Tag: shirley maclaine

The Morality of Director Billy Wilder’s 1960’s ‘The Apartment’ 

Today, not just in regard to the Supreme Court, Americans seem sharply divided about morality. Is it an absolute standard we measure our actions and policies against? Or is it a menu from which we select arguments to achieve the outcomes we desire? Should we always follow our conscience, or is it alright sometimes to…


Popcorn and Inspiration: ‘Being There’: Peter Sellers’s Savant Is a Revelation

One of the last few films of the American “New Wave” era, director Hal Ashby’s “Being There” also includes the second-to-last screen performance of the chameleon actor Peter Sellers. Worshipped by his peers, Sellers was largely ignored by various awards groups and known to most audiences as Inspector Jacques Clouseau, the aloof, bumbling detective in…