLaine are brilliant. This is part of the
reason that the film seems seamless. There is total
attention to performance, no matter how small. The only
place where performance begins to flag in The Fortune
135
j Cookie is in the case of Boom Boom Jackson, partly because
j
| his role is so stereotypical. '
In Buddy Buddy the stereotypical performances of
minor characters, particularly the hippie and his wife,
doom the film for moments at a time (or the elderly
gentleman and woman in the library). I think in these j
cases Wilder was straining with stereotypes that he j
thought were still funny. There is just nothing funny i
i j
about the hippie. When one crew member said that he was ;
just plain bad, one of the assistant directors commented, '
"if only he had been real." Surprisingly enough, the
I :
j worst stereotype, the Mexican maid, actually comes to life j
j under Wilder's bold direction. There is a twist in the !
i
!
J over-playing, and Wilder beautifully uses the frame and i
the camera to undercut the excess at just the right j
moments. Here is a dangerous sequence that ends up j
!
playing against all odds. If only some of the i
>
stereotypical performances in the middle of the film ;
around the sex clinic had played as well, the audience J
i
might have still been involved, laughing, for the third
act.
NOTES
1 Harry Tessel, "Billy Wilder— Sizzling and Salty at
70," Independent Press Telegram 29 April 1977: 15.
2 Mary Blume, "'Fedora': Walking On The Wilder Side,"
Los Anaeles Times 2 Oct. 1977, "Calendar": 38. i
3 "Interview: Billy Wilder," Playboy June 1963: 65. j
4 Gloria Swanson, "I Am Not Going To Write My 1
Memoirs," With Rui Noqueira, Sight and Sound Spring 1969:
i 5 William Touchy, "Wilder in Italy: Order Among The
I Extroverts," Los Angeles Times 30 April 1972, "Calendar": ]
! l
< ±m i
I
j 6 Touchy 1. :
I *7 *
j Axel Madsen, Billy Wilder (London: Indiana UP,
j 1969) 113. |
' Q
| ° Maurice Zolotow, Billv Wilder in Hollywood (New
' York: Putnam's, 1977) 240-2.
9 !
3 Art Buchwald, "Billy Wilder Eats Some Crow," Los i
Angeles Times 7 Aug. 1960: C5.
10 Roderick Mann, "Movie Maker Billy Wilder Is Ready
For Sherlock Holmes," Los Angeles Herald Examiner 10 March
1968: C2. |
11 Madsen 52. |
I !
12 Charles Higham, "Meet Whiplash Willie," Sight and I
Sound Winter 1967-1968: 21.
13 Higham 21.
14 Touchy 21.
15 Michael Freedland, Shirlev MacLaine (Manchester, ;
N.H.: Salem House, 1986) 72.
16 "Interview: Billy Wilder," Plavbov June 1963: 65.
j
I 17 Freedland, Shirlev MacLaine. 72.
137
18 Freedland, Shirlev MacLaine. 83.
39 Lee Belser, "Billy Wilder Plays It Safe," Los
Anaeles Mirror 11 Dec. 61: N. pag.
20 Belser N. pag.
21 Touchy 1.
22 Joseph McBride, "Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond
See Grim Future for Comedy Pix," Daily Variety 13 April
1977: 3.
23 "Talk With A Twosome," Newsweek 20 Jan 1960: 111. j
24 Don Widener, Lemmon: A Biography (New York:
Macmillan, 1975) 182-3.
*
25 Joe Baltake, The Films Of Jack Lemmon (Secaucus, ;
N.J.: Citadel, 1977) 109.
26 Widener 174. [
j
27 Michael Freedland, Jack Lemmon (New York: St.
Martin's, 1985) 87.
i
28 Widener 183. ;
29 Dick Williams, "Billy Wilder Likes Gamble of Film
making," Los Angeles Mirror 22 Aug 1960: N. pag.
1
o n 1
Freedland, Jack Lemmon. 62. ;
31 Tom Wood, "Billy Wilder Clues In On Holmes," 8
June 1969 Los Angeles Times: 69.
■J 5 I
Swanson 62.
33 Freedland, Jack Lemmon. 62.
34 Widener 183-4.
138
CHAPTER V
ART DIRECTION:
INTEGRATING SETS AND LOCATIONS
i
!
!
Few directors appreciate the importance and
possibilities of good art direction as much as Billy
Wilder. When Wilder became involved in the design of the
now famous, French restaurant, The Bistro, in Beverly
Hills, he turned not to an architect as his co-designer
but rather to his favorite art director, Alexander
Trauner. Wilder explained:
it had to be done by motion
picture people to give it the
ambiance, the illusion. You walk in
and you wouldn't think it was in
Beverly Hills. It's a peculiar thing
and you can only get it from a set
designer.
In his mind, Trauner is the best: "He's great. He goes
all the way back to Les Enfants du Paradis.1,2 Trauner has
been one of Wilder's most important collaborators and has
provided that illusion on most of Wilder's films since
: the mid-fifties: Love In The Afternoon (1957), Witness For
the Prosecution (1957), The Apartment (1960), One. Two.
Three (1961), Irma La Douce (1963), Kiss Me Stupid (1964),
The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes (1969), and Fedora
(1978). Early in his directing career another important
collaborator was the great Paramount art director, Hans
139
Dreier, who served as art director on Wilder's first seven
films, The Mai or and The Minor (1942) , Five Graves To
Cairo (1943), Double Indemnity (1944), The Lost Weekend
(1945), The Emperor Waltz (1947), A Foreign Affair (1948),
and Sunset Boulevard (1950).
%
Early ,in his career Wilder learned the importance of
the art direction in controlling the tone of a film and in
establishing the reality of the worlds of the film whether
in shooting both on location and on sets or solely on a
sound stage. His first film, The Maior and the Minor, was
shot entirely on sets at the Paramount studios. Here,
through art -direction the audience entered a world of
total illusion that required the recreation of an
apartment in New York City, a train, and a boys' military
academy. However, in his next films Wilder became an
early pioneer of location shooting for exteriors, a
practice that was unusual for his day. On Double
Indemnity he shot on the streets downtown, in Jerry's
Market on Melrose, and along Los Feliz Boulevard.3
Particularly in his forties dramas, he demanded a new
sense of realism that went beyond the normal shooting
practices of the day. On The Lost Weekend he fought with
the Paramount front office to allow him to take his troupe
of actors to New York City to film on the actual city
streets even though Paramount had standing sets of New
York elevated subway tracks, news stands, and brownstones
that had been constructed from actual New York
blueprints.4 The reason, Wilder explained, was:
. . . in our minds these sets were
movie props, and they created a i
mental hazard. We felt that we had
to have the original locale stretched
out before us. We wanted the real
j Empire State building hovering over
( the background. We wanted the sounds
I of the trains of the old Third Avenue
Elevated rumbling over our heads. We j
couldn't get those things on the j
Paramount back lot. Nor could we j
duplicate Milland's nightmarish trek !
through the milling crowds anywhere
else but on the spot. j
I
On these early dramas, when the action was confined to a '
I
sound stage, he demanded absolute authenticity. His own J
first apartment at the Chateau Marmont was reproduced down [
to the smallest details, even the carpeting, for Walter
Neff's apartment in Double Indemnity.6 On Sunset 1
Boulevard Schwab's drugstore was rebuilt on the sound j
stage "down to the last toothbrush."
Actual merchandise was brought in to
fill the counters and shelves. The
soda fountain was a practical one,
dispensing real ice cream, sandwiches
etc. Even the licenses were borrowed
from the drug store and hung in their
proper places.
These early experiences would influence Wilder's
later style in which location shooting is limited to the 1
first few weeks of filming, and afterwards he returns to !
141
the safe environs of the sound stage. His experience on
The Spirit Of St. Louis in 1955 caused Wilder's
disillusionment with location shooting. Because of
problems with weather and matching, a film that was
planned for four months of shooting was extended to ten
months.8 However, while he was shooting the landing of
the Spirit Of St. Louis in France, he met Alexander
Trauner, a man who would help him limit his use of
locations in the future without sacrificing a sense of
reality. Of his experience on The Spirit Of St. Louis
Wilder said, " . . . the weather didn't match. I've never
done an outdoor picture before or since; I'm not an
outdoor man; I've never done a Western. I think I should
1 confine myself to bedrooms, maybe."9
Wilder has stated, "I think films should be made in
the atmosphere and locale demanded by the subject and the
script."10 But in his mind, many things can go wrong on
location. "Filming on location is hard work. People
think we are on vacation but more directors get heart
1 1
attacks on location than on sound stages.” The first
major problem is weather in shooting exteriors. In
shooting exteriors in Riverside of the sequence in which
Matthau attempts to murder Lemmon in Buddy Buddy. there
were incessant delays because the sun kept disappearing
behind the clouds. Wilder noted drily, "You can move the
142
lights, but you can't move the sun." On Love In The
Afternoon he came up with a novel solution for dealing
! with the cloudy weather when shooting the sequence of
Ariane and Frank in the row boat. He transported two
standing sets, a hospital room and a Paris cafe, to the
J woods so they could move inside whenever the weather
refused to co-operate. However, as on Buddy Buddy he
limited his exterior shooting to the absolute minimum.
On location there are too many headaches he says.
The actors complain about their rooms, and if they are
shooting in a foreign country the actors want to go sight
seeing on their time off, rather than concentrating on the
work at hand. On a Hollywood sound stage Wilder knows
that his shots will be in focus, and the sound will not be
lost because of an over-flying helicopter or plane.13
There will be no crowds to control, or a sudden lurking
autograph hound ruining a take as actually happened as
they filmed Ray Milland walking up Third Avenue with a so-
called "hidden camera."14
Also, there is the problem of location permits. In
shooting One. Two. Three Wilder had permission to shoot a
joke in which Horst Buckholz drives a motorcycle through
the Brandenburg Gate; unbeknownst to the East Germans,
attached to the motorcycle was a balloon that said
"Russkie's Go Home." Because of weather delays again, the
143
guards at the gate discovered the joke and permission to
shoot was rescinded. Wilder had to have Trauner rebuild
the Brandenburg Gate at the studio at Munich at
considerable cost.15 One. Two. Three was Wilder's final
disillusionment with location shooting.16
Other comedy directors might disagree. Blake
Edwards, who likes to improvise, favors shooting on actual
locations, despite the inconvenience to the actors. He|
finds that the "reality" of the sets helps to create
ideas.17 Harry Stradling, the cinematographer of Buddyi
1 Buddy and one of Edward's favorite cameramen (Victor;
I
t
Victoria. S.O.B.. Mickey and Maude, That's Life), told me
that he favors locations:
When you go on location, it forces !
you to do things in a more
interesting fashion— not necessarily 1
better but more interesting . . .
In the 60's everyone wanted to go off
on location to get away from the j
studio--to do things in a more j
interesting way. Now the cost is
much greater because everyone needs !
his own room and a $25 per diem. I j
used to sleep four to a room, but now
it isn't done. On Little Big Man. we
shot in temperature of forty-four
below.
He noted the advantage on a stage of being able to remove
a wall, but he always wonders on such shots where the
camera is. On a low angle shot of Lemmon in the bathroom
i
he questioned himself, how did the camera get behind the j
bathtub?
L
144
Wilder, though, feels that the absolute control thatj
i
a sound stage provides far outweighs any disadvantages.
He says, "If you're going to perform a delicate operation,
why not do it in the best hospital."18 Particularly in
filming comedy, where the delicate timing of the delivery j
must be planned and executed with precision, Wilder finds[
the sound stage to be ideal. Why ruin or lose a good |
performance because of exterior, location problems? On the
stage the actors are at their most relaxed; they can ;
retire to the convenience of a studio dressing room or
their trailer between takes. In the case of Lemmon, he
always has a piano at the set so he can play in order to
relax during long waits. Also, there is air-conditioning
on the stage, and the crew and actors do not have to wait
as often for extraneous noise that might ruin a take. J
i
Wilder's usual method of shooting after One. Two.i
Three was to limit the exterior shooting to a few weeks,
and shoot almost all interiors on a sound stage,
preferably in Hollywood. On the set of Buddy Buddy Walter
Matthau in explaining how he would play a scene said, "in
reality I would ..." Wilder cut him off, "in reality,
no such thing exists." Particularly because of his
collaboration with Alexander Trauner Wilder realized that
it was possible to create an "illusory" world on the stage
i
that was just as real as the "real" thing. In fact, !
145
Trauner believes that you can best capture reality on the
stage. He says, "showing reality is not enough . . . the
picture must be new and surprising. Only then does it
1 Q
become real." On Irma La Douce Trauner recreated the Les
Hailes district of Paris on sound stages at Goldwyn
Studios. For Love In The Afternoon Wilder took his troupe
all the way to Paris to have Trauner recreate Paris (The
Ritz hotel, the opera) on sound stages.20 Finally, on
Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes Trauner lovingly recreated
the Baker Street of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on sound stages
at Pinewood Studios.21 In each of these cases, Trauner's
sets are super-realistic, but they are not real. In all
cases, he uses forced perspective to give a sense of space
that is only illusory. This same technique was used on
interiors of The Apartment for which Trauner won an
Academy Award. Wilder notes of the design: the apartment
itself was small, we took the wall out, and the office was
built in exact perspective; we had tiny desks at the back
with dwarfs and then tinier ones still with cut-outs." 22
Trauner adds:
. . . we had to create the biggest
office in the world. We searched
throughout New York but since there
wasn't enough money to use an entire
floor of real offices, we were forced
to design it. The set was entirely
mounted through perspective. There
are no two elements alike: the whole
set was suspended from a ceiling,
mounted in aluminum.
146
The decision to shoot extensively on sets puts great
demands on the director, the art director, and the
cameraman if the audience is to believe. For Wilder, the
first requirement is authenticity. From Trauner he may
have learned that a set does not have to be literally
recreated down to the smallest detail in order to achieve
believability; however, Wilder is still a stickler for
|
detail. In his films he always uses brand names.24!
Otherwise, he feels, all believability goes out the'
window. In One. Two Three Cagney was a Coca-Cola
I
executive. In Buddy Buddy Victor Clooney is a standards
i
and practice man for C.B.S. and Celia is a researcher for
"60 Minutes." In Wilder's mind the limited locationj
shooting is a necessary part of creating this *
i
authenticity. On The Fortune Cookie Wilder took his crew j
I
to Cleveland to film an actual game between the Minnesota j
Vikings and the Cleveland Browns. He also used a real ’
announcer, Keith Jackson, in the press box, and the
accident with Jack Lemmon was staged during the actual
football game. Such realism is unusual for this type of
sequence; when Warren Beatty filmed the Super Bowl j
i
I
sequences in Heaven Can Wait, he employed ex-college and
pro players and staged a real game rather than shooting
i
i , . . . . 1
the real thing. In Wilder's mind if you establish your i
realism at the outset, with careful attention to set ,
i
i
i 147
design and matching of location and sets, the audience
will continue to believe.
! Even when the sixties audience demanded a 'new'
i
i
realism, Wilder continued to shoot all of his interiors on
a sound stage for The Apartment. One Two Three, Irma La
Douce. Kiss Me Stupid. The Fortune Cookie and The Private
Life Of Sherlock Holmes. (Ironically, Alexander Trauner
came to work in Hollywood during this period because he
could not find work in France because of the shooting
methods of the French New Wave directors. In the
seventies he was forced to return to France when the New
! Wave methods became popular in Hollywood).25 For Avanti
(1972) Wilder took his cast and crew on location to Italy
to film along the Amalfi coast, but again all of his
interiors were filmed on sound stages and sets built at
■ Rome's Sofa Palatino studios. As in Buddy Buddy Wilder
was at home with the recreation of the interiors of a
hotel, the scene of his greatest comic success, Some Like
’ It Hot. and also the charming Love In The Afternoon.
Trauner says of his sets, "I want the actors to
believe in my sets as much as they do in the script."26
Sets for Wilder and his collaborators are an important
psychological element, not merely a backdrop for the
action or a place for the actors to hang their hats. John
I
f
r 148
Seitz, Wilder's favorite cameraman during the forties
said:
I always try to dramatize the locale
of a story photographically because
in most cases the setting has a great
deal to do with the drama of the
situation. This was true of Double
Indemnity. Five Graves To Cairo, and j
The Lost Weekend. It was especially j
true of Sunset Boulevard because in
that film the decor and mood of the J
principal setting was an unmistakable
1 clue to the personality of the main
j character. I
j Dan Lomino, the production designer of Buddy Buddy. ;
agrees. His cardinal rule, he told me, in designing all
sets, was to imagine the answer to one question, "Where do
these characters live?" Thus, the set design becomes not ’
j
only an attempt to establish mood but also to define the ;
i
I
psychology of the characters. Trauner says that the most;
important job of the art director is: j
i
*
. . . to help the mise-en-scene so j
that the spectator has an immediate j
grasp of the character's psychology.
To do this you must show only the
elements that are necessary
You can't know everything, but you
have to have a developed intuition.
For example when I had to decorate
Jack Lemmon's studio in The
Apartment. I went to the Museum Of
Modern Art to check the most popular
reproductions. We didn't want our
character to have bad taste with
things from the Saturday Evening Post
on the walls or pin-ups!
| Part of the effectiveness of The Apartment stems from ■
j !
I Lemmon's interaction with his lonely, bachelor apartment.
149
1 His character is defined by his apartment and the posters
he hangs on the wall, creating immediate audience
sympathy. Wilder insists on props and set decoration that
may never register within the frame. He believes that
they have a subliminal effect on both the audience and the
actors. For Lemmon's room in the Ramona Hotel he had
Ramona Hotel stationery designed for the suicide note,
even though the audience would never see the actual note.
The library and the auditorium in the Zuckerbrot Sex
Clinic were filled with details that the audience never
has time to examine, particularly the detailed sexual
pyramid on the blackboard behind Dr. Zuckerbrot as he
lectures.
Extensive use of sets actually aids the art director
and director with another key problem of design, the
careful control of color. Wilder opposed filming in
color, long after it became the standard practice in
Hollywood. He had said, "I hate color. Everything looks
O Q 9 « « •
blue or red."*’3 "It's like shooting in a juke box. Even
the dialogue sounds phony when the picture is in color."30
Even on Irma La Douce in 1963 he resisted filming in color
until the last minute. His only previous ventures in
color, The Emperor Waltz. The Spirit Of St. Louis, and The
Seven Year Itch, had proved unsatisfactory. Particularly,
The Emperor Waltz was an example of the excesses in color
150
that he would later rail against.31 On the set of Buddy
Buddy he seemed to have mellowed on the color issue. I
i
j asked him if the comedy in Buddy Buddy would play better
in black and white. He replied, "Certainly color is
better— pretty sets and colors— much more conducive to
gaiety. If we did Some Like It Hot today we would
certainly do it in color— but then color was too garish."
I think that on Buddy Buddy Wilder followed his more
realistic approach to color. As Charles Higham, has
pointed out, "Wilder is a director who hates to see
lushness on the screen."32
On Buddy Buddy the color palette was limited and
1 there was a consistency to the design. In the hotel rooms
the colors were dull earth colors, and the faded green
and pink flowers of the wallpaper in Clooney's room match
the slightly brighter hues in the lobby and the exterior
of the hotel. Here, though, the attempt to limit color, I
think, has a subliminal negative effect on the audience.
We are confined to these rooms for most of the film, and
the blandness of the color scheme (particularly in
Clooney's room) begins to wear on the audience; when we
move outside the sharp greens of the natural landscape
; provide visual relief, but remind the audience of the
dinginess of the hotel rooms to which they are confined
! 151
o
for much of the film. When Alexander Trauner asked what
was the hardest set to design, he replied:
Oh, it's never big complicated sets,
but rather a hotel room . . . because
of its impersonality. Into someone's
room, I can bring a kind of
description of the character, his
tastes, his social life. But there
are so few elements in a hotel
room.
Here, confining the action to a single set for long
periods of times puts added pressure on the designer,
cameraman, and director. In Buddy Buddy the problem is
further augmented by the fact that all action is in real
time, thus limiting the possibilities of lighting changes.
The light must be consistent since all of the action takes
place in a two hour period. It is true that few scripts
benefit when they are artificially opened up as in Who's
Afraid Of Virginia Woolf when Mike Nichols takes us on a
journey into the backyard or to a roadside cafe only for
visual relief. However, remaining on one set for a long
period of time requires the director to provide visual
variety or perhaps interesting camera angles.
The key to a successful Wilder film in terms of art
direction is the difficult, but successful integration of
the set and location work. Consistency of tone is
important. The audience will accept a slightly "stylized"
world in a comedy, provided that the artificial world is
152
"visually" consistent and that it abides by a set of rules
that are not arbitrary. In Wilder's best comedies,
particularly Some Like It Hot and The Apartment. the
integration of set and location work is seamless. On Some
Like It Hot Wilder shot exteriors of the Coronado Hotel
■ and in downtown Los Angeles, but the audience never is
aware of the movement from the "real" exterior of the
hotel to the "fake" interior built on a set. Throughout
the film there is a stylistic consistency in the opening
sequences at the funeral parlor/speakeasy, the employment
agency, the streets, and the garage where the St.
Valentine's Day Massacre is recreated that makes the
audience believe not only the period (the twenties) but
also the set-up on which the farce is built.
Inconsistencies and flaws in art direction can just as
easily destroy a scene as a poor performance by an actor
or a boom pole protruding into the frame.
A great deal of care went into the design of the sets
for Buddy Buddy. Dan Lomino, the art director of such
contemporary hits as Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
and Fast Times At Ridgemont High, designed sets of the
hotel (to match the actual interior of the famous Mission
Inn in Riverside) and the interior of the Zuckerbrot Sex
Clinic at a cost of $500,000. Because of logistics and a
desire for control, Wilder shot only in the lobby of the
153
Mission Inn, and had Lomino design an elaborate pink
facade for the hotel over a street of shops across the
■ street from the Riverside Courthouse. Usually, working on
sets is more expensive; however, Wilder's fast shooting
methods and desire for control justify this approach. The
interior lobby of the Mission Inn was used as a cover set
if the weather did not permit filming the exterior hotel
set or the actual exterior of the Courthouse. Most
exteriors (with the exception of the final sequence in
Hawaii) were to be shot in the first three weeks; however,
excessive rain forced the crew back to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
studio early. Then, later in the production, when the
weather was better, they returned to Riverside for a few
days of exterior shooting. The exterior of the Zuckerbrot
Clinic was at nearby Cal State San Bernadino. Lomino
dressed the exterior of the administration building with
some new plants, an artificial, marble statue of two
lovers, and chrome lettering transforming it into a
believable sex clinic. The arrival at the clinic was shot
one morning still allowing Wilder and crew the time (only
fifteen minutes away) to return to the Riverside
Courthouse for more exterior shooting in the afternoon.
The sequence in which Trabucco attempts to murder Clooney
was also filmed near Riverside as were the exterior,
driving shots (to be matched on the sound stage at Metro-
154
Goldwyn-Mayer with process shooting of the actors in the
car) .
On the sound stage at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Lomino
designed a beautiful series of interior sets that would
match the exteriors and give the film a consistent look.
On half of the stage he recreated the hallway of the third
floor of the hotel (complete with working elevator, a help
to the crew in moving camera equipment up and down). Off
the hallway were staircases down to the first floor (this
hallway set was actually elevated, in effect on the second
floor), a laundry closet, and the adjoining rooms of
Trabucco and Clooney. Off this second story was built a
special effects slide to match the real laundry chute for
filming stunt men doubling for Trabucco and Clooney as
they escape from the hotel. Below was the actual laundry
room.
The sets of the rooms and hallway were realistic
(matching the lobby of the Mission Inn) with the color
palette limited to earth tones (brown, pink, and muted
green). However, to reinforce differences between the two
characters, the adjoining rooms were designed and dressed
with subtle differences even though the overall color
scheme remained consistent. There is a utilitarian feeling
to the design of Trabucco's room: the plain, beige striped
wallpaper, the white rug, the objects on the dresser
155
(particularly the gun), all seem appropriate to his
character. Next door, Victor Clooney's room has a feeling
of faded romanticism, reflected in the kitschy prints on
the wall (imitation Currier and Ives) , the pink and brown
flower wallpaper,the rococo wicker furniture, the brown-
pink bedspreads. These subtle differences between the
rooms mirror the differences in character and provide a
sense of visual variety when moving actors and camera from
one room to the other. Outside the windows of the two
rooms were the balconies and ledges (matching the real
Mission Inn exterior) and also backdrops of the interior
courtyard and the Riverside Courthouse.
Across the stage were built the interior sets of the
Zuckerbrot Sex Clinic: the interior lobby, the library,
the hallway, Dr. Zuckerbrot's office, the auditorium, and
a second hallway where with rear projection equipment nude
sun bathers could be seen through the blinds cavorting in
the California sunshine (the actual footage having been
shot at a nudist colony north of Malibu). The hallways,
library, and auditorium maintained the earth tones of the
hotel, but to this color palette was added green as the
predominant color, to represent the hothouse, but
artificial sexuality of the environment. The wallpaper of
the interior lobby had a subtle forest of green, phallic-
like trees that contrasted with the flower wallpaper
(pink/brown) in Clooney's room and also the tiny,
bedraggled bouquet of flowers that Clooney carries into
the lobby. Lomino designed the wallpaper for this
specific contrast. Wilder told me, "I hope that the
contrast registers." The high-tech tones in Zuckerbrot's
office are appropriate for his character and reinforce
this feeling of artificiality.
A close examination of one sequence from Buddy
Buddy. the one in which Lemmon climbs out on the ledge of
the hotel room, shows how the use of the sound stage
undermines believability, in spite of the care that went
into the art direction and the shooting of the sequence.
This sequence could have been one of the funniest in the
film; however, it is disappointing for a number of
reasons. Here, the humor revolves around Trabucco's
desperate attempt to get Clooney off the ledge before the
police see him. The exterior of the hotel (Lemmon out on
the ledge) was shot from a Chapman crane on the ground
floor of the stage, (both Wilder and Stradling setting up
the shot from the chair). A great deal of care was taken
in setting up the first shot so that the set was
believable. Wilder insisted that the backdrop of the
interior courtyard be raised so that its reflection showed
clearly in the window. (One pane of glass had to be
removed and the window repainted before the reflection
showed clearly) . The problem with this sequence is that
the seam of the other backdrop (the Riverside Courthouse)
! is readily apparent in the left hand part of the frame,
despite the attention to lighting and set design to give
this shot verisimilitude. For safety, Lomino also designed
straps to protect Lemmon, and mattresses on a scaffolding
on wheels were rolled quietly just below the frame line in
case he ever lost his balance. However, the problem with
the art direction is apparent as Lemmon begins to
disappear around the corner of the building, going to the
side that will put him into police view. As he delivers
the line, "I know exactly what I'm doing," his
performance is right, and creates humor, driving Trabucco
to the point of distraction. The artificiality of the
tree on the backdrop and the appearance of the seam,
however, destroy both the sense of danger and
believability.
The next series of shots goes even further to
undermine the sequence. Once Trabucco races back to his
room to try to intercept Clooney on the adjoining ledge,
the camera moves into the room revealing Clooney outside
the window through the blinds and the police on the
adjoining courthouse roof in the background. The initial
shot is believable because the rear projection is being
used as it was designed, to be seen through the blinds.
158
| However, the true danger of the situation is never fully I
J exploited in the use of the sets. On the exterior facade
in Riverside, Lomino had designed a ledge, and even
shoulder and waist straps, so that Lemmon could be safely
filmed from the third story, thus giving an element of
believability and danger to the sequence. Lomino also j
! hoped to film the ballistics sequence against this j
backdrop, but the special effects were poor, and they had '
to be redone against the smaller exterior set on the sound
stage.
The real problem occurs, however, when Matthau opens
I
the blinds in his room and the action is played out, 1
shooting directly into the rear projection screen, without !
the partial shelter of the Venetian blinds. Here, the j
1 '
] intention was to increase the sense of jeopardy on the•
part of Trabucco, his fear of discovery as he attempts to j
talk Clooney inside, with the object of his fear, the
police (on the opposite roof), clear within the middle of
the frame. As Harry Stradling noted, the problem was that
the rear projection shots of the police were not designed
for that. They were designed to be seen through a window,
not directly. Again, care was used to give believability
i
to the set; a real palm tree was moved into the lower left j
corner of the frame, and a fan was used to blow the fronds
I
to create a sense of reality; unfortunately, though, the
159
camera could not carry the depth of field so the police on
the courthouse roof appear as fuzzy hot spots, revealing
the artificiality of the filming techniques.
As Clooney forces Trabucco to pretend to call his
wife at the Zuckerbrot Clinic, the artifice becomes even
further apparent. Here, we intercut between the hazy
white of the courthouse in the rear projection screen to*
j the sharp white of the receptionist's desk and telephone.I
i j
Ironically the visual relief provided by the new locationj
t
undermines the sequence. The sharp, contrasting colors in
the sex clinic (the red, green, and white palette used for
Joan Shawlee in her receptionist area and Klaus Kinski in;
his office— both dominated by the sharp greens of the j
plants in the background) again make the hotel set seem
dull and artificial by contrast. Furthermore, the sharp
i
whites in the offices (the telephones and the desk) whenj
intercut with the hazy white of the courthouse on the rear I
projection screen (in the background of the Trabuccoj
frame) calls attention to the artificiality of the film-
making technique. The film begins to go flat. What
should have been a very funny scene is a weak one. This
is a key problem with the film; although the audience may
not be able to articulate its reasons, it is at this point
i
that the antics between Matthau and Lemmon begin to wear!
i
thin, not because of the acting, but because of the lack
160
of believability of the art direction and the proper
I
utilization of the sets. This is not to suggest that |
Lemmon or Matthau should have been put in physical
jeopardy to make this sequence work. If one compares this
sequence to the same one in L'Emmerdeur. this actually
happens. We are often able to see the real police, and
Jacques Brel dangling over a real expanse with the
t
courthouse clearly in the background. However, in this
i
sequence the audience's reaction is not laughter, but
i
j rather horror. Absolute believability is not necessary.
During the silent era, Laurel and Hardy in "Liberty"
(photographed by George Stevens) and Harold Lloyd in the !
famous clock sequence in Safety Last were able to achieve
the right balance between believability, danger, and
humor. But as Wilder noted, Harold Lloyd spent one year i
on that single gag. i
I
161
L
NOTES
1 Hector Arce, "At Home With Billy Wilder," Los
Angeles Herald Examiner 14 Sept. 1969, "Calif. Living":
23.
2 Arce 2 3.
3 Axel Madsen, Billv Wilder (London: Indiana UP, 1
1969) 151. j
4 Billy Wilder, "The Case For The American Film,"!
Unsourced Letter [ c. 1946], Billy Wilder Files, Margaret!
Herrick Library of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and |
Sciences, Los Angeles. [
5 Wilder, "The Case For The American Film," 8-9.
i
1 « . . .
; ° Robert Mundy, "Double Indemnxty," The Bxlly Wxlder
1 Movie Marathon [Pamphlet]. (Los Angeles: Filmex, 1972) 5.;
i
7 Herb Lightman, "Old Master, New Tricks," American
Cinematographer Sept. 1950: 318.
I
8 "Interview with I.A.L. Diamond," With Adrian
Turner, Cinema May 1982: 17.
j 9 Joel Greenberg and Charles Higham, The Celluloid
Muse (London: Angus & Robertson, 1969) 252.
10 "wilder Explains Yen for B.O. Hits," Weekly1
Variety 21 Feb. 1962: 19. !
11 1
- LJ- William Touchy, "Wilder in Italy: Order Among The;
Extroverts," Los Angeles Times 30 April 1972, "Calendar":!
21. |
12 Frederick Foster, "High Key vrs. Low Key,"
American Cinematographer Aug. 1957: 533.
13 Billy Wilder, Unsourced Letter, May 8, 1962, Billy
Wilder Files, Margaret Herrick Library of The Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Los Angeles.
14 Wilder, "The Case For The American Film," 9.
15 Drew Pearson, "Billy Wilder Joke On Berlin Reds
Cost $200,000" Mirror 17 Aug. 1961: N. pag.
162
I
16 Tom Wood, The Bright: Side Of Billv Wilder.
Primarily (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1970) 181.
17 Charles Champlin, "Blake Edwards Is Up To His
Movie Maverick Tricks Again," Los Angeles Times 26 July
1988, "Calendar": 3.
18 Tom Wood, "Billy Wilder Clues In On Holmes," Los !
Angeles Times 8 June 1969: 67. ]
I
1 Pozner, Andre, "Alexandre Trauner," The
International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers: Writers
and Production Artists. 4 vols. (Chicago: St. James, 1987)
4: 434.
20 Billy Wilder, "Why Not Be In Paris?" Newsweek 26 ;
Nov. 1956: 108. j
21 John Gillett, "In Search Of Sherlock," Sight and ■
Sound Winter 1969-70: 27.
22 Charles Higham, "Meet Whiplash Willie," Sight and.
Sound Winter 1967-1968: 21.
23 Alexandre Trauner, "Interview with Carole
Weisweiller and Annette Indorf," Film Comment Jan.-Feb.
1982: 35.
24 Axel Madsen, Billy Wilder (London: Indiana UP,
1969) 44.
25 "Alexander Trauner Biography," Unpublished Press
Release from United Artists Corporation, Los Angeles,:
1972: 1. Alexandre Trauner File, Margaret Herrick Library
of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Los
Angeles.
26 Martin Gray, "Design For Living," Films and
Filming Jan. 1957: 9.
27 Lightman 25.
28 Trauner, Weisweiller and Indorf, 34.
29 Billy Wilder, "Charming Billy," With Richard;
Gehman, Plavbov Dec. 1960: 147.
30 Tom Wood, The Bright Side Of Billv Wilder.
Primarily. 19.
163
31 Madsen 71.
32 Charles Higham, Hollywood Cameramen (London:
Indiana UP, 1970) 9.
Trauner, Weisweiller and Indorf, 36.
164
CHAPTER VI
THE CAMERA
In theory, Billy Wilder is the epitome of the j
"invisible" director in his use of the camera; he is part !
of the classical tradition of Hollywood directing that j
•
believes that the director should draw as little attention
i i
I to himself as possible; this does not mean that his use of j
t
the camera is in any way simple or uninteresting. Wilder
says, "I don't think any director who uses phenomenal i
j
neck-craning set-ups, beautiful pictures everywhere, is
worth a damn. He isn't doing what he should be doing, ;
telling the story . . . For God's sake just tell the
story."1 Wilder believes that the photography must be
i
subservient at all times to the story. He says, "I would!
i
like to give the impression that the best direction, is |
I
the one you don't see. The audience must forget they are j
in front of a screen to the point where they forget that
o I
the image is only two-dimensional."^ He explains further;
i
the importance of the photography being natural; !
I admire elegant camera work but not
fancy stuff, the camera hanging off
the chandelier— that's for children
to astonish the middle-class critics. j
I would like to have them forget j
there is a camera, a dolly, a crew of j
one hundred fifty. If it was i
possible, I'd like to get them up on [
the screen and working. I
165
The key rule of Billy Wilder's use of the camera is never
destroy the illusion that allows the audience to leave its
seats in the theater and enter the screen as a participant
in the story, not a detached observer; never allow the
camera to intrude on that special bond between the
audience and the story. In his mind a film is only
working when the audience has dropped its popcorn and1
stopped whispering. If the audience is noticing and |
commenting on the photography, then it has already been
lost.
Wilder makes a clear distinction between good and
arty cinematography; the former is used to supplement the;
story, but in a subtle way; the latter is used primarily!
to draw attention to itself and the director; it says,
"Look at me. Look how brilliant I am." Billy Wilder's;
use of the camera is anything but simple, but it never j
calls attention to itself; it is there to support the,
actors and the story, not to upstage them. Fred
Steinkamp, the editor of Fedora. noted that when he was |
called in to help in the re-structuring of the "troubled"
film, he was astounded by the complexity of the set-ups
and the camera work. There were rough spots in the
transitional material, but the camera work was indeed the
I
work of a master he felt. "Other directors would give
their left arms to be able to stage scenes like this,"j
166
Steinkamp said. "Wilder's rhythms within shots are
perfect."4
According to Wilder young directors often want to
draw attention to themselves because they have not yet
mastered their craft. He says, "It's much easier to let
loose on that very potent and dangerous thing, the
camera."5 Again, Wilder feels that the camera must remain
hidden from the audience if it is to be a participant in
the story.
It's much easier to be full of tricks
. to pull things out of your
sleeves, to be avant-garde, to make
yourself noticed as a director. It's
like a surgeon— if he wants to
arrest your attention in taking out
your appendix, he makes two large
incisions and leaves big scars. A
really good surgeon makes as small an
incision as possible. If you want to
impress Andrew Sarris, you take out
the appendix through the ear.6
During the sixties when Wilder's work was among its
most simplified in terms of style, there began a period of j
experimentation in film-making. Richard Lester, one of the j
most influential American directors of the period in terms
of technique (A Hard's Dav Night and Petulia), noted that
in the sixties:
experimentation in technique and in
form took over and surpassed content
in film-making. With Europe leading,
I think there was a tendency for
film-makers to use devices to make
the audience aware that they were
watching the film . . . there is
167
likely to be a reaction against this,
and I think that this has already
begun in my own work. I have been
spending a great deal of time
simplifying my own work and trying to
use no camera techniques or no
visible technique.
During the sixties Wilder was criticized by some of the
influential French New Wave directors such as Francois
Truffaut because of his so-called lack of technique.
Wilder, in turn, was openly critical of this group of
!
film-makers because of their self-conscious use of the |
camera. Wilder, along with his friends, as young film- ;
makers in Berlin and Paris, had used all of the attention- 1
!
grabbing techniques on such films as People On Sunday and j
i
Mauvaise Graine.8 Then, as he developed his craft, he ;
i
rejected them. He warned, "The New Wave, you watch, will
discover the slow dissolve in ten years or so."9 !
I
j In Wilder's mind the camera, like the actors, sets,
I I
and costumes, is there to serve the plot.10 The blocking
I
of a scene usually determines camera placement. On |
Sunset Boulevard an assistant producer suggested that I
Wilder shoot the action from a catwalk. Wilder replied:
. . . it is very nice, very artistic,
but who sees the scene from this
angle?
— It does not push the story along.
We shoot only from angles that help j
us tell the story. When somebody
turns to his neighbor and says, 'My,
that was beautifully directed,' we
have proof that it was not.
168
Wilder, however, is not suggesting that the camera be
locked down or be an insignificant element in the film.
Wilder's camera style is deceptively simple, partly
because his complex camera movements are usually hidden by
the movement of the actors within the frame. In the
champagne bottle sequence previously discussed in Chapter
IV, the camera is beautifully choreographed to both follow j
the action, but also to create six different angles within I
; a single shot: first, a stationary two shot of Lemmon as;
j Matthau enters the room walking toward Lemmon; then, the
camera dollies in to a closer angle as Lemmon moves in to
put his arm on his buddy's shoulder; then, the camera
dollies with Lemmon as he walks from the bedroom into the
bathroom to open the window (Matthau no longer within the■
! frame) and then dollies back with him into the bedroom, !
. I
i
the camera stopping to reframe; then, Matthau walks into
I i
the frame creating another two shot; then, the camera
!
tilts and dollies with Lemmon as he runs into the bathroom]
i
I
to climb to the roof to commit suicide. At no time does1
the camera call attention to itself, but it is used in an j
elegant, fluid manner. The camera is hidden because its j
movements follow rather than lead the actors, but the;
I
action is broken down into a variety of angles within a |
i
l
single shot. !
In Buddy Buddy camera movement is also used as a way !
of introducing his star players in a visually interesting
way. In Wilder's films there is often a star entrance,
such as Marilyn Monroe at the train station, undulating
past Lemmon and Curtis as the steam blows at her dress.
Buddy Buddy begins with an elegant crane shot. The film
credits are superimposed on a shot of the top of a palm |
tree; then the camera cranes down from the top of the palm
following the movement of a postman as he pushes his cart ;
I up to a mailbox and stuffs the package inside. As Matthau
i
! closes the lid on the mailbox, the camera slowly zooms ;
i |
into the mailbox, creating further suspense. Seconds ;
later the mailbox explodes, establishing Matthau as a
hitman, not a mailman. The dolly is also used to create
i
J suspense in the star entrance of Lemmon to the film. In a j
j i
| long shot Matthau drives into the gas station; as he tells j
i
the attendant to fill up his tank, he walks hurriedly to ;
the bathroom. The camera pans with him; then, as he J
discovers the men's room door is locked, and he begins to
pace outside, the camera slowly dollies in, again creating
suspense (as we hear Lemmon's apologetic voice off
screen); then, as the door opens and Lemmon steps out, the
camera halts in a two shot. Here, the movement of the
camera is hidden by Matthau's movements, but it subtly
creates suspense and interest in Lemmon, the person about
170
to emerge from the bathroom door. This same technique is
also used to create a star entrance in Double Indemnity.;
The camera dollies down the stairs following Phyllis
Dietrichson's anklet, finally to reveal her face in the!
same shot at the bottom of the stairs. Camera movement isj
also used to introduce Klaus Kinski on the pull up bar and|
i
Paula Prentiss in the library of the sex clinic in Buddy j
I
Buddy. j
Wilder's methods of working with his cameraman and
i
crew have remained consistent over the years. On Buddy
Buddy after the rehearsal, Wilder would dismiss his actors
and then discuss the blocking with cinematographer, Harry
Stradling, Jr., as the crew began to light the set. These
conversations were usually brief, since Billy had already'
j figured out for the most part how he wanted to shoot it. '
i !
According to Harry, Billy really knows his lenses and:
knows where he is going to put his camera.
I
An unusual part of Wilder's shooting style, however,i
(
is that he shoots in continuity as much as possible. This1
j
technique helps the actors and the director, but not the!
crew. Wilder follows his continuity literally. In
effect, he edits the film in the camera. If he is
shooting a dialogue sequence in reverse angles, he will!
shoot one shot up to the imagined cut, then have his
camera crew move the camera for the reverse angle, even if!
171
he intends to finish the sequence with the camera back in
i
its original position. In the sequence in which Lemmon
goes out on the ledge of the hotel, the camera was moved
back and forth from the ground floor to the second floor
as the continuity of the sequence demanded. All second-
floor angles were not completed on the second floor before j
moving the camera down to the ground floor. Such a
] ;
j shooting practice is highly unorthodox and would normally,
| drive the camera crew and assistant director crazy.|
I
1 . '
j Wilder, however, is so well-prepared and shoots so quickly
(with so little coverage) that this method, usually very
time-consuming, in his case is not. I asked the assistant
director if this technique alienated the crew. He replied
that because Wilder is so damn quick, the method is
f
t effective and the crew is happy to do things his way. Inj
fact, Wilder is so fast that the day's shooting is often!
i
completed early, at 4:30. He will then rehearse the scene
for the next day and dismiss the crew early. Overtime is
not part of Wilder's vocabulary.
I
Wilder is just as considerate to his crew as he is to
his actors. He includes them in his concept of the "happy
set," often joking with them. A running joke between1
Wilder and the camera operator began early in the !
production. At first he was overly tentative to Wilder.!
I
When Wilder asked him early in the production if the take j
i
172 j
was good, he told Wilder, "Yes, it was very pleasant."
For future takes Wilder would joke, "Was it pleasant,
Tim?" Or later when the operator was overly-polite in
requesting an adjustment in the framing ("With your kind
permission, sir?"), Wilder replied, "This is a Spanish
Court Ceremony. Permission granted. I can see what your j
i
sex life is like. Yes, with your kind permission can I |
! \
j please ..." Throughout the camera crew was eager to I
j please because of Wilder's attitude and sense of humor. '
I 1
j Wilder has a tendency to play scenes in very long
] i
i masters without breaking them up. I.A.L. Diamond noted;
i
that as a film-maker Wilder liked to let the scene flow.
I
He said, "We like to work in Panavision which means we can I
sustain a scene for two pages of dialogue."12 Because of
the length of many takes, Wilder requires the camera;
i
operator to re-frame many times within a shot. In effect,!
he is covering the scene in a single take. This may mean:
t
that a vertical crane, a dolly, and a pan are all used in
i
a single shot, such as in the star entrance of Lemmon at'
j
the filling station. These long takes mean that the frame;
l
must be filled with interesting pieces of business,|
particularly in a film like Buddy Buddy where the audience]
f
is confined on a stage to a single room for long stretches;
t
i of time. As he has done in other films, the mirror became;
| . . . . I
| a useful device in aesthetically framing a shot. In one;
i ;
i
173
take Trabucco conies into Clooney's room as Clooney is i
dressing to steal his suicide note. Even though we can
not see the bed from this camera angle, Clooney's precious)
* |
flowers on the bed are carefully framed in the mirror on
the right part of the frame. In the sequence where
Zuckerbrot gives Trabucco the shot, the mirror is also
used to create a three shot of Clooney, Celia, and
Zuckerbrot even though only Clooney is physically standing
in front of the camera. Then, Wilder continues the shot
in a dynamic way by dollying from this three shot (with
Lemmon as he crosses the room) into a two shot of Clooney)
i
and Celia (both now in front of the camera) . The shot(
never appears arty or self-conscious.
Throughout the third act Wilder also uses camera
movement to give variety to the staging. In the end of
the above sequence Wilder uses camera movement to create
multiple compositions. He begins on a single of Kinskij
I
who crosses the room (along with the camera) and walks
into a two shot with Lemmon by the door. As Kinski walks
out the door, Prentiss walks into the frame creating
another two shot; then, as she exits Matthau wakes up and
rises in the mirror creating a third two shot all in the
same continuous take. Wilder notes:
174
I like to tell my stories with the j
minimum of camera interruption- j
camera movement, close-ups, quick j
cuts, must be used like punctuations
in a novel. They must emphasize and
not distract, surprise but not weary
by over-emphasis. My scenes tend to
be broken down into longer takes than
would be used by many directors. My
scripts contain no detailed reference
to camera angles and movements, which
become obvious as the scene is
rehearsed on set. i
i
A close analysis of the second act (the trip to the ;
sex clinic) will reveal both the strengths and weaknesses :
of Wilder's camera style on Buddy Buddy. Here, Wilder ■
loses his audience, partly because of the unintentional;
4
obtrusiveness of his technique. The biggest problem with j
]
the second act is the insistence on using rear projection j
for all of the dialogue scenes in the automobile. There !
i
are several reasons that Wilder does this? for one thing, ,
i
he defers to the performance of his actors. Rear i
projection allows them to act without worrying about !
extraneous problems on the road, it is easier to control, !
i
and it is much easier to record the dialogue without the i
I
interference of noise generated by traffic, the wind, and
car motors. Can rear projection, though, be believable in
the 1980's? Or does it limit the viewer's ability to
suspend disbelief, to be up on the screen, participating,
as Wilder intends? !
175
According to Harry Stradling, "Billy insists onj
shooting process because he has never been out with camera
mounts on a car. This is the way that he has always done
it." Although generally camera mounts have been used for
driving sequences in most Hollywood movies since the
sixties, rear projection has been used effectively more
often than critics might suspect. Surprisingly, many of
the car chases in Bonnie and Clyde were shot on a stage!
using rear projection, but the audience fails to notice
the artifice of the technique because it is too involved
in the action, and there is so much other movement within
the frame (four actors in the car itself). As a result,i
the process shots of the police cars (in the background) J
chasing the Barrow gang are completely acceptable. 1
In the initial drive to the suicide rock, a great
deal of attention was given to making the process shooting
as believable as possible. According to the camera crew,,
Harry Stradling,Jr. is the best cinematographer at
shooting rear projection because he learned all of the
I
tricks at the knee of his father, Harry Stradling, Sr. who:
i
shot such classic films as Pygmalion. A Streetcar Named I
i
Desire. The Pirate and Funny Girl. A contemporaryj
cinematographer would have more difficulty. '
The camera was set up at a slight left-angle to the
process screen, and a great deal of attention was devoted
176
J to lighting and setting up the shot in such a way to
disguise the process. The main problem was in carrying
the depth of field from the background process screen to
the actors in the car. Wilder jokingly called Stradling,
"Nykvist" (Bergman's cinematographer Sven Nykvist) as he
took a lot of time to adjust the camera and the lights.
Stradling replied, "Call him in." Wilder said, "Yes— but i
then the plate would be in Stockholm." Wilder told !
Matthau, "Please, a little play on the steering wheel in
order to make the driving believable." Wilder's camera j
i
1 crew added other tricks: A grip on the back of the car |
j i
j jacked it up whenever the background indicated a bump in ■
I ;
the road; a grip passed nets in front of the lights to
give the effect of passing cars on the windshield; the !
gaffer dropped the light on Lemmon's face with a half net
| whenever the car went through a dense green area of ;
i
foliage. Also, a fan was used to blow Lemmon's hair. And I
the camera was constantly changing framing (dollying in,
stopping to prevent skidding across the frame, dollying
out) , to give a sense of motion. This was shooting rear
process at its most believable. In black and white films i
it is easier to hide the process. In The Fortune Cookie j
the drive back from the airport in Boom Boom's car, I
although shot in rear process on a stage, is quite |
i
believable because in black and white the separation |
I
177
I
between foreground and background is not as noticeable.!
I
I
In the earlier film they also used nets on the lxghts as j
the car passed under overpasses giving a sense of reality
to the rear projection. j
i
Clearly, Wilder felt this four page sequence was a
particularly amusing one, and wanted to give his actors a
chance to let it roll. When the timing of the shot was:
| reduced in rehearsal to two minutes and fifty-five
seconds, Wilder added, "of sheer platinum." He justified
his use of rear projection in the following way, "We havej
established that the car is rolling and interesting bits'
l
of information are passing between them. We are conceited!
enough to think that the conversation in the car is so
i
riveting that people won't notice the slight bends in the:
road." In an interview he had previously stated: j
I
One of the best scenes I've ever seen
in a picture was between Marlon
Brando and Rod Steiger in On The
Waterfront. They are sitting in a
cab, not even a transparency in back
to save money. Venetian blinds in a
New York cab. The two brothers were
talking, especially Brando. The !
scene was beautiful and very well- j
written, and it lasted seven minutes.
No cut, no close-ups, no nothing.
One of the great scenes, because you
were involved. But I'm not going to
like the scene any better if they j
suddenly up and walked out j
somewhere. i
178
Similarly, Wilder insisted that this entire sequence play
in a single take, adding tremendous responsibility to the
camera crew to make it believable.
Wilder is correct that there are interesting bits of
I
conversation here. The acting on the part of Lemmon and;
\
Matthau is quite good; however, this is a sequence that |
produces smiles, not belly laughs. And unfortunately, j
although amusing, it is not as riveting as that dramatic
moment in On The Waterfront or Bonnie and Clyde. Here,;
j
the rear projection is as good as it can be in color. On i
videotape it is quite acceptable, but on the wide
Panavision screen in a theatre it was not believable.^
i
i
Part of the reason is that the shot is such a long, ;
uninterrupted take. Although the dialogue is amusing, the
audience's attention begins to waiver. They begin to'
notice the unreality of the background, and for the first
i
time in the film, the illusion is totally destroyed. Ifj
i
the audience had been laughing hysterically throughout the^
sequence, they might not have noticed the artifice of the:
technique, but unfortunately this was not the case.
i
This sequence is followed by a nicely staged and
photographed one shot in a real exterior of Matthau
i
attempting to kill Lemmon and being interrupted by the
police, who commandeer them into driving a hippie and his !
pregnant wife to the clinic. Here, the sharp images, the
i
I
179 :
i !
framing, and the verdant greens and blues of the mountains
and landscape provide a realistic backdrop for the murder
attempt. And the dolly is again used to add suspense to
Matthau's movements as he moves in for the kill. But this
sequence is again followed by more process shooting in the
car, shot on the same stage, but the next day as the long
take with Matthau and Lemmon. In the film, the abrupt cut
i . i
j from the real exterior, the camera panning with the car as ;
| ■
j it disappears into the horizon, to the hippie wife in a
1
i two shot screaming against the rear process screen again
j destroys the believability of what might otherwise be
i i
!
j acceptable rear process shooting. This sequence with the ;
j hippie and his wife in the car is actually a funny
J sequence, or rather it should be, but again, the process
I shooting is intrusive, taking the audience out of the
story. Matthau's priceless look when Lemmon informs him j
that babies are sometimes born in cars is very funny. But i
i
the hot spots on the rear projection screen remind the 1
audience that it is on a stage, not the road, and the J
performance of the hippie further mars the scene. J
Once we arrive at the Zuckerbrot Clinic, the action
is again nicely staged and believable. In a single shot j
Wilder pans from the car and police driving down the road j
i
in long shot to their arrival at the exterior of the |
clinic in medium shot. Here, he combines two distinct |
i
I
i
180
compositions with one smooth pan. In the final shot of
the "murder" sequence three separate compositions (of the
unloading of the wife, the loading into Trabucco's car,
and the long shot of the drive off) were linked by pans.
In this sequence, Wilder again uses camera movement to |
|
create interesting multiple frames. Here, a pipe dolly isi
added to create a complicated, but organic shot. It
begins as a two shot of Lemmon and Matthau (with Matthau j
j seated in the car). As Lemmon walks around the car to get;
! his precious flowers out of the back seat, the camera pans
with him. Then, as he walks back around the car to talk
to Matthau, the camera dollies in (the movement of the
camera hidden by Lemmon's movement) to a two shot ofs
Lemmon standing outside the window and Matthau seated in
j the driver's seat. Here, the limits of the frame are used
: to create humor. When Lemmon asks Matthau if he would
consider going in with him, Matthau abruptly yells, "No"
as he guns the car in reverse, quickly exiting the
stationary frame. Matthau's sudden exit from the frame
creates humor. Then, the shot continues as the camera pans;
i
with Lemmon in a medium shot as he walks off into the j
clinic. Here, Wilder has used the camera in a dynamic,•
organic way, smoothly creating four separate shots in one,!
I
and at the same time using the frame to emphasize the
j humor of the situation, the relationship between these
| I
I
i 181 j
mismatched buddies. Here, Wilder's technique is both !
forceful and unobtrusive, but X think the rear projection
sequences had already caused the audience to drop out of
the film.
Throughout Buddy Buddy the camera is used in an |
interesting way, but do these techniques in effect enhance j
the humor of the situation or merely record it? Wilder I
I ;
espouses the value of the "quiet" camera, but if one looks I
closely at the camera work in Some Like It Hot, we see 1
that throughout, more self-conscious staging is used to 1
enhance the humor. Part of the fun in the film is the ;
camera tricks. Throughout, the camera fools the audience !
into seeing things that seem physically impossible. The
i
limits of the frame are again used in a humorous way but |
more audaciously: take, for example, the shot of Curtis' j
quick change in the bathroom before his date with Sugar.
i
He runs into the room in medium shot, beginning to remove
his dress. As he disappears into one door of the
bathroom, the camera dollies along the exterior wall to
the second bathroom door. Moments later, the dress and
shoes come flying out the door. Then seven seconds later,
Curtis emerges from the bathroom fully dressed in yachting j
outfit. The quick change off screen surprises and I
delights the audience because it is physically impossible. |
They are not given time, however, to ponder how the trick !
182
was done because they immediately see that he is I
unknowingly wearing the earrings. This one gag keeps the j
interest in the shot going, as the audience knows that
Curtis is in true danger of discovery if he does not
notice the earrings.
Throughout the sequences in the hotel, Wilder stages ;
I
chase scenes that further use the frame to confound the i
i
i
I audience. Most of the so-called chase sequences in the \
\ I
j hotel are actually done in a single, complicated shot.|
Perhaps, the slapstick nature of the subject matter, the
twenties parody, is more in keeping with these camera 1
tricks, but there is no doubt that they contribute to the
humor. One example is the comic chase sequence, where
Curtis and Lemmon (dressed as bellhops) are chased up the !
stairs and seconds later emerge from the elevator dressed j
as women. In fact, this shot was achieved with two stand- '
i
ins dressed as Curtis and Lemmon being chased past the j
I
elevator up the stairs by the henchmen. As they disappear j
from the frame, the camera pans over to the elevator \
!
indicator as it flies down to the number one, then the
camera tilts down and momentarily locks in a stationary
frame as Curtis and Lemmon emerge again in drag; the j
camera then dollies with them, doing a stutter step left
then right then back, as they almost run into the
j gangsters, until the camera stops, holding on the
\ j
! i
j
! 183 |
confounded gangsters as Lemmon and Curtis exit the frame.
Clearly, Lemmon and Curtis were in the elevator in women's
clothes at the beginning of the shot? again, though, the
complicated use of the camera here to trick the audience ■
i
creates both humor and surprise. j
f
Similarly, the use of the swish pan, a self-conscious J
i
\
camera device, helps create humor in the parallel ••date"■
i
sequences between Lemmon and Joe E. Brown in the tango,
club and Curtis and Monroe on the ship. Here, rather than;
cutting between the two. Wilder employs a swish pan as he
i
swishes back and forth between Monroe trying to seduce:
»
Curtis and Joe E. Brown trying to seduce Lemmon (who ini
fact has taken over the lead in the dances, with a rose in
I his mouth) . The swish pan not only connects the two
i j
parallel situations, but creates humor because it creates|
the feeling that we are in both sets simultaneously. |
\ ‘
| Throughout the camera does not merely record the action,,
i but is used to enhance the humor.
1 j
Throughout Some Like It Hot camera angles and j
movement help to create a sense of danger and jeopardy.
When Curtis crosses the ledge off his third story balcony,;
i
the camera tilts down with him as he slides down the pipe. ,
j
Here, shooting the actual slide down and the tilted camera
angle makes the audience believe the reality and sense of j
l
danger. In Buddy Buddy in the one shot we actually see of j
i
I
I
: 184 i
Lemmon on the ledge in the exterior hotel scene, thej
situation does not have the same sense of reality because
of the camera angle and the brevity of the shot. In Buddy
Buddy we are too aware that Lemmon is on an actual set and
hence not in danger. In the sequence in which Trabucco
and Clooney slide down the laundry chute, the camera angle
again did not fully exploit the danger of the situation.
i
! (Ironically, Walter Matthau seriously hurt himself when he j
fell rehearsing this sequence on his own.) Before Lemmon|
and Matthau enter the chute, we never see a clear P.O.V.
i
shot showing the treacherous angle of the chute. As a
result, we never get the full impact of the situation. If
we compare this sequence to a parallel one in Butch i
Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. we can see the difference!
camera angle can make in creating humor. The sequence in!
Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid is one of the funniest j
in the film. The danger of the situation is clearly!
established with a single P.O.V. shot down to the!
dangerous rocks below. Although the rest of the dialogue!
I
is played out in medium shot, the audience is clearly
aware of the danger below, thus making their dialogue (the
fact that Redford does not know how to swim) even funnier.
Then, when they do run and jump, the fall (actually shot
with a matte as the two safely fall into a swimming pool)i
is clearly recorded, thus capping the sequence. In Buddy j
185
Buddy the slide sequence is rather tame. The P.O.V. shot
comes near the bottom of the slide and fails to maximize
the true humor of the situation, two older men, Matthau
and Lemmon, who have no business sliding down dangerous
slides. Here, more attention to camera angle could have
created additional humor.
At the end of filming the slide sequence, the final
shot on the stage. Wilder turned to Diamond and said,
i 1
i "Izzy, nice working with you." And he added, "Not one;
I > ■
| phony or pretentious set-up in the entire film." His!
i ;
statement is correct. Throughout Buddy Buddy there was
not a single shot that intentionally called attention to'
i
itself. The camera work was often complex and elegant.|
However, I think in most cases the camera was used to I
record and not create the humor.
NOTES
1 Tom Wood, The Bright Side of Billv Wilder.
Primarily (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1970) 56.
2 Axel Madsen, Billv Wilder (London: Indiana UP,
1969) 56.
3 Richard Lemon, "The Message in Billy Wilder's
Fortune Cookie." The Saturday Evening Post 17 Dec. 1966: j
| 3 8 ' !
1 4 Rex McGee, "The Life And Hard Times Of Fedora." j
j American Film Feb. 1979: 30. I
5 Billy Wilder, "Wilder Bewildered," With Gilbert;
Adair, Sight and Sound Winter 1976-1977: 53.
j 6 Howard Kissel, "Billy Wilder: Comedy's Straight
| Shooter," Women's Wear Daily 16 Dec. 1974: 24. !
i 7 '
I "What Directors Are Saying!" Action Jan.-Feb. 1970: 1
I 29. I
|
I 8 Billy Wilder, "Charming Billy," With Richard
| Gehman, Plavbov Dec. 1960: 147.
9 Charles Champlin, "Wilder Banking On Chancy ,
Venture," Los Angeles Times 4 Feb. 1966, "Calendar": 2. i
|
10 Jon Tuska, Close-up: The Hollywood Director |
(Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow, 1978) 2. j
I |
11 Wilder, "Charming Billy," 147. j
12 Adrian Turner, "Interview With I.A.L. Diamond" I
Films and Filming May 1982: 19. j
13 Billy Wilder, "One Head Is Better Than Two," Films
and Filming Feb. 1957: 7.
14 "Dialogue on Film: Billy Wilder and I.A.L.
Diamond," American Film July-Aug. 1976: 38.
187
CHAPTER VII
EDITING
Billy Wilder's approach to editing would be a
dangerous method for most novice film-makers to follow.
Like John Ford, Wilder basically cuts the film within the
camera. As he has said about his editing, "When I am
finished, there is nothing on the cutting room floor but !
1 • l '
; cigarette butts, chewing gum wrappers and tears."x i
! I
| Charles Champlin reports that on The Front Page the j
I 9 1
I editing was completed in a mere four days. Wilder shoots
1 j
very little coverage, and for the most part prints only j
!
one take of a shot. (He only prints two or three on i
I
I
exceptionally difficult shots or in a rare instance when
he has to argue with an actor over which take is best) . ;
i
There is no extra film to play with in the editing room, j
i
Even in dialogue sequences where he covers the action in j
reverse angles, he rarely overlaps the dialogue. The j
reverse angle literally begins where the previous angle
left off. In most sequences all the editor really has to |
do is cut off the slates and heads and tails and string j
together the sequence. Then, he has to make minor |
I
adjustments as to pace and transition between scenes.
Since Wilder has filmed a sequence at a given pace (often I
j
in a single shot) and shoots little coverage, the editor
i |
I has few, if any, choices in editing the sequence.
188
It is as if Wilder feels it would be cheating to j
J
I
provide coverage or shoot a sequence in more than one way !
i
to see how it plays in both instances. Early in his '
career (around the time of The Lost Weekend) Wilder had j
I
explored the idea of using a videocamera to film sequences j
as they were shot to give instantaneous results, and]
I
particularly to help with the editing and blocking on I
o j
difficult sequences in which many characters are talking, j
However, he soon abandoned this idea. Later in his career!
when asked about the possibility of using a video camera,
he mocked the .idea. He says, "No, if I look at a scene on
the video I suddenly have a story conference. Twenty
i kibitzers are standing around, looking over my
j :
shoulder .... Let the scene play and trust your j
t
M I
judgement and go on from there.’ 1*
i
Unlike many other directors who consider dailies to!
|
be a private affair, Wilder invites all of his actors to j
I
come to view them. In terms of printing, he has made mostj
i
of the choices already so the dailies rarely become a I
debate over which take is better. However, occasionally
Walter Matthau would insist on two different takes being
printed, and then they would argue over which was the I
i
best. During and after the dailies Wilder would have a j
brief conversation with his editor over how the sequence ;
: was to be cut, but it was clear that for the most part the J
I
I
189 ]
choices had already been made; there was really only one
way to cut it.
Wilder's editing style evolved from the influence of
Doane Harrison, Wilder's editor during much of his career.
He edited Wilder's first six films, from The Maior and The
| Minor (1942) through A Foreign Affair (1948). Then, he
! t
i worked as Editorial Supervisor or Adviser on Wilder's next|
four films; Sunset Boulevard (1950), Ace In The Hole i
j
(1951). Stalag 17 (1953), and Sabrina (1954). After j
(
Sabrina he was Associate Producer on all of Wilder's films;
1 1
I
(except Witness For The Prosecution) until his death after1
The Fortune Cookie (1966). An unusual part of Wilder's!
shooting method was to have Doane Harrison on the set at j
all times to discuss coverage and staging. If there werej
t
any potential problems, he wanted advice then, not later!
in the editing room. Wilder's style of shooting largely;
I
in masters with little coverage evolved over the years as!
i
a result. Doane Harrison was particularly helpful in
eliminating any unnecessary footage from the shooting.5
He also influenced Wilder's style of shooting with elegant
camera movements and little intercutting.
Wilder would consider it a heinous sin to shoot a
I
close-up or a cut-away only as a protection shot for the ^
J
editing room. He has such a good sense of the rhythms of a ]
scene and confidence in his staging that he feels that
190
there is no reason to shoot coverage. This shooting style
saves on time, energy, and money because it avoids
shooting costly set-ups that will never be used. For
Wilder, having the editor on the set was an economical
move both in terms of shooting style and also production
cost. j
Wilder's philosophy of editing is similar to his
j ideas about the camera. He is concerned that the editing
I
1 }
i
| be natural and unobtrusive. He says, ’ ’ The simpler the i
I !
j better. This also applies to the camera and the cutting. |
No tricks, as this destroys the illusion. And not too;
i
many close-ups. I am too aware of their value to waste;
I £ ;
! them."0 He also feels that a sequence can be destroyed by;
over-cutting.7 Wilder wants the sequence to evolve
l
naturally in front of the audience. Unnecessary cuts,
i
like obtrusive camera movement, can break the bond between
the audience and the story.
Wilder's rule about the cut also applies to the use
of inserts and close-ups. Wilder uses these devices;
sparingly because on the wide Panavision screen, they can
also distract the audience. In the sequence of Lemmon j
I
preparing to commit suicide for the first time, Wilder |
5
I never shows an insert of the letter he is writing; nor I
does he in a later sequence when Matthau comes in to his ^
i
j room and steals the letter before taking him out to kill j
i
191 I
him. Wilder explained that in the latter sequence,
cutting to an insert would hurt the sequence, which is
about the relationship between the two men and not the
letter. The insert would break up the sequence (which is
i
shot in a single, long take) and call too much attention
to the letter, thus breaking the mood.
When inserts are necessary, Wilder demands that they 1
I
be dynamic rather than "dead" inserts, which could destroy!
I
the illusion. For example, in the sequence after Lemmon's|
first suicide attempt, Wilder needed to show inserts of j
both Trabucco's watch (the reminder of the time pressure)I
i
and the pamphlet for Dr. Zuckerbrot's clinic. Rather than;
!
shooting static inserts of these objects, Wilderj
introduced them into the frame of a close angle of Lemmon ^
I
i as he delivered his dialogue. Wilder explained the j
technique, "It becomes dynamic so I don't have to cut to aj
i
dead insert." Similarly, later when an insert of the!
heater in Lemmon's room was required, Wilder used camera
movement to make the shot dynamic. He panned from
Lemmon's discovery of the heater in a medium close-up to
the heater, itself, again creating a dynamic shot. Wilder
noted that the most dynamic use of the insert in film was
the shot of the maggots in Potemkin because the audience i
was moved.
i
I
I
192
In terms of close-ups, Wilder believes that they
should be used sparingly like trump cards, and never
Q
arbitrarily as a way to get out of editing difficulty.
In contrast, the student film-maker often shoots close-ups
in most sequences so they can be used in the editing room
like a cut-away (in order to cut out bits of a performance
that may not be working). Wilder feels that such a use of
the close-up hurts the film. In his comedies such as
Buddy Buddy he rarely shoots more than two or three in an
j entire film.
Jack Lemmon noted that one thing that really
impressed him on Some Like It Hot was that Billy Wilder:
. . . had not used a closeup of me
until more than half the picture
was done . . . Now, when he did go
i to a closeup, it was of me peering
i from the upper berth on a train. I
had the makeup on, the wig, and I was
wearing a nightie. I had my face
cupped in my hands and I was ogling
the girls in the orchestra getting
ready for bed. It was a dynamite
shot and it doubled the impact that
ordinarily could be expected. It
gained great importance because Billy
had played everything loose up to
that point. At the same time, it
reminded the audience that despite
the female get-up, this character
was, after all, still a man. When
that closeup hit the screen, it got a
roar.9
As Wilder has indicated, the power of the cut comes in the
juxtaposition of two shots rather than through the
photography;10 its power comes from what precedes it and
193
what comes after it. In The Apartment one of the most
moving moments in the film is the cut from Fred MacMurray
and Shirley MacLaine driving away in the cab to Jack
Lemmon in medium long shot waiting for her in front of the!
theatre. The audience knows that she is not coming to |
meet him and is moved because of the power of the cut. j
I
Wilder feels that shooting arbitrary close-ups deflates i
! j
' i
j their power when they are really needed, and wears out the j
I
actor, not to mention the cameraman who must change his !
lighting for them. In avoiding them, except when they have;
an inherent purpose, Wilder saves a great deal of time.!
Shooting only what he intends to use allows him the luxury
to shoot in absolute continuity, an aid to performance and|
I direction. !
i :
i
For the most part Wilder feels that comedy plays best|
i
within the frame and avoids unnecessarily cutting. An j
! . . I
| important rule that he articulated on the set of Buddy j
j [
Buddy was "once you cut, the joke is over." Not only does
he shoot close-ups sparingly, he also uses a minimum of :
medium singles on his players. As much as possible he
wants to show the interaction of the characters within the *
i
frame. Often times, when he begins with a single, the I
|
camera will dolly or pan with the character as he moves
across the room joining the other character in a two shot. ;
I
! Or Wilder will move the camera from one character to the
I
I
! 194 :
other's reaction, instead of shooting a separate reaction;
shot. For example, when Clooney enters the lobby of the
i
Zuckerbrot clinic in a wide angle, the camera dollies into|
a two shot of Clooney and the receptionist. Another!
i
director would break this dialogue sequence down into j
t
separate angles, and then select the best pieces in the
editing room. Wilder plays it all in a single master
I using the opening and closing of the glass windows as a :
device to emphasize the hostile interaction between them.1
Wilder feels anyway that Lemmon plays better in medium and
long shots than in close-ups.11 At least in the case of
Lemmon, Wilder feels that the comic performance is best
played in relation to the other characters and environment
rather than isolated in separate frames. The American
! cinema of the seventies and eighties has been strongly
influenced by the work of Spielberg and Lucas, who in turn;
were influenced by Hitchcock, who believed that dramatic
performance could be largely created through montage (and,
in the editing room) . Wilder trusts in his ownj
i
choreography, the ability to stage a comic sequence on the'
I
stage with the camera and often in a single shot.j
i
However, in the more dramatic moments of The Apartment:
such as when Sheldrake convinces Miss Kubelik to resume
their affair in The Rickshaw Club or when Mr. Baxter shows
i Miss Kubelik his bowler hat in the office, Wilder breaks
i
i
! 195
l _______ __ . . . . . _ . . ■
his dialogue sequences down into more traditional close-
ups and separate angles.
When Wilder does use singles or close-ups, it is for
a purpose. The first time that we see Paula Prentiss in
i
Buddy Buddy. it is in a close angle. Wilder said of this
moment, "This is as romantic as we get. ..." Wilder and
Stradling took a lot of time lighting the shot. Wilder
told Stradling, "Make her look very beautiful. She's no :
!
Garbo, but that should not be too difficult." Here, the >
I t
I close angle has a purpose. The preceding shot was a dolly
i ,
of Lemmon as he wends his way through the library, and
suddenly stops mesmerized when he finally sees her; here,
camera movement is used as a reveal; but she has her back
I
to the audience. The close angle is very important here.
i
Interest and suspense have been created by the previous i
' . . . I
shot of Lemmon as he gazes at her. This is the audience's I
s
l
first look at her; we have heard her lines off screen and j
heard about her but never seen her even in the long phone j
I
i
conversation in Lemmon's room. It is important that her |
beauty be established; we need to know why Lemmon is still {
hooked on her.
There are, however, comic sequences in Buddy Buddy
where Wilder chooses to cover the action from multiple
angles (and in closer angles) and create an edited
f
sequence; he does this, however, for a purpose. Take, for !
196
example, the sequence in which Klaus Kinski injects
Matthau with the sedative. Here, the final sequence
results in twenty-nine cuts and many different camera
angles. It is one of the few times in the film where
Wilder uses the power of the cut to control the humor
through montage; however, the reason is because he thought
| this was a particularly funny sequence. He used the cuts j
to pace out the sequence, to give the audience time to '
laugh without losing the next line of dialogue; also, in j
i
this case, with each cut there is a new laugh, a reaction|
to what has been said, particularly on the part of Lemmon.|
Although Wilder may have over-estimated the laughs in this J
sequence, his reason for doing so was sound. If he played j
the entire sequence in a single shot, then many of the j
lines would be drowned out by audience laughter.
Earlier (during the shooting of Trabucco calling the
sex clinic) I had asked Wilder if he paced out the laughs!
in his comedies. He replied, "You can't— only guess very
i
hard— because lines you think are funny aren't and;
straight ones are. Every time you cut to a new image the
joke is over. But in this sequence you can protect
yourself by saying "Mrs. Clooney" at both ends." (In this
sequence the receptionist repeats Trabucco's line, "Mrs. !
Clooney," on the cut to allow time for audience laughter). !
i
I
Diamond interjected that in the stateroom scene with the j
197
Marx Brothers (A Night At The Opera) the audience couldn't
hear half the lines, but a writer should be lucky enough
to have the problem of people stepping on his lines.
Lemmon told me that, "On Mr. Roberts we tried pacing out
the laughs as if we were on stage. It didn't work. You
can only play the scene seriously and let the laughs fall
i where they will." Leaving a pause for the expected laugh!
i I
or delivering a line anticipating the laugh can only lead;
i
| to disaster. Wilder further says:
I
On the stage, you can lay in a ■
straight line and then hit it with a
punch line, and from the audience's j
reaction you can sense where to lay j
in the next straight line. But you |
have no elasticity on the screen.
The actor is frozen on film and if
the timing is off the audience can
easily lose 90% of the dialogue. 2
i
|
i
Wilder anticipated the Kinski/Matthau sequence to be J
one of the funniest in the film and attempted to control!
J the pace both within individual shots and also from shot J
I
to shot. In a sequence such as this, he explained, "If
you do it all in one [shot], then you lose the laughs." On
Kinski's delivery as he injects Matthau with the needle,|
Wilder said, "Slow it down, Klaus. The audience will be
laughing." Then he interjected, "We have a girls' school
in the rafters that have bribed the electricians . . . for
a look at Mr. Matthau." On each insult that Kinski |
198
delivers, Wilder cuts to a closer angle of Lemmon for a
reaction. Wilder told Lemmon, "Jack, leave a little
space, but it is difficult. Each one of these lines is an
insult, a major revelation, so you don't answer
immediately." Lemmon replied, "That's why I turn away and
come back— to give time for the laugh." In a single
Wilder also had Kinski walk away to give more space, and
t
in editing the sequence, the repeated line "psychiatric'
ward" was used on both ends of the cut and pauses were
left in after the cuts before many of Lemmon's lines. On
1
the set Wilder said of the shot of Paula Prentiss running!
down the hall, "Tremendously important shot because it ^
gives the audience time to catch their breath." He noted
that "the beauty of cutting [is] so that you can covert
over the laugh. Otherwise they won't hear a goddam
thing." Wilder may have been overselling the humor of the;
sequence here; however, there is no question that this is ;
i
one of the funniest dialogue sequences in the film; on the
set this was the one sequence that had the entire crew in
hysterics, particularly the closer angle of Kinski giving
Matthau the injection. Perhaps, here, Wilder did not
realize that what was funny on the set would not
necessarily be as much so on the screen. The problem here !
is not the pacing of the sequence (except in the end when |
it becomes deliberate and serious) but rather the second
act that precedes it. Out of context this sequence is
very funny, but I am afraid that the digression to the sex
clinic deflates the power of all of the sequences in the
final act. Wilder has not yet recaptured the audience.
In general, however, Wilder only adds space for laughs in
i
performance and the editing when he anticipates that a
dialogue sequence has the potential to bring the house
down. Clearly, his choice of a single angle for the j
dialogue sequence in the car between Matthau and Lemmon j
i
showed that he expected the sequence to bring smiles j
rather than belly laughs. J
In terms of re-cutting his films based on audience or'
studio reaction, Wilder notes that he puts little stock in
previews. Part of the reason was his experience with Some,
Like It Hot. Initially, it was previewed to a middle-aged'
I
audience on a double bill with Joseph Mankiewicz's!
i
Suddenly Last Summer. During the film there was only one,
person laughing. When Wilder ran up the aisle to greet
that one man after the show, it turned out to be Steve
Allen. A few nights later, without making a cut, they
previewed the same print in Westwood, and the audience
never stopped laughing.13 Based on a preview reaction,
Wilder may cut a film by two or three minutes. But again,
he trusts his instincts on the set. According to Wilder:
l
i
200
A director does need a hidden sense,
a sense that instinctively tells him
what cuts with what. A good film is
more likely to be a film that has
been shot in a manner that makes the
final cutting a comparatively simple
process, than a film shot so loosely
that the cutter has to go on a strict
diet of water and aspirin for a
month.
Because of a disastrous sneak preview of Sunset Boulevard
I
Wilder eliminated an opening sequence in which Holden's;
body sits up in the morgue and begins to tell the story toj
I
other corpses (causing the audience to laugh), and a sneak!
preview led him to cut a brief epilogue from Double;
i
Indemnity at San Quentin in which Edward G. Robinson looks!
on as Fred MacMurray is executed. J
I
The few times that Wilder has broken his rule has;
j
augured disaster. Because of pressure from the stars andj
studio after negative, sneak previews of Kiss Me Stupid.J
I
he went back and shot a tamer ending to the seduction:
scene in which originally Dean Martin slept with Mrs. !
Spooner. In the new ending Martin falls asleep before
consummating the affair. Ironically, the film stillj
received a Condemned rating from the Catholic Church and!
became one of Wilder's most bitter failures, leading to
his retreat from Hollywood for several years.15 The other
times that Wilder's films were substantially changed inj
i
the editing room also led to disappointment. The film
many critics consider to be his late masterpiece, The
201
Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes. was originally cut at 3
hours and 2 0 minutes. At this time road shows with an
intermission such as Dr. Zhivago and The Sound Of Music
had been popular; but suddenly public sentiment changed
(perhaps with the cool reception to Robert Wise's Star),
and Wilder was faced with the sad prospect of cutting his
I
film down to a little over two hours if it was going to be |
1 i « i
released. ° Even in abbreviated form this is certainly]
I
t
one of Wilder's greatest films, but remains a personal!
disappointment. On Fedora there was also a certain amount
of tinkering with the story in the editing room; the end i
were also mixed. Wilder notes; 1
i
The great agony in film-making is J
that you don't have tryouts in Boston j
or New Haven. Once it's filmed, it's 1
too late. Nor do I believe the i
stories about redoing a picture in ;
the cutting room. It's got to be I
there. It's got to play. 7 j
further stated: j
i
i
Woody Allen says he will move scenes \
or parts of scenes to other spots in j
the picture. To me that's bad i
construction. If a scene can be
moved from one part or another there
was something wrong in the writing.
the choppiness one feels on a first viewing of Thej
»
Life Of Sherlock Holmes was caused by moving parts j
story to spots where they were not originally
202
results
Diamond
Part of
Private
of the
intended because of the elimination of certain key
sequences. Wilder further states:
It's a tricky business. If a scene
is good, it has a life of its own.
There's no way to open it up, and no
need to. If you do start
transposing, you can get into a great
deal of trouble. Things have to be
19
organic.
The one section of Buddy Buddy where Wilder violated
I
his own rules was in the digressive second act, the trip |
to the sex clinic, the biggest potential problem area in j
!
the script. Up until this section, everything had been j
playing well on both the stage and in the dailies. The:
I
crew was optimistic, delighted, but with the introduction!
of the sex clinic, one could sense a gray cloud of
disaster hovering overhead. Even Wilder sensed that the J
sequences were not working, particularly Lemmon's entrance
to the clinic. He admitted to Diamond on the second day i
of shooting in the sex clinic set his nervousness over the j
i
previous day's work. He had had difficulty sleeping.
Diamond brushed off his nervousness. Wilder replied,
"Where were you when I was biting my nails at 4 A.M."
Diamond replied, "You always introduce a new character at
the beginning of the second act. Yes, we can't avoid it.
It has always been a shift in attitude— but we can cut j
I
!
down on jokes." Wilder was concerned that because of his
i
long take style of shooting, the previous day's work in i
i 203
the clinic lobby would be difficult to cut. The sex
clinic had always been the place in the film Wilder would j
be likely to alienate a young audience with his outdated J
jokes about hippiesr plastic dolls, and guru-
psychologists.
Wilder later felt that the problem with the second I
I
act was the material that had been shot in the auditorium i
in which Klaus Kinski delivers a lecture to a packed !
audience of extras on premature ejaculation. After lunch ;
J the day after the shooting, Argyle Nelson, the editor, who
i
• was putting together cut sequences, visited the set and
i
i
told Wilder of this sequence, "Yes, this is the one place
we are overselling our humor. It will improve it 100%."
Billy replied, "Watergate, peanut butter— all out— I don't
believe it. We will improve it." As a result, after
f
lunch they filmed a rare change, a single on Klaus Kinski ;
for transition as he delivers the new line, "Which brings j
[
us to the subject of today's lecture. Premature j
ejaculation." He told me later, "We had to cut out about
i
a million jokes which was very difficult ..." Half a I
l
day's work with an auditorium full of extras and many bits \
!
on the part of individual extras were cut from the film, j
Although the sex clinic sequence is a problem point in the j
film, I think that cutting down the sequence actually hurt |
the overall pace of the film. Klaus Kinski's lecture was
204
really quite funny, much funnier than the later sequence
v .
in the library between Paul Prentiss and Jack Lemmon or
the encounter with the man with the plastic doll "whose
fiancee has a slow leak." Wilder was concerned about thej
sequence with the man with the plastic doll, whether it
I
was funny. But after he saw the delivery of the actors, ,
his fears were allayed. Although the performances were ^
good here, the sequence was not funny because the material
I
was seriously dated.
| Here, I think that in losing the original material
i
! Wilder made the second act a true digression. There is no
build to the sequences, and they are over before the
audience has a chance to be won over by the new setting.
We do not see enough of Lemmon's reaction throughout. His
situation should be both funny and revealing: a priggish
television censor forced to encounter a world that is
i
anathema to his very nature. But the sequence is over;
quickly, and the cuts X think hurt the sequence. In the
lecture there is only one cut to a reaction shot of Lemmon
as he watches. More of the humorous material in the,
i
lecture hall could have been retained if we had several
reactions from Lemmon as the original script called for. \
i
Even the decision to cut the sequence in which Paula<
Prentiss interrupts the lecture reduced the frantic,
J screwball pace that was originally a part of the design
i
I
1 .205 I
of the sequence. Here is one of the few places that I
i
i
Wilder lost faith in his material. Funny moments were j
cut, but some of the worst moments, the jokes about j
marijuana and the hippie were retained. Because Lemmon's !
I
encounter with the environment has been cut to a minimum
(about three pages of material have been omitted), his
final tirade in the library and rejection of Celia seems
! forced. From here Wilder quickly cuts back to the action i
| at the hotel and the reunion of Lemmon and Matthau; !
i i
I unfortunately this digression has destroyed the clockwork j
mechanism of the script, and the timing now seems off; ;
Wilder has to work to recapture both the drama of the !
j situation and the pace in the third act, and because he
I
| has lost momentum in the second act, his job is virtually
impossible despite the funny material that follows. There i
had been problem areas earlier— the sequence on the ledge,
the rear projection drive to the clinic— but in the sex
I
clinic the film finally falls flat. j
When Wilder was shooting Ace In The Hole, he did an [
i
article for Life illustrating his basic rules of editing
and shot selection: !
1. Focus on the key character. . . . j
2. Bring the audience closer to the |
scene. . . .
3. Keep the pace fast. . . . .
4. Make the scene vivid. . . . |
■ 5. Avoid the obvious. . . .
I 6. Don't Pile It On. . . .20 j
!
! 206
In terms of the editing and shooting of Buddy Buddy.I
another rule that he disobeyed was focus on the main!
character. Throughout we are not entirely sure who is the
main character and where our sympathies should lie. Are|
we to identify with the hit man trying to do his job asj
the opening of the film indicates or are we to identify
with Victor Clooney, the bumbler, who inadvertently foils
! the hit man? And if we identify with the latter, what,
r
i
I prepares us for his sudden change of heart near the end
| when the focus shifts back to Matthau and his need to pull
off the job so he won't be killed. The shooting and
editing style give them equal weight both within the story
I
| and the frame. In The Fortune Cookie although the
I funniest moments are the machinations of Matthau as he
negotiates with the insurance company lawyers, all of the
action is clearly filtered through the eyes of Harry;
Hinkle; it is clearly Hinkle's story.
In Buddy Buddy Wilder also violates his third rule,
i
about maintaining the pace. On One. Two. Three Wilderj
pushed his concept of pace as far as it could go. There;
the pace never let up for the entire film. Later, he felt^
that maybe some of the problem with the film was that!
|
there were no quiet moments, never a place to give the
audience a chance to catch its breath.2 On Buddy Buddy
perhaps he was too aware of this problem; the pace is
i
\ |
| 207 !
i
generally good, but the film slows down in the second
half. I would call the film deliberately paced, rather
than fast. When Trabucco first brings out the tripod,
Wilder told Matthau, "Not too fast. We need to allow the
film to build— this is not the middle of the action." For
a script that was only 103 pages to begin with, perhaps
i
the pace is a little slow in spots for a film that is only!
i
96 minutes long (including the elimination of much of the1
i
sex clinic sequence). Several weeks into the shooting;
i
; Wilder estimated the final film at one hour and fifty!
i
I
minutes despite the length of the script. He explained,i
i "but there is a lot of action, and I intend to linger on'
the palm trees in Hawaii for several hours." Although the!
pace is good, I think that Wilder was calculating the film!
i
to have a slow build. !
i
Maybe Wilder was over-estimating the humor, and j
i
allowed the pace to slow down in the third act. He said of!
i
the sequence where they pick up Gambola at the meat
packing plant, "This is important because it will give the
I
audience a chance to catch its breath." The injection
sequence is funny, but there the pacing was also
deliberate with pauses left in to give the audience time
to laugh. In shooting the sequence in which Paula I
Prentiss runs into Lemmon's room, Wilder said, "A basic|
i
rule of French farce is to keep the door open." This:
I
i
208
third act is quite funny, but partly because of the
deliberate pacing, it does not have the frantic,
hysterical quality that was intended. In directing the
sequence Wilder had stated, "We want to slow down the
action for the laughs." Again, there is a conflict
between the humor and the drama of the situation. The
unexpected entrances of Kinski and Prentiss are the|
staples of true farce, but the pace slows down at the end
i
as Lemmon confronts Prentiss with her shortcomings. The
i
attempts to revive Matthau are again quite funny. Wilder,
1
i described the mechanism of the farce in the following way,j
i
> |
"Getting crazier and crazier . . . the situation)
t
snowballs— which is very important— and give them a brief1
| respite with the meat packing sequence." Again, just as
the farce begins to build again in the third act, theseJ
respites puncture the clockwork pace. Then, the final|
t
sequence (Lemmon's decision to pull off the job) is again
filmed dramatically, largely in long takes that arej
I
deliberately paced to allow the character transformation!
i
i
to be believable. The third act is an improvement on the
second, but the pace is broken too many times for the
audience to be fully involved in the hysteria.
Some critics might call Wilder's approach to editing
old-fashioned, a criticism that is not entirely fair.
Instead, I think the proper term would be classical, j
209
Wilder feels that the editing should never be intrusive, j
The cut is rarely used to surprise the audience. There is j
no flashy cutting of the image to the beat of the music as !
though the film were a Coke commercial. Nor does the film
stop to insert several music videos as a way to sell the
film. For Wilder, the story should evolve naturally in
front of the audience. Techniques will come in and out of
i
fashion, but Wilder says, "Being a man of certain
convictions, I cannot suddenly change my style to do the
i
'now' picture."22 He notes that:
. . . at one time everyone thought !
what we call the cinema of mama and I
papa was dead. Then along came Sound
Of Music and Dr. Zhivago. Before
Zhivago the dissolve had almost ,
disappeared from movies. And then
David Lean started dissolving
endlessly from snow to daffodils, and
it was new to the audience.
i
i
From the sixties onwards when technique became more '
obtrusive in films, Wilder stood by his classical approachi
I
of invisible editing. There are no obtrusive cuts in The j
Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes. largely shot in long |
I
takes. Wilder's approach to editing is beautifully!
understated, and here he is working at the top of his
form. The invisible editing allows the audience to enter j
the story.
There are places in Buddy Buddy where a lack of
reaction shots possibly deflates the potential humor in a
I
210 i
sequence. Perhaps the sequence of Matthau at the exterior
of the sex clinic would have been funnier if we had a cut
away to Matthau in the car screeching away in reverse; or
on Captain Hubris's line, "That must be some pro up
there," a quick cut to Lemmon smiling would have created
laughs. Again, though, it is clear that in Wilder's mind
even laughs must be subservient to the story. The one
important thing to Wilder is that the story as a whole'
' I
play, not the individual jokes. I
Wilder trusts in the audience's ability to scan the
frame and discover the humor within, rather than overtly(
directing the sequence through the editing to show the;
audience what is funny. Frank Capra made a career out of j
!
j the reaction shot, but Wilder seems to feel that
►
naturalism is the answer. Part of the reason that much j
l
of contemporary comedy seems so sloppy, particularly the j
work of John Landis (Coming To America and Trading;
i
Places) , is that Landis does not have the same degree of
craft, the ability to stage a sequence naturally.
Performances are often created in the editing room. As a
result, many of his films and the work of other young
i
1
comedy directors have a choppy quality. Although]
audiences may laugh, I think that the sloppiness prevents j
the audience from fully entering the story. They may !
I
i
laugh at the characters, but they may not be laughing with j
i
211
I I
the characters and story as is intended. Roxanne. which
is a touching film in many ways, has some of these lapses
in its second half. Part of the beauty of Moonstruck is
the flawless, naturalistic technique that allows the
audience to enter the world of the film. The new Disney
studio has had tremendous commercial success with their
recent slate of comedies, but again its approach is the
i joke is everything. In comedies such as Ruthless People
and Down And Out In Beverly Hills. the audience is {
encouraged to feel superior to the characters and laugh at J
them. Even Paul Mazursky, whose earlier work has a
naturalistic quality, uses editing in Down And Out In i
Beverlv Hills to create cheap laughs at the expense of the j
story. He shamelessly cuts to dogs for reaction shots,i
f
and the overall film, although funny, keeps the audience!
i
alienated from the character and story. Wilder's approach!
to editing is sound. Trust in your story, and do not I
allow the editing to intrude.
212
NOTES
1 Tom Wood, The Bright Side Of Billv Wilder.
Primarily (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1970) 26.
2 Charles Champlin, "Wilder Still Working Without A
Net," Los Anaeles Times 14 July 1974, "Calendar": 1.
3 Lowell E. Redelings, "The Hollywood Scene,"
Hollywood Citizen News 11 Dec. 1945: 8.
4 Harry Tessel, "Billy Wilder— Sizzling and Salty at |
70: Hollywood Notes," Independent Press Telegram 29 April !
1977: 15.
5 Don Widener, Lemmon: A Biography (New York:
Macmillan, 1975) 173-4.
6 Axel Madsen, Billv Wilder (London: Indiana UP, j
1969) 151. |
7 Billy Wilder, "One Head Is Better Than Two," Films
and Filming Feb. 1957: 7.
8 Richard Lemon, "The Message in Billy Wilder's
Fortune Cookie," The Saturday Evening Post 17 Dec. 1966:
37.
1 8 Widener 173-4.
! 10 "Dialogue on Film: Billy Wilder and I.A.L. j
Diamond," American Film July-Aug. 1976: 40.
i
11 Joseph McBride, "In The Picture: The Front Page." j
Sight and Sound Autumn 1974: 212. ;
!
12 Wood 42. I
13 William Froug, "Interview with I.A.L. Diamond,"
Screenwriter Looks at the Screenwriter (New York:
Macmillan, 1972) 161.
14 Wilder, "One Head," 7. ,
15 Thomas Thompson, "Wilder's Dirty-Joke Film Stirs ■
A Furor," Life 15 Jan 1965: 52. I
16 !
t ±b Froug 157. j
William Touchy, "Wilder in Italy: Order Among The
Extroverts," Los Angeles Times 3 0 April 1972, "Calendar":
21.
1 8
Mary Blume, "'Fedora': Walking On The Wilder
Side," Los Angeles Times 2 Oct. 1977, "Calendar": 39.
19 Champlin 78.
20 "Putting Life Into A Movie," Life 19 Feb. 1951:
57-62. j
21 Froug 164-5.
22 Vanessa Brown, "Billy Wilder: Broadcast to Kuala
Lumpur," Action Nov.-Dec. 1970: 18. I
23 Mark Shivas, "Wilder— 'Yes, We Have No Naked
Girls,'" New York Times 12 Oct. 1969, sec 4: 15. i
! 214
CHAPTER VIII I
I
SOUND AND MUSIC
I
A criticism that some auteurist critics like David
Thomson have leveled at Billy Wilder as a director is his
over-emphasis on dialogue, perhaps at the expense of other
film elements.1 This criticism, I think, is anj
| exaggerated one, particularly if one examines the j
t i
complexity of his camera movement. However, if one;
I |
! examines his use of sound, particularly on Buddy Buddy.[
| !
' the criticism has some justification. The most important■
! aspect of production sound for Billy Wilder is the
i . . . i
1 dialogue. Because he is so word-conscious, he always J
I
I 1
j insists that the recording of the dialogue be sharp and ;
clean. |
I
i
Wilder does not use sound realistically, although he j
is concerned about the proper recording of wild sound j
effects. When the sound of Ronson cans dropping to the j
i
floor (as Trabucco chases Clooney into the bathroom) was 1
recorded on the set, Wilder found the real sound to be not
what he wanted; he had the prop man get two empty Ronson
cans which would make a tinnier sound, one that could be
l
laid in later over the original recording. Don Sharpless,
the sound recordist, said of Wilder, "Billy is big on
l
wild, tracking sound." He would always direct Don to picki
I
215
up wild effects, particularly those that would be used
later to help create either the drama or humor of a scene:
for example, a wild effect of a 10K light switch being
i
turned on (to be used as the switch for the heater that |
Victor Clooney uses to burn off his bindings) or the sound !
of the laundry dryers in the laundry room.
Part of the reason that Wilder favors the studio set >
! over actual locations is the ability to control the sound, |
I
particularly the recording of the dialogue; shooting j
! process shots of car interiors creates real problems for I
j |
the cameraman and art director, but it is a tremendous |
t
advantage to the sound recordist. Don Sharpless admitted ;
that it was unusual to shoot process, but added, "Yes— but j
it's better for sound. Billy and Izzy want the sound ,
!
! so . . . sterile. It's funny, you work with Scorsese or j
Cimino and the dirtier and raunchier the sound the J
better." j
i
Because the script and dialogue in a Billy Wilder
film is so important, Wilder is not always an advocate of
realistic sound, particularly in comedy. His tracks are J
not packed with off-screen effects, just enough to give a !
hint of reality to the set. In The Apartment we do not j
have off-screen traffic and street noise intruding on Jack ;
i
Lemmon's apartment as we would if we were in a real ’
| :
apartment on Manhattan's West Side. In the opening j
216
sequence where we see Lemmon walking down his street,
there are no off-screen traffic effects, just the sound of
his shoes clicking on the sidewalk. Later in the film
when Dr. Dreyfuss tells Baxter to open the windows to give
Miss Kubelik some air, only a single car honk wafts in the
window in the following sequence. Again, Wilder seems to
care the most about the audience's ability to hear the j
i
dialogue, sharply and cleanly; fully creating the ambiance
of his setting through sound effects is secondary. Also,
because Wilder uses music as such an important element in i
j
his films to comment on situations and characters, he is !
willing to sacrifice the reality of the off-screen sounds. |
However, this is not to suggest that Wilder is i
unaware of the power of sound to work on his audience
subliminally. In the office sequences in The Apartment j
the sound is used realistically to reinforce the ;
temptation of C.C. Baxter and his desire to rise to the
top. In many of the early sequences, sound is used
brilliantly to define the different strata within the
working environment. C. C. Baxter is the proletarian
I
I
accountant, having to share a room with literally hundreds |
|
of others. He is constantly surrounded by the sounds of |
adding machines and electric typewriters. Here, the sound '
,
and the rows of desks that recede endlessly into the
I
background help to create the insignificance of the lowly
217
I
accountant within the working environment. His day is
regimented. The work day begins and ends with the
clanging of a bell. When Baxter is forced to call Messrs.
Kirkeby, Dobisch, and Vanderhof on the telephone to i
i
rearrange his appointment calendar, the audience|
immediately senses the difference between a worker and an
l officer in the company. C.C. Baxter has no privacy, and;
I j
the intrusion of the office sounds of his co-workers is !
i
almost humiliating, particularly as he tries to arrange j
j the very private affairs of his superiors amidst the din
1 i
of hundreds of electric machines.
In contrast, Messrs. Kirkeby, Dobisch, and Vanderhof
each have private offices. Even though we can see through
the glass of their offices to the workers outside on the
j main floor, the outside sound never intrudes into their j
offices. The workers are, in effect, just soundlessJ
i
automatons, going about their work. Here, the absence of 1
sound in their offices reinforces the office hierarchy, i
A promotion assures a better office off the main floor •
i
where the sound of fellow workers does not intrude unless
the door is open. As Wilder intercuts between the j
incessant noise surrounding Baxter to the quiet offices of
his superiors, Baxter is the inferior with every cut.
i Then, when Baxter ascends to the twenty-seventh floor to j
I !
i j
see Mr. Sheldrake, he experiences an even higher level, j
I
218 j
aurally. Here, the offices have a street view, but
because of the height no street ambiance seeps in. The
soft carpeting makes the rooms even more soundless, and
the offices are even more private because the secretary's ;
office further separates the officer from the floor.
Here, when other characters come in the door, the sound of
i the outside does not intrude. Here, the rise to the top is
i j
not just financial, but an ability to escape the sound and i
intrusion of fellow workers. ,
I
I think one criticism that could be made of Buddy
Buddy is that there is not the same creativity applied to;
I
the sound design. In Buddy Buddy the world outside the j
»
hotel rooms should represent danger, particularly to the
Trabucco character. Through use of street noise off-
I
; screen Wilder could make the presence of the police more '
!
threatening, thus increasing the fear of discovery on the |
i
part of both Trabucco and the audience. Early in the film |
i
the bellhop points out the window and says, "A lot of I
commotion down there today," but we never get that feelingj
because there are no effects of either the police or the ]
supposed crowds below. In the latter sequence of Clooney
i
on the ledge, wild effects are used only minimally, an
occasional car honk, but again the presence of the police
is not created aurally. Sound could have made Trabucco's
!
comic attempts to get Clooney back inside even funnier, j
219
Instead, lack of street ambiance hurts the sequence I
Although we may not be able to see the police or the J
crowds, their presence should be felt on the sound track. I
In L'Emmerdeur in the parallel sequence the sound is fully ;
l
exploited. Edouard Molinaro reminds the audience that an j
entire city is literally below Jacques Brel as he dangles j
l
precariously from the ledge. I think that Wilder was I
j right in not going for absolute realism, but the addition |
i ;
i of more off-screen sounds to create the danger and define
j the "outside" world would greatly add to the humor of the
situation. Then, when Matthau finally entices Lemmon back I
i
inside and closes the windows and blinds, the audience |
would experience a subliminal sense of relief as again the j
street sounds and their inherent danger disappear. ;
Instead, the loudest off-screen effects (a police siren:
and cars) appear after Lemmon is safely back inside (and
the blinds have been closed) instead of on the ledge where i
they are necessary to give a sense of reality to a
sequence shot on a sound stage. Wilder seemed to be
saving these effects for the final act.
i
The other area of sound that Wilder exploits
brilliantly in his best films is music, not just the score
by the composer, but also the realistic use of music,
coming from practical on-screen sources. Wilder has
; always been a music fan, particularly of jazz. When he
i
! 220
was a reporter in Vienna, he served as a guide for one of
J his favorite jazz musicians, Paul Whiteman, when he and
J his band were visiting Berlin.2 A member of the band was
| Matty Malneck, composer of the songs, "I'm Through With
Love" (one of Wilder's favorites) and "Stairway To The
Stars," both used in Some Like It Hot. Malneck was song
supervisor on this fil» and acknowledged that Wilder-s !
, knowledge of hit songs of the 1920s and 1930s is,
staggering.3 Wilder often uses a classic song to define I
the emotions of his lovers. In Double Indemnity the;
romantic "Tangerine" wafts in the windows as ironic j
I . :
j commentary as the lovers prepare to kill each other, or m
! Love In The Afternoon the beautiful "Fascination" theme
!
song creates the opposite mood, defining the incipienti
i
i
love that is budding between Ariane and Frank as they j
| * i , I
j dance. In Buddy Buddy Wilder uses the old standard, j
i i
! "Cecilia," to define Victor Clooney's love for his wife,|
I I
i
Celia, the near name-sake of the woman in the song. As j
i
Lemmon drives to Riverside, he plays the song on his tape-
recorder and sings along with it. Then, in the hotel room J
he listens to the song one last time as he prepares for
suicide. Then, later, when he actually thinks Celia has
had a change of heart and will give him an audience, he '
sings the song to himself in the bathroom as he spruces ;
up, and also in the car with Trabucco he hums bars of it i
i
221 |
in between breaks in the dialogue. Even on the set Wilder j
hums these songs as a subliminal way of creating mood. I
In his best films sound is approached orchestrally,
with the musical score used as a commentary on the
individual characters. On both Some Like It Hot and The
Apartment he collaborated with composer and arranger |
i
I |
| Adolph Deutsch, a former member of the Arthur Freed unit
at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, responsible for the scoring of {
some of the greatest American musicals, among them The
I
Bandwagon by Vincente Minnelli and Seven Brides For Seven
Brothers and Funny Face by Stanley Donen. Wilder uses
music throughout as much as eighty per cent of his films.
Perhaps the film that most clearly demonstrates
Wilder's brilliant use of music is The Apartment. Here,
i
Adolph Deutsch has composed one of Wilder's best scores,
not to mention the "Theme From The Apartment." a beautiful
bittersweet song that is at once romantic and at the same
time tawdry. Throughout the film Wilder and Deutsch have |
carefully designed the music as a thematic score. There;
i
i
are five different themes, all used in different ways. At ]
the opening of the film, C.C. Baxter's monologue is i
underscored by the first major theme: the business theme.
Here, the use of the brass and percussion instruments and
the tune reinforce the humdrum but frantic, Darwinian
• i
nature of the business world and the desire to rise to the 1
222 I
top. Whenever C.C. Baxter is tempted by the)
Mephistophelean riches of an office upstairs, this theme
is used as an ironic commentary. As he races up to Mr.
Sheldrake's office, this theme accompanies him; however,
there is another motif associated with Bud which is really
closer to his true nature; this is the haunting woodwind
theme that accompanies him as he walks alone down his
street, and cleans up the mess that his superiors have .
I
left in his apartment. This theme shows the essentially
I
good side of C.C. Baxter, but at every turn reinforces his
l
loneliness; this theme creates tremendous sympathy fori
C.C., particularly when it accompanies images of him
i
j alone, such as when Miss Kubelik stands him up, leaving !
j 1
him alone in front of the theatre; or when he sleeps j
* j
outside on the empty park bench. j
i
A third theme, a Latin dance rhythm, drifts down from|
Lemmon's apartment as Lemmon walks up his street at the!
opening. This theme is played whenever his superiors j
intrude onto his apartment, and represents the revelry Budj
i can never be fully a part of. The theme is also used when|
he picks up the woman in the bar and brings her back to i
the apartment; here, ironically, Bud momentarily
experiences the swinging lifestyle, only to discoveri
}
moments later the comatose body of Miss Kubelik. \
223
The fourth theme is the bittersweet "Theme From The
Apartment." first established in the Rickshaw Club when
Miss Kubelik enters. The piano player suddenly stops what
he is playing and breaks into this theme, which is
associated with Shirley MacLaine particularly in
relationship to her tawdry affair with Mr. Sheldrake.
However, later in the film, as C.C. Baxter watches over
her and begins to subliminally work on her affections, the j
theme is used to show Lemmon replacing Mr. Sheldrake as ,
!
her true love interest. A fifth theme, rather I
j
melodramatic in style, is associated with Mr. Sheldrake's ;
|
predatory nature. It is used when he talks Miss Kubelik
into resuming their affair, when he gives Fran the
i
insensitive Christmas present, when he fires his,
<
secretary, and most importantly when Fran attempts suicide j
after she realizes his true nature. Throughout the film |
i
these five themes (used in both major and minor keys and [
I
t
played with various instruments) mirror the emotional 1
changes of the main characters. \
Some Like It Hot also uses music ingeniously as |
I
i
character commentary. In many ways Some Like It Hot is j
I
actually a musical with Marilyn Monroe, the singer in the
t
band for Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopators, singing on j
\
screen three different numbers, "Running Wild" (performed !
on the ukulele on the train) , and "I Want To Be Loved By 1
You" and "I'm Through With Love" (performed with the band j
in the ballroom at the Seminole-Ritz Hotel) . In each
sequence the songs are not throw-aways; they have been
carefully selected, designed, and shot to reflect Marilyn
Monroe's emotional state at that point in the film.
"Running Wild" is a reflection of her split nature, her
desire for love, but also her attempt to run away from it.
■ The song is also a commentary on Curtis' and Lemmon's ;
i i
predicament, running away from the gangsters. It is a :
!
wild, uninhibited song that reflects Sugar's state before
J she falls in love. The second number, "I Want To Be Loved i
I By You," she sings just after she has met Shell, Jr. on ;
i
I i
i the beach and is really a paean of love for this man that ;
I I
she has just met. The fact that Shell, Jr., actually Joe, ;
| is playing beside her in the band makes the song even more 1
i f
t i
i touching. As she croons the lyrics, "I want to be kissed!
by you, nobody else but you, alone," she is already
i
looking forward to the evening she will spend on the yacht !
i
with Shell, Jr. The third song, "I'm Through With Love," ;
i
reflects Sugar at her most despondent; she sings it at the ,
end just after Shell, Jr. has rejected her. As she sings
!
the final bars, she bows her head and cries; Sugar is not |
merely acting here; the song reflects her "true" feelings |
at this moment; just then Joe, in drag, races over and '
I
I
kisses her revealing his "true" identity. As she '
i
I
I
I 225
recognizes that Josephine is really Shell, Jr., the chords
from the practical, romantic theme on the yacht play.
Throughout Wilder and Adolph Deutsch ingeniously
interweave other musical numbers to comment on the action.
A jazzy chase theme, complete with saxophone and fiddle,
is introduced right after Joe and Jerry escape from the
i
garage and the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. This theme j
I
is used throughout the film when they are being chased by j
!
the gangsters (particularly throughout the hotel). Three
other songs are also used; there is the famous Argentinean
1 tango, "La Cumparsita", introduced when Joe E. Brown and |
! i
Lemmon go dancing; in fact, it is the same tango that j
William Holden and Gloria Swanson dance to on New Year's !
i
| Eve in Sunset Boulevard. As the hotel bus pulls up in
! front of the Seminole-Ritz Hotel, a chorus of female
voices sings, "Down among the sheltering palms, a honey :
I
waits for me." Again, this theme presages the budding1
love between Sugar and Joe and ironically the one between
Daphne and Fielding. Incidentally, both couples meet in |
the same way, the woman tripping as she passes her j
i
intended to be. A similar tune "By The Sea," again
i
introduced by a female chorus as Lemmon, Sugar and the j
other women cavort in the water outside the hotel, also j
comments on the budding romances ("By the sea, by the sea, !
by the beautiful sea/ You and me, you and me, oh, how :
happy we'll be."). These three different themes are
I
I
interwoven instrumentally in a single sequence, the
beginning of the two dates. As Curtis dresses, an
instrumental version of "By The Sea" comments on his
desires. As he climbs out on the roof, an instrumental
version of "Down Among The Sheltering Palms" plays. On
the instrumental bars of "My darling waits for me," Monroe
runs down the stairs of the hotel. As Curtis rides on his
bike past Lemmon and Joe E. Brown, the tango score is
! introduced; then, as both Curtis and Monroe cross paths.
i
| (unseen) as they race for the dock, Deutsch intercuts bars
j from "I Want To Be Loved By You," (Monroe's theme) and
I
j "Down Among The Sheltering Palms" (Curtis' theme).
) On the yacht Malneck's romantic "Stairway To The
j . ;
i Stars" is introduced as Marilyn turns on the radio (a 1
i practical) and dims the lights in an attempt to seduce the;
"impotent" Joe. This becomes the romantic theme for the •
i
love between Monroe and Shell, Jr., and it is used as a :
i :
counterpoint of the more "ironic" and humorous tango score
as Wilder swish pans between the two different sets of j
lovers. At the very end of the film, the famous sequence j
| in the motorboat, the "romantic" theme accompanies Joe's
confession, and then the tango theme is used throughout j
Jerry's confession with "The End" coming up humorously
for emphasis on the final beats of "La Cumparsita." i
i I
i
227
In The Fortune Cookie Wilder combines a partly
naturalistic use of sound with a complex musical score.
Again, in the sets of the apartment and the law offices,
and even the hospital room, there is virtually no
intrusion of exterior, off-screen sounds. However, when
realism is called for, particularly in the opening
sequence in the football stadium, Wilder insisted on i
absolute realism; the sound was recorded during an actual !
football game between the Browns and the Vikings with a ,
1
real football announcer providing the play by play. For i
Wilder, the believability of the premise hinges on the ;
reality of the accident staged both visually and aurally
in front of a real Cleveland crowd. Here, crowd sounds, '
the marching band, and the directions of the cutter
j
(director) in the directing booth and the announcer are '
all absolutely realistic; the final sequence in the
silence of Memorial Stadium at night has the off-screen
honks of traffic on the passing freeway. However, once
Wilder returned to Hollywood to film the bulk of the
I
action on a sound stage, realistic sound was no longer!
i
i
called for m his mind. Again, he called on a talented j
I
composer, Andre Previn, to score the film. j
Previn's score is particularly effective because it !
j
creates aurally the central conflict of Harry Hinkle, the
accident-prone cameraman. Here, a basic theme is given to
j
228
each of the three forces that vie for Harry's sympathy and
. attention: Willie Gingrich, his shyster lawyer and
' brother-in-law, Sandy, his gold-digging ex-wife, and Boom
i
Boom Jackson, his evolving friend. In "Sequence Two: The
, Brother-In-Law" Willie's theme is introduced. It is a
comical theme that establishes Willie's conniving and wily
!
nature. This theme is used throughout the film, often as
an emphasis to Willie's punch-lines that end a sequence,
and it is also used with Purkey and his partner, the duo
that are trying to catch Willie in the act. "Sequence 3:
The Caper" introduces Boom Boom's theme, a melancholic
solo horn, as Boom Boom, plagued with guilt, enters the
, hospital with flowers for Harry. As if to show the two
forces tugging at Harry, during his eye examination
Wilder cuts between Willie's theme and Boom Boom's theme
as the two of them look on. Moments earlier he had
introduced the third motif, the ironic, romantic score
associated with the ex-wife when she calls on the
telephone. Throughout the film these three themes are
used to highlight the emotions that play on Harry, for
appropriately enough, he does not have a theme song of his
own. For most of the film, he adopts the score associated
with his wife; that is, until the end, when he and Boom
Boom meet on the field as Boom Boom's melancholic score
plays in the background. However, at the very end Harry
229
and Boom Boom, now friends again, toss the football to the
more upbeat "march" score that opened the film, and that
Boom Boom was singing in Lemmon's hospital room, only to
| have Lemmon cut him off. That sequence ends with Lemmon
speeding through the corridor singing the fight song, but
I
. ironically it is because Sandy is returning, not because
of the sacrifices that his new friend is making for him.
Throughout Wilder also uses music to heighten his
comedy. "The Battle Hymn Of The Republic" plays at the
opening of "Sequence 5: The Chinese Lunch" as the famous
speech of Abraham Lincoln follows, working on Harry's
guilt over the scam he and his brother-in-law are trying
to pull off. The sequence ends with Harry opening a
. fortune cookie with Lincoln's very message inside ("You
can fool all of the people some of the time . . .") as
; again the "Battle Hymn" plays ironically on the score.
Undercutting the patriotic score, Willie gets in the last
word; he turns into the camera and says, "Those Chinese!
What do they know."
Another humorous use of music is Willie's triumphant
humming of the overture from the comic opera "The Barber
Of Seville" as he cleans up his messy office waiting for
the Thompson, Kincaid, and O'Brien lawyers to come down to
offer a settlement; then, when he arrives at Harry's he is
again singing the song as he gloats as he climbs the
230
stairs; and then, finally, he does a triumphant dance as
he hums the tune in Harry's living room; that is, just
before Harry slugs Purkey, ruining his scam. Use of this
music was planned in the script, a common practice of !
I
Wilder. j
Another song, "You'd be So Nice To Come Home To," is J
also introduced from a practical source in Harry's !
apartment as he plays his ex-wife Sandy's record for his
new friend, Boom Boom. This song is often used in the
i t
i
I
I score as an ironic comment on Sandy's true nature.
Ecstatically, Harry dances in his wheelchair to the song
as he anticipates Sandy's arrival. Meanwhile, the .
audience learns of Sandy's true nature on the ride back to I
i
the airport in Boom Boom's convertible. Interestingly, j
i
here there are no realistic sounds emerging from the j
I
freeway; the only sound is their dialogue, in which Sandy j
reveals her cynical side as an instrumental version of ]
t
"You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To" ironically plays on the J
|
track. When she arrives at Harry's apartment, she
i
announces that it would be nice to have a fire in the fake
fireplace (a reference to the line in her song, "It'd be
i
so nice to be by the fire with you") . Boom Boom, unlike j
Harry, is repulsed by her act. As he retreats to the !
kitchen to have a drink, his melancholic theme replaces j
I
"You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To." 1
In comparison, the music design in Buddy Buddy does
not show this same attention to detail. Lalo Schifrin's
score is actually the second written for the film. After
a negative sneak preview of the film in San Francisco in
the summer of 1981, Lalo Schifrin was called in to write a
new score. Perhaps the time constraints were partially
responsible for this rather thin score. The film opens on
a static shot of palm trees as credits roll to the opening
strains of Schifrin's jazz score. Unfortunately, the
opening motif seems to be a thin imitation of Henry
Mancini's Pink Panther score. Throughout the film there
are three primary themes, the Pink Pantherish score that
is associated with Matthau, particularly after he has
successfully pulled off one of his hits, and the second, a
suspense theme, that is played as he is attempting to set
up his rifle or when he tries to kill Lemmon behind the
rock. Here, the music is sparse and has the T.V.
qualities more associated with Schifrin's television
scores (the themes to Mission Impossible and Starsky and
Hutch) than his more outstanding film work, particularly
for Don Siegel on Dirty Harry. The Beguiled and Charley
Varrick. Certainly the weakest section of Buddy Buddy.
the sex clinic excursion, is made even worse by the third
theme, a dated imitation of Ravi Shankar.
232
Even Wilder's choice of the popular song "Cecilia,"
usually his forte, brings only disappointing results in
defining the love between Victor Clooney and Celia. In
Wilder's best films the choice of the theme music is
exceptional. In many ways these songs effectively define j
i
the budding love between the characters. The romance j
between Joe and Sugar is enhanced by the romantic song, j
"Stairway To The Stars," that plays on the radio on the !
i
yacht. In Avanti the Italian song, "Senza Fine," is j
particularly effective in establishing the incipient love
between Wendell Arbuster Jr. (Jack Lemmon) and Pamela
]
Piggett (Juliet Mills). As Wendell is an incurable ;
American snob, the music slowly works on him j
I
subliminally, just as it enchants the audience and creates |
(
the charm of this country that Wendell attempts, j
unsuccessfully, to overlook. The more open, Miss Piggett,
is charmed from the very beginning. Their nude swim to
the rocks is subliminally prepared for when Wendell
returns to the hotel after his encounter with the body
snatchers. It is dawn and as he attempts to return to his
i
i
room, he is captured by the strains of "Senza Fine" coming 1
!
from the terrace. He follows the music outside, and there
. he finds Pamela singing the song with the band. She has
stayed up all night. As the music continues, she insists
!
that they continue their "date" as if it had never been ’
! I
233
interrupted. Incidentally, "Senza Fine" was playing in
the background when Wendell rudely left her at the table
the night before.
Similarly, Milos Rozsa's melancholic theme adapted
from his "Violin Concerto" for The Private Life Of
Sherlock Holmes is among the most touching pieces of music
in a Wilder film. In fact, Wilder wrote the script around
the pre-existing music, using the different movements to
underscore Holmes' addiction, the spy, and the Loch Ness
Monster.5 The heartbreaking good-bye of Sherlock Holmes
and Mrs. Ashcroft as the violin score plays is among
I
j Wilder's most bittersweet, but tender moments. The music
I is used similarly at the end of Double Indemnity when the
ironic "Tangerine" drifts in the window as the lovers
prepare to kill each other. The romantic practical is
almost too much; the forlorn MacMurray rises to close the
I
window, saying, "I don't like it anymore."
The playing of "Cecilia" on a practical is typical of
Wilder. But here the romanticism inherent in an old pop
standard does not have the same power as "Tangerine" did
in the other film. Part of the reason is its introduction
on the tape recorder as Victor Clooney drives to
Riverside. The fact that he puts his tape into a tape-
recorder in his bag rather than a tape player seems
unnatural. Later, as he plays the song on his tape
234
recorder as he prepares for suicide, the song itself is
not moving. Part of the reason is the use of the
! practical. Here, sound is being used too realistically.
, There is a tinny quality to the recording as it comes from
the tiny tape recorder. Here, perhaps the sound quality
comments on the deteriorating quality of the relationship,
but if so, it is not effective. As the song ends, Wilder
cuts to an uncharacteristic insert of the heads of the
tape recorder snapping to a stop, signaling not only the
end of the song, but also the end of Victor Clooney's
life. However, I think, that beginning with the practical
i and perhaps adding some scoring would have created more
sympathy for Victor Clooney and also helped to establish
his deep feelings for Celia. Since we have barely been
introduced to Victor Clooney, it is difficult to have
sympathy for him yet. In The Apartment we feel tremendous
sympathy for Miss Kubelik as she discovers the sleeping
pills as "The Theme From The Apartment" plays in the
; background. But again, we have had half the film to get
to know her and sympathize with her plight. The sound
throughout Victor Clooney's suicide attempt is very thin;
the only exterior sound comes from a solitary car horn
outside leading him to shut the window. As he finds the
rope and ties it to the shower, the tinny sound of the
song "Cecilia" does not enhance either humor or character
235
sympathy. We are painfully aware of the sparseness of the i
l
sound here. [
Throughout, sound is an important part of the concept
of the film. Off-screen sounds of Victor Clooney are used
j to distract Trabucco from his intended mission, the
murder. Also, the running gag is the assembling of the :
gun, which is always interrupted by his pesky neighbor, j
I Throughout, Wilder insisted on careful recording of the!
! i
: snaps of the suitcase being opened, and the tripod and the |
: j
[ parts of the gun being assembled. They were important to 1
I
the humor. But again, the approach to sound, particularly j
the off-screen sounds, seems more perfunctory than;
I
effective.
A key example is the use of the sound of the
champagne bottle being opened, which had been such an j
effective device in The Apartment. Here, it is effective,
!
in that it is one of the loudest distractions for
Trabucco. However, the gimmick does not have the same ,
i
emotional power although it could have. In The Apartment
Shirley MacLaine races up the stairs, jubilantly, until
the sound stops her dead in her tracks. She thinks it is !
I
a gun and that Mr. Baxter has committed suicide. The same
I
thought occurs to Trabucco, but the scene is played in a:
!
much more non-chalant way by Matthau, even though
Clooney's suicide in the next room would have been equally >
i
I
J !
I 236 |
! catastrophic. When he races into the room, he does not’
I seem startled the way that MacLaine does in The Apartment.;
I i
Throughout Buddy Buddy the limited sound design-
!
contributes to the thinness of the humor. We never havej
i
j the danger of the outside fully defined for us,,
i <
j particularly by the sound. True, an occasional police
siren is heard, but it is always alone and usually sounds
!
like the same one. Wilder seemed to be saving the loudest
off-screen effects for the final act so they slowly build!
throughout the film. However, in the sequence where they
are most needed, when Lemmon is on the ledge, they are
t
I
j barely noticeable. The times that a siren emerges in the
film, the suspense theme rises supplanting the effect (as
Matthau assembles or disassembles his gun). Although the
effects are there, they are not maximized.
Finally, the score is in places more alienating than
’ it is effective. Early in the film it operates like a
laugh track that tells the audience when to laugh. The
wah-wah pedal is used like a laugh track to highlight the
murders of the first two witnesses. Unfortunately, the
! action in both cases is not that funny so the musical cues
| may alienate some viewers. Again, the biggest trouble'
i
' spot in the film, both in terms of story and music, is
I the sex clinic. A better score could have helped to
l
create more sympathy for Lemmon, whose priggishness in the
film becomes alienating after awhile. Perhaps, as he!
i
wends his way through the library looking for Celia, and I
he and the audience discover her for the first time
simultaneously, better music would help the audience feel
I
for his plight. Instead, the imitation Ravi Shankar sitar|
i
score alienates the audience and further emphasizes the!
i
; datedness of the material in this section. Here, the |
, music only enhances the problems of this key section of
I
I
the film.
NOTES
1 David Thomson, "Billy Wilder" A Biographical
Dictionary Of Film (New York: William Morrow, 1976) 616.
2 Maurice Zolotow, Billv Wilder In Hollywood (New
York: Putnam's, 1977) 29-30.
| 3 Zolotow 35 + 294.
, 4 Zolotow 35.
| 5 Hy Hyberger, "Sounds In The Dark: Rozsai Rozsal,"
Tea With the Rozsas," Pt. 2, World Cinema 2 Feb. 1979:
1.
I ___
239
CHAPTER IX
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Although Buddy Buddy is not one of Billy Wilder's
best comedies, this study is significant because it is
based on firsthand observation of Wilder over the entire
three months of the film's production; it provides new j
|
insights into his complex working methods, his techniques, j
i I
I and style, which have remained consistent over his career.
In the late fifties because of the development of the i
auteur theory, Wilder's reputation as a director became :
tarnished. Because he represented the establishment to j
auteur critics like Andrew Sarris and Francois Truffaut, J
his films were attacked. He was looked upon as primarily !
a writer, whose films lacked visual style. However, these ,
i
critics failed to notice the thematic consistency to his
work. This study shows that Buddy Buddy is an outgrowth
of his earlier films, particularly Some Like It Hot. The !
Apartment. and The Fortune Cookie in terms of character,
situation, and construction. The buddy theme that is the ;
locus of humor in this final film is a pervasive theme !
throughout his career. He had been overlooked by the
auteurists largely because his technique was invisible. j
In Wilder's mind the camera can be a dangerous tool.
It is easy for a novice film-maker to turn it loose and
| I
j call attention to himself, but it is difficult to use the
I
! 240
camera subtly. The movement and position for Wilder must I
I
be determined by the story and the actors' movements.
Wilder does not storyboard beforehand because he believes
that the blocking of a scene should determine camera
position, not the pre-conception of the director. Wilder
is concerned that the story evolve naturally in front of
j the audience so it can enter the story and participate,
j As a result, Wilder, in effect, edits his film within the
camera and often uses a choreographed camera to stage •
I
sequences in masters that another director might break ,
j
down into separate angles. Wilder knows intuitively when i
i
to allow the sequence to play and when to break xt down
into separate angles.
I
For Wilder all of the other production elements (the
actors, the sets, the editing, and the sound and music)
must also serve the plot and not distract. In the i
i
contemporary cinema with the pervasive influence of j
M.T.V., new directors attempt to impress with style alone.
However, a classical director like Wilder understands that
the purpose of style is to define content. The audience
may be momentarily impressed by flashy technique, but j
style alone cannot carry a movie. In Wilder's view
I
technique must lead the audience into the film rather than j
j
separate it from xt.
i
i
i I
(
241
The acting must be believable and natural. Rehearsal
must be painstaking; here is where performance must be
honed and polished, business must be created, and the
timing perfected. Use of sets can help the director to
control not only performance, but also the lighting, the
sound, and the look of the film. The sets must also help
both the audience and the actors to believe; the world of
I
| the film may be in fact artificial. but the art direction
must smooth out cuts between what is real and artificial.
i
!
The sound can further heighten the sense of reality of the
sets, and music can help to define the emotions and the
psychology of the characters. Finally, the editing must
not be intrusive; over-cutting can destroy a scene. In a
classic film all of the elements merge into a perfectly
unified whole, choreographed by the creator, the director.
Total audience identification can only be achieved
according to Wilder when all of the elements serve the
story. If one element stands out or distracts, the
illusion is broken.
Although Buddy Buddy was both a critical and
financial disappointment, it did not invalidate Billy
Wilder's theories about comedy directing and technique or
diminish his illustrious career as a comedy director; in
j fact, it validated most of his theories. Part of the
I reason for its artistic failure was that Wilder
242
inadvertently disobeyed many of the rules that he had
articulated over the years, particularly his cardinal
rule: never allow technique to become “visible" and break
the bond between the audience and the story it is
watching. In the case of Buddy Buddy the acting on the
part of minor characters, and the other film elements
(particularly the camera and the art direction) all become
j
either intrusive or distracting at times, thus causing the ;
audience to fall out of the story. 1
It really does not take much to go wrong to destroy a '
comedy. Wilder says, "... making comedies such as Some ;
t ;
| Like It Hot and One. Two. Three are such a headache. It's
i !
like juggling with a dozen oranges. You've only got to j
drop one and everything falls flat." 1 On the set of ;
i
j Buddy Buddy most of the crew felt they might be witnessing !
i i
I the creation of another masterpiece. Most scenes were !
i
funny, and the dailies seemed to confirm this. In fact, i
it was only parts of two of the twelve weeks of shooting |
I
t
that appeared flawed. Everyone felt that the rest of the J
film was very funny. When Wilder decided to reshoot the j
telephone conversation with Joan Shawlee, Jack Lemmon was
delighted because he didn't want any moment in the film to
be bad. He honestly felt that this film had a chance to
be another classic. I also expected the film to be good?
the sex clinic digression seemed like a minor segment of
I
I
I 243
the film. The first indications of problems came when I !
sent friends in San Francisco to see a sneak preview in j
the summer of 1981. Rather than confirming that Buddy j
Buddy was a very funny film, they reported that it was |
i
flat and slow. Then, when initial reviews of Buddy Buddy
surfaced in December, 1981, the omens were further<
: confirmed. Although the sparse audience laughed when I (
saw the film in its opening week-end, it was clear that'
| for the most part the negative reviews were accurate,
j Wilder admits that dramas "are easier. . . . Comedy
is dangerous and hard to make and regardless of its;
success, is forgotten easily. The bigger the theme, the j
easier it is to make . . . because the theme carries it."^i
, In the critical community and to a certain extent among
i
j the audience, there is a prejudice against the comedy,
j People feel that it is light entertainment, fluff. They
j like to laugh, but when it comes time for critical acclaim
1 or Academy Awards, the comedy is usually overlooked in,
j i
I place of the serious drama. This is ironic because in)
j fact the serious comedy is much more difficult to make. ]
The director must concentrate on both telling a story and
making the audience laugh. Also, he must remain objective'
at all times for his most difficult task is predicting the >
response of his future audience. Later he will not be
able to explain his intentions or say, "It was funny on""]
i
the set."
Comedy in many ways is like magic. The audience does
not want to know the tricks behind the illusion; they just
want to be spellbound. But as soon as the tricks fall
flat or become apparent so does the film. Surprisingly
enough, it is much more difficult to judge a comedy based
solely from the performance on the set or the dailies. !
"Nobody thought we were making a classic, not at all," [
says Wilder of Some Like It Hot. "It just turned out to j
i
be one of those lucky happenstances. The story had an ;
i
iron-clad construction, which any farce has to j
o . I
have . . . . In the comedy, bits that are funny on j
the set out of context may no longer be so when put into 1
context in the editing room. Lemmon dancing with the |
i
towel was a delightful piece of business on the set, but j
it did not have a tremendous impact in the final film.
Wilder has said that eighty per cent of a film is the
script, and the other twenty per cent is the execution.4
i
Although the script to Buddy Buddy seemed to be a good J
piece of material that would make a funny film in the j
capable hands of Billy Wilder, there were inherent j
i
!
problems that could not be fully seen until the film was j
cut together. As Wilder has moved from Some Like It Hot !
i
to Buddy Buddy. he has simplified his stories. In Buddy J
245
Buddy the story is for the most part a one-joke premise-;
that is repeated throughout. I think one of the problems !
with the final film is that the audience tires of this one I
i
joke, and there aren't the wonderful complications or the j
different levels of role playing that we see in both Some :
Like It Hot and The Apartment. In the earlier films the
i
audience is given superior knowledge. It knows more than j
the characters (about their role-playing, the deceptions
j
! and the complications) and as a result, it is forced to
j
; participate in the film. The superior knowledge and the
|
' complications keep the audience interested and involved in
the story.
The other key problem in the final film is the
I
question of audience sympathy. Ernest Lehman, Billy
Wilder's collaborator on the script to Sabrina. said in a j
i
class at U. S. C., "Without the element in a script of j
somebody to root for, you can forget the movie. That is, I
unless there is a character you are dying to see brought j
down." In Buddy Buddy Wilder does not give us time to !
I
become sympathetic with the Lemmon character. Before we j
have a chance to really get to know or understand Victor j
Clooney he is attempting suicide. There have been other J
!
; suicide attempts in other Wilder films, such as Sabrina 1
and The Apartment. but they come after the audience has
been charmed by the protagonists, Sabrina and Fran !
; l
I 246
Kubelik. Perhaps in Buddy Buddy Wilder and Diamond were
relying too much on the known personae of Matthau and J
Lemmon, "The Odd Couple," to charm the audience rather
than allowing their characters to do the work. The script j
was tailored for them, and the humor from the outset in I
many ways relies on the audience's knowledge of this team;
in script form this potential problem was not apparent;
i
however, in the final film it is. If the audience begins !
to tire of the game of Clooney destroying Trabucco's
assignment, there is not a strong story to fall back on.
When the laughs stop, there is no real character sympathy :
to support the story. In a comedy the audience does not ;
have to be constantly laughing as long as they care. In
Buddy Buddy we do not know enough about Clooney to finally J
care; and we are only briefly introduced to his wife who j
seems to be the center of his problems. When we finally !
meet her, partly because of Paula Prentiss' performance, ;
the audience is alienated, and hence Clooney does not gain j
►
further sympathy. j
Then, there is an additional problem. Who is the
main character? Is it Victor Clooney or Trabucco? We may
not need to have total identification or sympathy for
Victor Clooney if we are dying to see Trabucco brought j
down. This is not the case; throughout much of the film
j
we are asked to identify with Trabucco and his problems. |
i ;
I :
247
We certainly don't want to see him caught because if this
happens, the film ends. And at the end Wilder and Diamond
ask us to sympathize with his plight when he tells Clooney I
the mob will kill him or even in the very last scene when
Clooney invades his island paradise. The antics are
amusing, but finally the audience has difficulty entering
the story largely because there is no clear identification
with one character or the other; part of the success of ;
the film Fatal Attraction is getting the audience to hate
I ;
S the Glenn Close character; in effect, there is a negative !
i
!
audience identification; but in Buddy Buddy there are no i
strong audience loyalties or animosities. In The
Apartment and even The Fortune Cookie the sense of
identification with the Lemmon character is much stronger;
I
these films work not only comically but also dramatically. .
i
i
In Buddy Buddy the story is amusing, but other than the :
farcical situations, there is no strong center. We are j
not fully rooting for or against the characters. As a J
result, the audience may not as easily overlook other
problem areas in the film.
However, it was more the execution than the script
that caused Buddy Buddy to fail. If a film is to be a
success, the director must maximize all of the film ;
elements. In effect, the classic film is usually created j
purposefully, sometimes accidentally, but it is always a j
case where all of the film elements mesh into a seamless j
and perfectly choreographed whole. It is the perfection
of the finished form that allows the audience to enter a
world and never leave it until the lights come up at the
end of the film.
One can conclude from this study that the film
i
elements must be executed almost perfectly if a comedy is J
I
to succeed. Each element can either increase or diminish ,
the relative audience participation. The actual flaws in ;
Buddy Buddy in terms of directorial decision-making were
i '
{ minor ones— but they had an exponential effect. The
acting on the part of the principals was good, but there
were many bad moments with the secondary players,
particularly Celia, the hippie and his wife, Hubris, and
the man with the doll. Each of these bad moments causes
the audience to react subliminally, if not consciously. :
The magic is momentarily destroyed, and just for those
seconds the audience is lost. Problems with art direction j
and camera cause further lapses, and the editing and the 1
sound also lessen the impact of key sequences. As a :
result, Wilder may only be getting eighty or ninety per
cent of what he intended; however, these small errors
i
multiply. In effect, there is little margin for error, j
Even a bad second can have an impact on the audience, j
i
I
Instead of a masterpiece or a flawed masterpiece, the film :
i
i 249
becomes mediocre. Let us look back at each of the film j
elements and how they defused the comedy.
If we analyze the final film act by act, we can see
the impact of the film elements on both the narrative
i
!
drive of the story and the degree of audience involvement, j
As Wilder has said, "The story must go like a machine gun. j
Pop, pop, pop. Don't let the audience get away."5 Buddy
I
: Buddy. from a linear standpoint, begins well. The ;
I
; farcical proceedings are set into motion; the situations j
are funny and introduced in a visually interesting way. '
i
i j
j From an audience standpoint I think the first act is a ,
i
| success until the end. The suicide attempt on Lemmon's !
I part is amusing, not alienating. It's just that we might ,
!
want to know why. The question is will the center hold?
I r
! The repetitive central gag may not be strong enough to
carry the entire film.
I
I
At the end of the first act problems in art direction
t
begin to create a subliminal negative effect. Tremendous |
j
care went into the design of the hotel sets and j
i
controlling the color. But by the end of the first act ^
the hotel rooms begin to grate on the audience. We begin
to feel we are on a set, partly because of the design of
I
| the wallpaper, but more because of the intercutting
J between the sharp colors of the sex clinic and the rather j
I
250
dull colors of the hotel set (accentuated by the rear
projection elements in the frame). Also, sound here and
in the previous sequence on the ledge did not convince us
of the reality of the "outside" world or the set. At this
point the audience does not fall out of the film, but it
begins, X think, to get restless. Wilder has stated
I perceptively that a film is not like a painting. "It's !
I 6 !
I like a poster that hits you instantly."0 The wallpaper !
in Victor Clooney's room is appropriate to his character
I
(the repetition of the flower motif), but I think the dull
i
browns have a negative effect, particularly when the 1
|
audience is confined to that room for long periods of ;
I
i ;
! time. There was an intent to the design, but ironically
! ;
that design created an opposite effect. At this point the j
i
humor in the film is working well so these defects may be ,
| only subliminal.
f i
However, once we leave the hotel for the sex clinic, |
the film begins to fall apart. The camera work in this j
I
I
section is the chief culprit. Despite the care that went
i
into the process shooting, the drive in the car just is I
not believable. Part of the problem was the decision to
shoot four pages of dialogue in a single master. Also,
i
the intercutting of process shooting with sequences in i
I
real locations is jarring unlike the seamless movements I
I
I from the real Coronado Hotel exteriors to the artificial
251
interior sets in Some Like It Hot. The lack of
consistency to the art direction and shooting style again
begins to affect the audience.
Once we enter the sex clinic, the clockwork mechanism
of the film finally breaks down. For this ten minute
segment most of the film elements are misfiring causing
the audience to finally fall out of the film. Here, as we
i
enter the clinic Wilder's long-take style does not sweep
us into this new environment as intended. Instead, the
i long-take style weakens narrative drive and emphasizes the
fact that this is a digression. Although the exchange
between Lemmon and the receptionist (shot in a single
take) is quite good, the moments of acting on the part of
I
the hippie and police and the exchange of the joint are
truly bad. Because most of this sequence was shot in two
long masters (with no coverage) , Wilder had no choice but
to use all of the action despite some misgivings about the
sequence after it had been shot. Although his shooting
style has been consistent over the years and tremendously
effective, here we see the key disadvantage. Since he
shoots long takes and little coverage, it is impossible to
remove pieces of the action that don't work. The long-
take style is effective, but it requires that the pacing
be perfect at all times within the shot (along with the
i
j acting and story).
252
1
As Lemmon walks down the dull, brown hallway of the
clinic, the music and art direction further alienate the
audience. The imitation Ravi Shankar sitar score
highlights the datedness of the material rather than
sweeping the audience into the potential fun of the
satire. In the sex clinic lecture Wilder violated one of
his key rules about editing; here, he lost faith in his j
material and cut out many of the jokes with the extras and ;
a considerable part of Klaus Kinski's lecture. However, ;
, the cuts came from one of the funnier sections of the :
| I
second act, rather than from the worst section, the action i
i
revolving around the delivery of the hippie's baby. In
i
making these cuts, I think Wilder made this sequence a
true digression. Now, there is little build to Lemmon's
reaction and his final tirade in the library further j
alienates the audience rather than creating sympathy for j
his character. All of the film elements combine to create '
a weak second act, one which causes the audience to fall j
out of the story for ten minutes. j
i
Once the third act begins and we return to the hotel, I
the action is again well-staged. But the second act has
had a disastrous effect on the film as a whole. Wilder
has to work to recapture his audience, an almost
impossible task. A comedy can survive a few bad moments,
but ten continuous minutes is too much. The sequence in
which Zuckerbrot gives Trabucco the injection is in fact
quite funny. But I think in the theatre the sequence
brought smiles rather than belly laughs. Again, the
material itself was well-staged and played. Lemmon's
reactions as he enters the frame (from the bathroom) to
discover Zuckerbrot are funny; and throughout the use of
! the camera is sophisticated. But again, the audience is
I
j out of the film; and here Wilder has added beats in the
| performance and the cutting for laughs so that the
i
; audience will not lose the lines. The remainder of the
| action is well-directed, but the machine gun pacing of the
■ film has been lost. It is too late to recapture the
! audience even though the ensuing attempts to revive
Trabucco with cold showers and slaps are amusing. The
final section, the dangerous character transformation of
Clooney as he decides to do Trabucco's job, has little
impact now. Instead of being a highlight of black comedy,
the sequence becomes a perfunctory conclusion. Again, the
second act has been the culprit.
The fact that this one section of the film failed
does not in any way invalidate Billy Wilder's theories
about the proper use of the film elements. His desire to
keep technique invisible is sound. Some critics might
!
j assail this idea as old-fashioned, but I think Wilder is
I
, right. Wilder's attitude toward the comedy is that the
story, not individual laughs, is all important. If)
i
technique intrudes on the story, then it causes the j
illusion of the film to be destroyed. The audience is no j
*
longer a participant. All of the flashy technique in the J
world is not going to put the audience back in the story; j
instead, it will be commenting on the ’ 'style" of the j
director. But style is never enough. Wilder, I think, is|
i . . i
i right m justifying his use of rear projection. If the ;
i !
! audience is truly involved in the story, it will not be
looking for the seams in the backdrop? in the case of ,
I Buddy Buddy. however, potential problems in the story were.
augmented by the execution. The audience had time to
I
| notice problems in the film elements because the story was
>
| not working as effectively as hoped. i
I Through this study I gained an appreciation of the,
j difficulties of comedy directing, even on the highest;
| i
professional level. The director must execute all of the :
1
]
film elements perfectly— and at the same time elicit comic j
performances that are truly funny. In comedy if the ;
1
timing of a line is off by a split second, the line falls
flat, leaving a noticeable void. In a drama the audience
1
is not expecting each line to have an impact.
Wilder1 s metaphor of the film as a game created by
the writer/director for the audience to play is astute.
; The comedy director must not only calculate the movements‘
and emotions of his actors and characters, he must also
anticipate those of his audience. Every shot is
important. Each one conveys new information (and a new
joke) that evokes an emotional response on the part of the j
i
audience. If the audience decides that the film is not
funny, they stop playing the game. Farce is particularly
dangerous because in this form the characters tend to be
1
types rather than three dimensional people. Audience [
identification is directed at the story level (the plot
I 1
complications) more than at the characters. As a result,
i
the story must be air-tight, and there can be no moments j
i
where audience interest wanes. Above all, the director
♦
: must work to involve his audience. If it does not enter >
l
the film at the outset, it certainly will not join the !
game after thirty minutes. The director cannot fool
himself into believing that casting alone will create
audience sympathy for a character. No contemporary actor
has a screen persona more immediately identified with
audience sympathy than Jack Lemmon; however, in Buddy
Buddy his presence was not enough to make the audience
care strongly about Victor Clooney.
i
j
I.A.L. Diamond said on the set that traditionally j
American comedies have been situational whereas foreign (
t
1 comedies have been ones of character. Diamond may have
I . !
i been right, but I think that the best American comedies of i
256
I
recent years combine both approaches. Character is the j
hook that forces the audience to play the game. Laughs
and situations alone do not make the audience care. A
problem in Buddy Buddy is that there is too much reliance
I
on situation. When the story misfires, we do not have |
i
strong characters that sustain audience sympathy and :
involvement. Even in Some Like It Hot the farce is ;
punctuated with quiet moments that make the audience
identify with the characters— such as when Sugar reveals
,
her hopes and dreams to Josephine in the bathroom on the
!
train.
This year's Working Girl succeeds primarily on a ^
character level. Melanie Griffith's performance and voice |
I
(similar to Judy Holliday's) make Tess one of the warmest ■
!
screen heroines in recent years. However, before the plot j
!
mechanism of the job reversal is set into motion, writer j
Kevin Wade and director Mike Nichols create strong !
audience sympathy. The opening scenes (Tess' desire to
improve herself, the loss of her job, the discovery of her
i
boyfriend's unfaithfulness) all hook the audience. Even j
when the timing is off in the third act (the more farcical I
i
scenes in her boss' bedroom and in the board room) , the I
i
l
audience continues to play the game because they care so |
much about Tess. Similarly, Moonstruck works more because j
i I
i of Cher's central characterization than because of the
257
clever plot of interweaving characters. In both films the
plot elements are grounded by a strong female character|
for whom the audience roots. Tom Hank's performance ini
i
Big also raises that film above the mechanical twists of!
I
i
the similarly themed Vice Versa and Like Father Like Son, i
I
His ability to make the audience believe (and care) thatj
he is a boy trapped in a man's body allows the ensuing;
situations to work. This is not to suggest that a farce
such as Buddy Buddy should not be attempted. Farce is a
valid comedy form, but more than other types of comedy,;
there is no margin for error. Usually, there is not a|
strong enough audience identification with a character to;
support audience interest if the humor misfires.
Some critics might feel that the comedy and style in(
Buddy Buddy are just too old-fashioned for a contemporary!
audience. They are too sophisticated and need something,
flashier. This not the case. The success of such recent
films as Roxanne (1987), Moonstruck (1987), Bull Durham
i
(1988), Working Girl (1988), and Big (1988) shows that the
I
well-crafted "story" comedy is making a comeback with both
studio executives and audiences after years in which
i
comedies with little structure or story, such as Porkv's.,
I
Animal House, and Stripes ruled the box office. The so-;
called "teen comedy" has run its course. Now more adult or
sophisticated comedies are slowly returning. Wilder,:
t 1
< ,
i
258
himself, created in the thirties many of the rules on
which these new stories depend. In his mind a comedy
(like a drama) must be constructed and not be just a
series of funny sketches or jokes. It must have engaging
characters and a story with three acts-— with the plot
complications and climax dependent on (and a logical
outgrowth of) the set-up in the first act. Maybe these!
t
I
i "new" comedies such as Big do not have the sophistication
of Some Like It Hot, but they are well-crafted, have a
l
beginning, middle, and end, and allow the audience to;
enter the story. Again story seems important. After the'
i
release of Carnal Knowledge in 1971, Wilder commented:
Whether or not you like it, it stays |
with you. It is provocative,
challenging. And in part absolutely
brilliant. Maybe a little choppy for j
my taste. Carnal Knowledge goes out |
of its way not to be a well-made j
picture. . . .I'm looking back with !
great nostalgia to the 'well-made'
picture. Not the Godard-type pictures
which bewilder me totally, no matter
how many Village Voice Andrew Sarrises
tell me that this is indeed the new
art form. I think it's baloney.
i
The fact that Buddy Buddy was not a success does not I
invalidate the idea of the well-made film. Interestingly,
Mike Nichols, the experimenter in Carnal Knowledge, has
I
come full circle and is now making the "well-made" comedy
(Working Girl) . In the case of Buddy Buddy it just was !
not the right story. The premise was funny, but the |
259
audience was not forced to play the game, the way it did
in Wilder's best comedies. The action and the stars were
amusing, but the film never caused total audience
identification, a difficult factor to predict beforehand.
Again, Wilder knows the odds against a successful
comedy. He says:
Filmmaking is an exacting task. Our
critics sometimes seem to think a
director deliberately sets out to
make a bad film. If I stop to think
of the things that can go wrong, I am
surprised that my films are as good
as they are.8
Predicting the success of a film, particularly a
comedy, from the finished script is a tricky business,
just as is identifying the reasons for a failure. There
are so many hidden factors, but the most important is
magic or a certain chemistry, certainly difficult factors
to measure or quantify. Wilder says:
There were certain pictures that have
laid an egg at the box office. You
always kind of fool yourself by
saying, 'Well, I was ahead of my
time,' 'If they re-release the film
now . . .' The plain fact is that I
admit I made the picture, I worked
hard, took a year out of my life, and
people just didn't show interest.
They did not come to see it. And,
other pictures which I more or less
did with my left hand, where I did
not sweat over it, where I just sort
of laid back and rode with the waves,
they turned out to be great big
financial hits.
260
This dissertation has attempted to explain some of J
I
the reasons that Buddy Buddy did not work, but it in no
way minimizes the staggering quality of Wilder's career as
a film-maker. Even Andrew Sarris, the critic most
responsible for Wilder's critical decline, was forced in
1976 to re-evaluate Wilder's career in his article, "Billy |
Wilder: Closet Romanticist." Finally, Sarris admitted J
that in his earlier study, The American Cinema, he had
misjudged Wilder more than any other film-maker. He
j apologized to Wilder both in person and print and finally
l
elevated him to his personal pantheon of American ,
directors.10 I think this re-evaluation on Sarris' part
is a great tribute to Wilder and also to the :
i
"invisibility" of his technique. It is the very
"invisibility" of his technique that allowed the auteur
critics to overlook the complexity. Making things look
easy is the trademark of a talented director, particularly
of light comedy. In reviewing Buddy Buddy Sarris said: |
t
there is nothing in Buddy I
Buddy that makes me regret my
elevating Wilder at long last into my
personal Pantheon. . . . the material
furnished in Buddy Buddy is
essentially too light for the glorious j
gravity of Wilder to take hold.11 j
Buddy Buddy appears to be the final film in Billy j
Wilder's long and illustrious career. On Buddy Buddy
Wilder was sharp, incisive, energetic, and in complete
control. The fact that the film failed should not suggest
that Wilder had lost his craft as a film-maker. It was
just that this particular story left no margin for error.
At the prestigious tribute to Billy Wilder by the
Society For The Performing Arts at Lincoln Center in 1982,
Wilder ended the tribute with these words:
i
I am absolutely not retiring .... i
As far as I'm concerned this ballgame ]
is going into extra innings. I'm !
ready. I changed my stance, I j
shortened my grip, and I got some (
contact lenses. I'm sure I still i
have a few hits comincr, maybe even a ‘
triple or a home run.
I
As his recent awards for lifetime achievement from the
j
Writer's and Director's Guilds and the Motion Picture
j
Academy have also confirmed, Billy Wilder is one of the j
greatest comedy writer-directors of the sound era. It 1
would be nice to believe that there will be one more Billy !
Wilder film in our future.
262
NOTES
1 "Wilder Explains Yen For B.O. Hits," Weekly Variety
21 Feb. 1962: 19.
2 "Wilder Hits At Stars, Exhibs., Sees Pay-TV as
'Great Day,'" Daily Variety 13 Dec. 1961: 3.
3 Hollywood Reporter. 26 April 1984: 1.
^ Axel Madsen, Billy Wilder (London: Indiana UP,
1969) 35.
5 Tom Wood, The Bright Side of Billv Wilder.
Primarily (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1970) 35.
6 Lee Belser, "Billy Wilder Plays It Safe," Los
Angeles Mirror 17 Dec. 1961: N. pag.
7 Noel Berggren, "Arsenic and Old Directors," Esouire
April 1972: 134.
8 Billy Wilder, "Seeing In The Dark," The Billy
Wilder Tribute Book: Program For The Fourteenth Annual
American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award (Los
Angeles: n.p., 1986) 19.
9 Vanessa Brown, "Billy Wilder: Broadcast to Kuala
Lumpur," Action Nov.-Dec. 1970: 17.
10 Andrew Sarris, "Billy Wilder: Closet Romanticist,"
Film Comment July-Aug. 1976: 7.
11 Andrew Sarris, "Films in Focus: Auteurism in
Action," Village Voice 16-22 Dec. 1981: 73.
12 Michiko Kakutani, "Billy Wilder Honored At Lincoln
Center Gala," New York Times 5 May 1982: C9.
263
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Articles
"AA Backs Away From Distrib'n of 'Fedora' Pic.1 1 Daily
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j Archerd, Army. "Just For Variety." Daily Variety 2 6
NOV. 1965: 3.
. "Just For Variety." Daily Variety 15 Aug. 1973: 3.
Barnett, Lincoln. "The Happiest Couple in Hollywood:
Brackett and Wilder." Life 11 Dec. 1944: 100-109.
Bean, Robin. "The Two Faces Of Shirley." Films and
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Berggren, Noel. "Arsenic and Old Directors." Esquire
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"Big Film Rentals of 1982." Variety. 77th Anniversary
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"Billy Wilder: Cum Deo." Hollywood Close-up 26 March
1959: 3-6.
"Billy Wilder Plans 'Sherlock Holmes' Musical On B'way."
Daily Variety 28 Aug. 1957: 5.
"Billy Wilder's Return From Great Silence." Weekly
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267
Blume, Mary. "'Fedora': Walking On The Wilder Side." Los
Angeles Times 2 Oct. 1977, "Calendar": 38-39.
Boyle, Hal. "'Film Industry Now Separating Men From
Boys,' Says Wilder." Los Angeles Mirror 24 June
1960: N. pag.
Brown, Vanessa. "Billy Wilder: Broadcast to Kuala
Lumpur." Action Nov.-Dec. 1970: 16-18.
Buchwald, Art. "Billy Wilder Eats Some Crow." Los
Angeles Times 7 Aug. 1960: C5.
Byrge, Duane. "AFI Honors Wilder With Highest Award."
Hollywood Reporter 25 Oct. 1985: 1+.
| Canby, Vincent. "Screen: Wilder's 'Buddy Buddy.'" Rev.
■ of Buddy Buddy♦ Daily Variety 21 Dec. 1981: 13.
Castillo, Leo. "Words On Music." Los Angeles Herald
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Champlin, Charles. "AFI to Honor Billy Wilder." Los
Angeles Times 26 Oct. 1985, sec. 5: 1.
"Blake Edwards Is Up To His Movie Maverick Tricks
Again." Los Angeles Times 26 July 1988, "Calendar":
. "Wilder Banking On Chancy Venture." Los Angeles ;
Times 4 Feb. 1966, "Calendar": 1+. ;
. "Wilder Still Working Without A Net." Los Angeles |
Times 14 July 1974, "Calendar": 1+.
i
"Cleve Browns In Wilder Pic Lineup With Jack Lemmon." I
Daily Variety 15 May 1965: N. pag. j
Cohen, Larry. "Jack Lemmon: 'I Think I Have A Lot of Kid j
in Me.'" Los Angeles Times 3 May 1983, sec. 1: 1+. !
Columbus, Chris. "Wilder Times." American Film March
1986: 22-8.
Corliss, Richard. "The O.D. Couple." Rev. of Buddy
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Crosby, John. "Billy Wilder Just Blamed It All On 111 1
Alpine Wind." Los Angeles Mirror. 18 Aug. 19 61: N. i
pag. I
Culhane, John. "Jack Lemmon; Behind the Smile." New
York Times Magazine 12 July 1981; 1+.
Denby, David. "Head Of The Class." Rev. of Buddy Buddy.
New York 21 Dec. 1981; 51-2.
"Dialogue oh Film: Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond."
American Film July-Aug. 1976: 33-48. j
Diamond, I.A.L. "Interview with I.A.L. Diamond." With j
Robert Mundy and Michael Wallington. Cinema J
Oct. 1969: 21. |
I
. "Interview With I.A.L. Diamond." With Adrian Turner. |
Films and Filming May 1982: 16-25. i
i
Didion, Joan. "Kiss Me Stupid: Minority Report." Rev. of
j Kiss Me Stupid by Billy Wilder. Vogue 1 Mar. 1965:
i 97.
i
"Doane Harrison d. 11/11/68 Age 74." Weekly Variety 20
Nov. 1968: N. pag.
Eden, Richard, "A Pain In The A— ." Rev. of A Pain In The |
A— . by Edouard Molinaro. New York Times 11 August
1975: 33.
I
"L'Emmerdeur," Rev. of L'Emmerdeur. by Edouard Molinaro.
Variety Film Reviews: 1971-1974. 16 vols. (New York: :
Garland, 1983) 12 Sept. 1973, 13: N. pag. 1
i
Farber, Stephen. "The Films Of Billy Wilder." Film
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(
. "Magnificent Obsession." New West 17 May 1979: 17.
. "Two Old Men's Movies." Film Quarterly Summer :
1973: 49-52. !
. "Wilder: A Cynic Ahead Of His Times." New York
Times 6 Dec. 1981: 1+.
"Fast Talker." New York Times 4 Mar. 1962: 24.
"The Films Of Billy Wilder." Film Comment Summer 1965: j
62-3. !
Folkart, Burt A. "I.A.L. Diamond, Oscar-Winning Writer." !
Los Angeles Times 22 April 1988, sec. 1: 24. !
269
••For Billy Wilder The Words Are Foremost." Motion Picture
Herald 20 July 1966: 1+.
Foster, Frederick. "High Key vrs. Low Key." American
Cinematographer Aug. 1957: 506+.
Franklin, Patricia. "Reunion of class act: Cast still
loves 'Some Like It Hot.'" Los Angeles Herald
Examiner: C1+.
Gillett, John. "In Search Of Sherlock." Sight and Sound
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. "Wilder in Paris." Sight and Sound Winter 1956:
142.
Gray, Martin. "Design For Living." Films and Filming
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Today 25 Jan. 1983: Dl.
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I Haber, Joyce. "Billy Wilder: He I." Los Angeles Times 24 j
Jan. 1972: N. pag.
I
Harmetz, Aljean. "American Film Institute Honors Billy ;
Wilder," New York Times 13 Mar. 1986: 13. [
"At 73, Billy Wilder's Bark Still Has Plenty Of |
i Bite." New York Times 29 June 1979: C12. !
! i
Higham, Charles. "Cast a Cold Eye: The Films Of Billy
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Hyberger, Hy. "Sounds In The Dark: Rozsai Rozsa!; Tea
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j
"If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em." Los Angeles Herald j
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270
Irwin, Ben. "Chasing Billy Wilder, The Man.” Los Angeles!
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i
Johnson, Erskine. "Billy Wilder's Trail Of Whims." Los !
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Kissel, Howard. "Billy Wilder: Comedy's Straight |
Shooter." Women's Wear Daily 16 Dec. 1974: 24. |
Kurnitz, Harry. "Billy The Wild." Holiday June 1964:
93+.
Lemon, Richard. "The Message in Billy Wilder's Fortune
j Cookie." Saturday Evening Post 17 Dec. 1966: 30+.
! Lightman, Herb. "Old Master, New Tricks." American
; Cinematographer Sept. 1950: 309+.
!
I McBride, Joseph. "Billy Wilder And I.A.L. Diamond See
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| 1977: 3+. I
f :
| ---. "The Importance Of Being Ernst." Film Heritage 1
I Summer 1973: 1-9.
i
! ---. "In The Picture: The Front Page." Sight and Sound j
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I
I
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i
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j
1 ---. "Jack Lemmon: Waiting For A Juicy Role." 2 Jan.
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i
i Maslin, Janet. "Film View: Missing the Many Moods of the
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j sec. 2: 21+.
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!
) )
Morris, George. "The Private Films Of Billy Wilder." ;
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i
Mundy, Robert. "Wilder Reappraised." Cinema Oct. 1969:
14-19.
Murray, Jim. "Hating People for Fun and Profit." Los '
Angeles Oct. 1964: 29-31.
"One, Two, Three Wilder." Show Dec. 1961: 76+.
Onosko, Tim. "Billy Wilder." Velvet Light Trap No. 3:
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i
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Hollywood Reporter 9 Dec. 1981: 9. !
"Pain in the A— ." Rev. of Pain in the A— . Films and
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272
"In The Picture: Bergman and Wilder." Sight and Sound
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Pearson, Drew. "Billy Wilder Joke On Berlin Reds Cost
$200,000." Los Angeles Mirror 17 Aug. 1961:
N. pag.
"Policeman, Midwife, Bastard." Time 27 June 1960: 75-6.
Pryor, Thomas. "End Of A Journey." New York Times 23
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Redelings, Lowell E. "The Hollywood Scene" Hollywood
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i
j Rosenfield, Paul. "Billy Wilder's 50-Year Itch in
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i
. "Catching An Authentic Star." Los Angeles Times 10
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Robbins, Jim. "Wilder Bites Hand That Barely Feeds Him At
Lincoln Center." Weekly Variety 5 May 1982: 4+.
Rowan, Arthur. "'Actual Locale' Shooting Poses
Problems For Cinematographers." American
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Sarris, Andrew. "Billy Wilder: Closet Romanticist." Film
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Village Voice 4 May 1982: 57.
!
. "Films in Focus: Pieces of my Mind." Village Voice
18 May 1982: 53.
273
"Films in Focus: Western Movies." Village Voice 1 j
July 1986: 71. I
Schumach, Murray. "Bright Diamond." New York Times j
Magazine. 26 May 1963: 80+.
. "The Wilder— and Funnier Touch." New York Times
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Schurer, Philip K. "Die Cast On Doings Of Drunk." Los j
Angeles Times 3 Dec. 1944: 1+. j
|---. "'Irma' Audaciously Funny Wilder Film." Los Angeles i
; Times 3 July 1963: 1+. ;
. "Wilder Seeks Films With 'Bite' To Satisfy Nation Of j
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i 1
1
Shearer, Lloyd. "The Decline and Fall Of Hollywood."
1 Charlotte Observer 10 May 1970: 3-7.
I
I Shivas, Mark. "Wilder— 'Yes, We Have No Naked Girls.'"
! New York Times 12 Oct. 1969, sec 4: 1+.
i
I Swanson, Gloria. "I Am Not Going To Write My Memoirs." |
1 With Rui Nogueira. Sight and Sound Spring 1979: 58- ,
63.
i
"Talk With A Twosome." Newsweek 20 June 1960: 110-11. !
Tessel, Harry. "Billy Wilder— Sizzling and Salty at 70." j
Independent Press-Telegram 29 April 1977: 15. j
i
"Thalberg Award Goes To Wilder." Daily Variety 12 Feb.
1988: 1+.
Thomas, Mike. "Bewitched, Bothered, and Be-Wildered."
Los Angeles's Free Weekly 21 March 1986: 1+. j
Thomas, Kevin. "Buddy Buddy." Rev. of Buddy Buddy. Los
Angeles Times 11 Dec. 1981, sec 6: 1+.
Thompson, Thomas. "Wilder's Dirty-Joke Film Stirs A
Furor." Life 15 Jan. 1965: 51+.
i
Touchy, William. "Wilder in Italy: Order Among The j
Extroverts." Los Angeles Times 30 April 1972, j
"Calendar": 1+. j
j Trauner, Alexandre. Interview with Carole Weisweiller and |
Annette Indorf. Film Comment Jan.-Feb. 1982: 35.
. The Alexandre Trauner File, Margaret Herrick Library
of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,
Los Angeles.
Warga, Wayne. "Hollywood As Viewed By Billy Wilder." Los
Anaeles Times 29 March 1981, "Calendar": 2.
Weiler, A.H. "Avanti, Billy Wilder." New York Times 15
Nov. 1970: N. pag. j
) !
j "What Directors Are Saying!" Action Jan.-Feb. 1970: 28-9. j
| Wilder, Billy. "Charming Billy." With Richard Gehman.
; Playboy Dec. 1960: 69+.
' ---. "Going For Extra Innings." With Joseph McBride and
Todd McCarthy. Film Comment Jan.-Feb. 1979: 42-8.
. "Interview: Billy Wilder." Plavbov June 1963: 57-
66.
j ---. "Interview With Billy Wilder." With Robert Mundy and
i Michael Wallington. Cinema Oct. 1969: 19-24.
I
j ---. "The Jury Already Has Ruled I Have No Talent." Los
| Anaeles Herald Examiner 6 Nov. 1966: 24.
I 4
. "Movies Forever!" New Republic 9 June 1982: No pag. ;
I
. "One Head Is Better Than Two" Films and Filming
Feb. 1957: 7. ;
. "Seeing In The Dark," The Billy Wilder Tribute Book: j
The Program For The 14th Annual American Film
Institute Life Achievement Award. Los Angeles: n.p., 1
1986: 17-19. I
. "Why Not Be In Paris?" Newsweek 26 Nov. 1956: 106- !
8.
. "Wilder Bewildered." With G. Adair. Sight and !
Sound Winter 1976-77: 53.'
. The Billy Wilder Files. Margaret Herrick Library of
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Los
Angeles.
"Wilder Explains Yen For B.O. Hits." Weekly Variety 21
Feb. 1962: 19.
"Wilder Hits at Stars, Exhibs, Sees Pay-TV as 'Great
Day.'" Daily Variety 13 Dec. 1961: 3.
"The Wilder Shores of Hollywood." Weekly Variety 8 June
1960: 1.
"The Wilder Touch." Life 30 May 1960: 41-2. j
Williams, Dick. "Billy Wilder Likes Gamble Of Film- j
Making." Los Anaeles Mirror 22 Aug. 1960: N. pag. i
i
! Wilson, Earl. "No Oscar For The Birds." Los Anaeles j
Herald Examiner 11 Sep. 1969: N. pag.
i
Wood, Tom. "Billy Wilder Clues In On Holmes." Los [
Anaeles Times 8 June 1969: 26+.
Young, Colin. "The Old Dependables." Film Quarterly Fall ,
1959: 2-17. I
Unpublished Letters and Materials
i
"Alexander Trauner Biography." Unpublished Press Release!
from United Artists Corporation, Los Angeles, 1972:
1. Alexandre Trauner File, Margaret Herrick Library
of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, j
Los Angeles. ;
"Billy Wilder Biography." Unpublished Press Release from j
Mirisch Company for The Fortune Cookie. March 1967:
1-4. Billy Wilder Files, Margaret Herrick Library |
of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,
Los Angeles. |
"Billy Wilder's Avanti Combines Unique Blend of American !
and Italian Humor." Unpublished Press Release From j
United Artists Corp. for Avanti. New York, [c. 1972]: j
1-3. Billy Wilder Files, Margaret Herrick Library, j
Los Angeles. |
t
Blowitcz-Maskel. "Biography: Billy Wilder." Unpublished j
Press Release for Allied Artists' Love In The j
Afternoon, [c. 1957]: 1-4. Billy Wilder Files,
Margaret Herrick Library, Los Angeles. I
276
Brand, Harry. "Biography Of Billy Wilder." Unpublished
Press Release for 2 0th Century Fox's The Seven Year
Itch, [c.1955]: 1-3. Billy Wilder Files, Margaret
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t
! Hirshberg. "Biography of Billy Wilder." Unpublished
i Press Release from Paramount Studios for Sunset
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| Janson, Carol Shapiro, "Buddy Buddy, Preliminary
| Production Notes." Unpublished Press Release From
I Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Culver City, Ca: 1980.
i
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278

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Asset Metadata

Creator Hadley, Richard Parker (author)

Core Title Billy Wilder and comedy: An analysis of comedic and production techniques in "Buddy Buddy".

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag cinema,OAI-PMH Harvest

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor [illegible] (committee chair), Jewell, Richard B. (committee member), McBath, James (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c17-718876

Unique identifier UC11342937

Identifier DP22447.pdf (filename),usctheses-c17-718876 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier DP22447.pdf

Dmrecord 718876

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Hadley, Richard Parker

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA