MovieChat Forums > The Apartment (1960) Discussion > Searching through Fran's personal files ...

Searching through Fran's personal files was acceptable?

posted 9 years ago by DelovelyX
3 replies | jump to latest

He said he knows where she lives, who she lives with, her height, weight, social security number and that she had measles and her appendix taken out. I was expecting her to be creeped out... but she just laughed. Was this something that was acceptable back then? He said he looked it up a few months ago, when he didn't even know her that well! I loved this movie but some parts have really not aged well - like the manager guy smacking her arse.

http://40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvbx9bGoj71qm2xu4o1_1280.jpg

[–] bmovies 9 years ago

Its possible that he looked up her insurance file for perfectly legitimate business reasons. It could have been part of his job. Not just her file, but the files of many other employees as well.

[–] a-mar 9 years ago

I was surprised by that too. That and a few of his other traits made Baxter hard to root for.

But then I wondered if maybe that wasn't the point. He doesn't really "man up" until the end and he doesn't get the girl until the end, so maybe the whole intent at the time was to show him as a loser in need of improvement.

[–] DelovelyX 9 years ago

I don't know if we're supposed to see him as a loser for this though. Fran just laughs and we're supposed to hope they get together, so I don't think it was seen as creepy back then.
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