Great movie, MacMurray miscast - The Apartment (1960) Discussion

[–] fortunate1 12 years ago

sez you; i thought he had just the right amount of dreadfulness.
[just like the unlikeable character he plays in "double indemnity".]

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[–] wlandolfi-1 12 years ago

Fred MacMurray was great in THE APARTMENT. What's interesting is that his best movies were the ones where he played against type. It's worth noting that Paul Douglas was supposed to play that role but died of a heart attack about a week or so before filming so Billy Wilder (the director) decided to get Fred MacMurray. He was very good in that role. So much so that after the movie came out, Fred MacMurray took his daughters to Disney Land where a woman who had been a fan of his but said to him "How could you do that? You ruined the Disney image." The woman went on to hit him over the head with her purse. Fred MacMurray was so shook up by the incident that he never played a heavy again.

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[–] jrs-8 12 years ago

I totally agree that Fred MacMurray was terrific as Sheldrake. He was a cold, manipulative evil man who used anyone for his own good. MacMurray nailed it and when you compare this work to his Disney movies you really see how wide a range of talent the man had.

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[–] Hygrophonic 12 years ago

I wouldn't say miscast, but that he was a rather limited actor. Even in Double Indemnity, I couldn't help but think how much more effective Humphrey Bogart or Glenn Ford would have been in that very role. Oh well, I thought he was decent in this wonderful movie, though.

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[–] fortunate1 12 years ago

Glenn Ford? Glenn Ford !?
Or Bogart?
Well, I guess there's no accounting for taste.

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[–] Hygrophonic 12 years ago

. . .Says the person who watches Mad Men.

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[–] fortunate1 12 years ago

Indeed.
QED

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[–] ecarle 12 years ago

Fred MacMurray played a lot of heroes in movies, and was a good guy for Disney many times, and a good dad on "My Three Sons."

But he may be best remembered for playing against his likeablity three famous times:

Double Indemnity(for Wilder): as a nice-enough, cynical, but sexually weak guy who actually commits murder(and starts feeling pretty bad about the whole thing.)

The Caine Mutiny: MacMurray's Keefer seems like a good guy for most of the movie, alerting his fellow Navy men to the incipient craziness of Bogart's Captain Queeg. But as the film goes on, we see Keefer as a preening egotist and a coward who gets his fellow Navy men to take the fall for the mutiny HE fomented. Defense lawyer Jose Ferrer nails MacMurray verbally and throws a drink in his face.

The Apartment: Indeed Paul Douglas had the role and died right before filming, and Wilder scrambled to put MacMurray(his old Indemnity villain) in the role.

By the time MacMurray did "The Apartment," he had only one Disney movie behind him(The Shaggy Dog)...but it was enough to have established MacMurray as a really nice guy -- and he USED that reputation to sell the near-psychotic villainy of Sheldrake, who can SOUND like a really nice guy(especially with Fran) but who isn't. Its all about him, getting what he wants, living as he wants to live. And what's scary is how often the "befuddled Fred MacMurray" appears in the film(as on Christmas morning with his two boys.)

I've always felt that whereas CC and Fran and maybe even some of the "middle managers" had to claw their way up from working class lives into that skyscraper, Sheldrake was probably a rich kid who went to Ivy League schools and always got what he wanted and ended up hired pretty high up at the insurance company. There is nothing in the script on this...he just seems to be a man of privilege...Lording over everyone who works under him.

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[–] fortunate1 12 years ago

A thoughtful response as always, ecarle; I'd forgotten his role in 'Caine', but it well proves the point.
[I remember you fondly from the MadMen boards, btw -those were the days!]

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[–] ecarle 12 years ago

Thank you. They were...but maybe they will return!

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[–] movieghoul 12 years ago

ecarle, you wouldn't be suggesting that MacMurray in The Apartment reminds you of a certain political candidate, would you?

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[–] fortunate1 12 years ago

I don't think JFK is running this year, mg -and there's no credible doppelgänger in sight.

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[–] movieghoul 12 years ago

Yeah, I just thought "rich kid", "man of privilege", "lording over everyone else" reminded me of someone.

And don't forget Macmurray's square jawed chin.

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[–] kerprice 12 years ago

If you're referring to Romney, he sure as heck didn't lord it over anyone else. He earned his money, he knows how to make and stick to a budget, unlike the big spending, lost our AAA rating president we have now.

Now back to the topic:

I loved Fred MacMurray in this movie precisely cause he played against type so effectively. Also, you can see he's too old for her and has a habit of doing this with other office women as well.

I had no idea Paul Douglas was supposed to be cast in this. I loved him with Linda Darnell in "Letter to 3 Wives", but that was at least 10 years prior and he was looking a little long in the tooth then. He would have looked way too old for the part (his girth didn't help).

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[–] pc-daisy 12 years ago

Great post and great comments. And great writing in TA. I have been in the corporate world and there are a lot of Sheldrakes to be found. Sadly, a lot of Miss Kubiliks too. Also there are just as many vulnerable girls who find their love in all the wrong places as there are gold diggers who hunt down the rich men.

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[–] srklondie 12 years ago

What you know about Fred MacMurray's acting ability ( or anyone else's, for that matter ) could be put in a thimble and there'd be enough room left over for a rather large echo. I dare say that a large majority of the critics over the decades would feel that you're all wet, as do I. " Humphrey Bogart or Glenn Ford "; what an absolutely ridiculous suggestion. Why don't you add Hope or Crosby to your list?

P.S. ( says someone else who watches ' Mad Men '! )

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[–] Hygrophonic 12 years ago

So you mad?

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[–] SeanJoyce 12 years ago

MacMurray was terrific in this, but does anybody else think Holden would have been great as well? This would have been the perfect opportunity for Wilder to unite his two muses, Holden and Lemmon, in one movie. It would have also added a nasty shade to his screen image at the time.

http://jmoneyyourhoney.filmaf.com/owned

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[–] lliles 10 years ago

William Holden was too young in 1960 to have played Sheldrake. Sometiems the best casting optiosn occur in an alternative universe, unfortunately.

I personally love Fred MacMurray's villians. You also have to add the young man in Alice Adams to the list. Disney wssted MacMurray in all those lightweight roles for the 1960's.

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[–] aciolino 10 years ago

Fool.

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[–] carolmr527 10 years ago

I thought Fred MacMurray was wonderful in this movie and he should have gotten an Oscar nomination.

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[–] generalusgrant 10 years ago

I actually think MacMurray was the best thing in the movie, and it's a great movie. Jack Lemmon is the superior actor, but MacMurray NAILS Sheldrake. Anyone who thinks Glenn Ford or Bogie would have been better... OMG!!! Hilarious!

And Sheldrake was not an "evil man." He was a serial adulterer, but so are tens of millions of other people. I don't condone what he did, but if you think everyone who cheats on their spouse is "evil," then you need to get out more.

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[–] hammer4 10 years ago

Good points about the Sheldrake character. Devious, manipulative yes, but he couldn't be a monster or he'd never had been able to bag all those office ladies.

Also, implausible as it might seen the Fran character was genuinely in love with him. He was, outwardly charming as others have pointed out and I think MacMurray struck the right note. Assuming the same script I don't think Paul Douglas (while a good actor) would have been appropriate. They might have modified the character(s), however. We'll never know.

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[–] hammer4 10 years ago

One other point, Bogart died before this movie was made.

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[–] ameckert2000 9 years ago

I disagree. I think he was brilliantly cast. As everyone else points out, he played against type. The thing that makes him so good, and better for the role than (someone mentioned in another reply) a Bogart type, is that he is so clean cut and wholesome. He appears to be this strong ideal man with moral principles. Look at that Christmas Card Baxter show Fran of The Sheldrake Family. It's right out of a Disney movie. The beautiful home, pretty wife, kids and a dog. Happy wholesome family man. However, he is a total sleaze. If he was played by a more romantic lady's man type, we'd expect this womanizing behavior. We, like Baxter, are supposed to be shocked by his loutish behavior.

The film deals with many things, namely people's false perceptions. Baxter idealizes Fran and Sheldrake. When he hears the men talking about wanting to get with Fran, Baxter scoffs "maybe she is just a nice girl." Like his sweet Ms. Kubeluk is too nice and sweet for these losers. However, we learn she has fallen for the biggest. Lout of them all. She even tells Baxter "Just because I'm in uniform doesn't mean I'm a Girl Scout," Dreyfus has the false impression that Baxter is a swinging ladies man, when he really isn't.

Wilder does this ver well with Sheldrake. Casting this seemingly wholesome guy as a total dirtbag, and that is why it works so well in the film. If a romantic, suave, bad boy was cast, the movie wouldn't have the same effect.

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[–] ameckert2000 9 years ago

I disagree. I think he was brilliantly cast. As everyone else points out, he played against type. The thing that makes him so good, and better for the role than (someone mentioned in another reply) a Bogart type, is that he is so clean cut and wholesome. He appears to be this strong ideal man with moral principles. Look at that Christmas Card Baxter show Fran of The Sheldrake Family. It's right out of a Disney movie. The beautiful home, pretty wife, kids and a dog. Happy wholesome family man. However, he is a total sleaze. If he was played by a more romantic lady's man type, we'd expect this womanizing behavior. We, like Baxter, are supposed to be shocked by his loutish behavior.

The film deals with many things, namely people's false perceptions. Baxter idealizes Fran and Sheldrake. When he hears the men talking about wanting to get with Fran, Baxter scoffs "maybe she is just a nice girl." Like his sweet Ms. Kubeluk is too nice and sweet for these losers. However, we learn she has fallen for the biggest. Lout of them all. She even tells Baxter "Just because I'm in uniform doesn't mean I'm a Girl Scout," Dreyfus has the false impression that Baxter is a swinging ladies man, when he really isn't.

Wilder does this ver well with Sheldrake. Casting this seemingly wholesome guy as a total dirtbag, and that is why it works so well in the film. If a romantic, suave, bad boy was cast, the movie wouldn't have the same effect.

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