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Jun 17, 2024 · Billy Wilder was the six-time Oscar winner who left behind a series of classically quotable features from Hollywood’s Golden Age, crafting sharp witted and darkly cynical stories that blended...
- Jeremy Urquhart
- Senior Author
- 'One, Two, Three' (1961) Starring: James Cagney, Liselotte Pulver, Horst Buchholz. Going from one extreme to another, while Ace in the Hole is one of the most bitter and downbeat Billy Wider films, One, Two, Three – made a decade later – is one of his funniest and breeziest.
- 'Ace in the Hole' (1951) Starring: Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Robert Arthur. Ace in the Hole is a movie that shows how movies can be satirical without necessarily also being comedies.
- 'Stalag 17' (1953) Starring: Robert Strauss, William Holden, Don Taylor. While Stalag 17 is, on the surface, a movie about prisoners of war, it does manage to be surprisingly funny for a film within such a genre.
- 'Irma la Douce' (1963) Starring: Shirley MacLaine, Jack Lemmon, Lou Jacobi. Shortly after the immensely successful The Apartment, Billy Wilder, Jack Lemmon, and Shirley MacLaine re-teamed to make the good – yet not quite as great – Irma la Douce three years on from that aforementioned Oscar winner.
- The Apartment (1960) In "The Apartment," Jack Lemon plays C.C. Baxter, a milksop who works a boring desk job at a New York City insurance company. He's trying to get ahead at his company, and to do so he lets four executives borrow his apartment as a love nest for trysts with their extramarital lady friends in exchange for a good word on his behalf to the personnel director Mr. Sheldrake.
- Sunset Blvd. (1950) Joe Gillis is a once-successful screenwriter who is struggling to sell his latest script, racked up considerable debt, lost most of his friends in the film industry, and is considering getting out of the entertainment business to get a regular desk job.
- Some Like It Hot (1959) "Some Like It Hot" follows the story of two musicians who accidentally stumble into the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago, and decide to skip town before mob boss Spats Colombo — who was behind the massacre — finds them.
- Double Indemnity (1944) Fred MacMurray plays Walter Neff, a salesman for an insurance company who develops a relationship with the flirtatious Phyllis Dietrichson, played by Barbara Stanwyck.
A ranking of the films directed by Billy Wilder that I have seen, presented in order of best to worst.
- 10 'Sabrina'
- 9 'One, Two, Three'
- 8 'The Lost Weekend'
- 7 'Ace in The Hole'
- 6 'Stalag 17'
- 5 'The Apartment'
- 4 'Some Like It Hot'
- 3 'Double Indemnity'
- 2 'Witness For The Prosecution'
- 1 'Sunset Blvd.'
In Sabrina, the talented Audrey Hepburn plays the daughter of a chauffeur who works for a very wealthy family. In the meantime, the family's playboy (William Holden), who she had been crushing on for the longest time, becomes interested in her. However, Sabrina realizes that his more serious and mature brother (Humphrey Bogart) is a better fit. Wit...
In Wilder's cleverly-written political comedy One, Two, Three, aCoca-Cola executive (James Cagney) is given the responsibility of caring for his boss' socialite daughter (Pamela Tiffin) in West Berlin during the Cold War. The film is quite beloved by fans of the filmmaker and for good reason. Considered the kind of film that gets better with each v...
The Lost Weekend centers on "on the wagon" alcoholic writer Don Birna (Ray Milland), who actively struggles to fight his cravings. Audiences follow the character through a four-day drinking bout in this captivating drama film noir. What makes the 1945 movie so good is the realistic way it reflects on the serious effects of alcoholisminstead of mock...
Ace in the Hole centers on a former big-city journalist (Kirk Douglas) who takes a job with a small New Mexico newspaper. In the meantime, he finds a man (Richard Benedict) trapped in a cave and attempts to make a name for himself by covering a front-page story about the tragic event. Also making for a fantastic satire about exploitation and opport...
Set in a German P.O.W. camp in 1944, Stalag 17 follows the aftermath of two prisoners who attempt to escape the compound but are quickly found dead. That leads to suspicion that one of them, J.J. Sefton (William Holden), is an informer. Seamlessly blending comedy and tragedy like many other movies by the filmmaker, Stalag 17is often considered bett...
In The Apartment, C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon), a Manhattan insurance clerk, attempts to advance in his career by allowing the corporate bosses to utilize his apartment for trysts. However, this ultimately causes trouble and unexpectedly sparks Baxter's own romance. This amusing film has caught many people's attention, remaining a classic today due to...
Starring Marilyn Monroe, Wilder's Some Like It Hot remains a very talked-about feature nowadays. The musical comedy focuses on two male musicians (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon) disguised as women who flee the state with an all-female band after witnessing a mob hit. A legendary movie all these years later, Wilder's Some Like It Hot is undoubtedly ti...
A classic film noir, Double Indemnity centers on an L.A. insurance representative (Fred MacMurray) who finds himself completely allured by a beautiful housewife (Barbara Stanwyck) into a murderous scheme of insurance fraud. Eventually, that ends up raising the suspicion of his coworker, who is an insurance investigator. Reflecting on greed, this un...
Witness for the Prosecution is an enthralling crime drama mystery that depicts a murder trial full of unexpected twists and turns, in which a seasoned British attorney (Charles Laughton) must defend his client (Leonard Vole). This courtroom drama is very well regardedand stands among the best of its genre. Adapted from one of Agatha Christie's best...
Set in early 1950s Hollywood, Sunset Boulevard follows a screenplay writer (William Holden) who develops feelings for a fading silent movie star (Gloria Swanson) who lives in a crumbling Sunset Boulevard mansion alone and is attempting to make a glorious return. Many people's favorite classic pick, Wilder's picture remains a very popular one and on...
- Daniela Gama
- Senior Author
26 titles. 1. The Apartment (1960) Approved | 125 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance. 8.3. Rate. 94 Metascore. A Manhattan insurance clerk tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, but complications and a romance of his own ensue.
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Jun 22, 2019 · Tour our photo gallery of the 25 greatest Billy Wilder films, ranked worst to best, including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Sunset Blvd.
