Stop and Start

Today was a fine day to walk to the Bowtie for a movie.

Along the way, I spotted dandelions along Leigh Street. Spring must be further along than I realized because that seemed a little early to me.

At the ticket counter, I asked for one for "The Apartment" and somewhere between taking my money and handing me my ticket, the ticket seller said, "Hello, beautiful." It was so unexpected, I made him repeat it.

Honestly, I think I'm a magnet for non sequitors from strangers

Inside the theater, the projectionist appeared to be asleep since the movie was started while the corny pop music was still playing. Only when someone went out to notify management did the bad music fade and the dialog come up.

I'd never seen Billy Wilder's Oscar-winning film "The Apartment" but it didn't take long to find myself firmly in 1960s New York, a world of tiki bars, elevator girls, blotters and Rolodexes, instant coffee and men wearing bowler hats in bars.

Very topical, too, given that it was a year after the Revolution and a woman asks Jack Lemmon, "How do you feel about Castro?"

Or when his neighbor asks him, a bachelor, if he has napkins and he says he has paper towels. "Beatnik!" she says in disgust.

After he gets a promotion at the insurance company where he works, a sign painter comes to paint his name on the door of his office. Hand painted doors, now there's an almost lost art. That's some serious old school right there.

No more so than all the extra-marital flings the office executives are having, the women accepting those kind of relationships without a thought to their own needs.

Thank goodness for womanhood that the sexual revolution followed shortly thereafter.

Naturally, being a Billy wilder film, there was romance and wit as well. As he makes dinner for the two of them, she tries to help

Shall I light the candles?
It's a must, gracious-living-wise.

Almost two hours into the movie, the screen went blank. A handful of people got up and walked out, disgusted at yet another glitch in watching today's film. The woman next to me went and told management and got the film back on, albeit later than where it had stopped.

Considering that the reason I don't watch movies at home is because I want a full-on screen experience, I was not happy with Bowtie's problems delivering a start to finish movie.

Here I am seeing this film for the first time and I missed the voice-over and music that began it and lost a few minutes near the end. Boo hiss, Bowtie. Unlimited butter on my popcorn is not enough to make me overlook such shoddy projection skills.

I might have left myself except that the woman near me advised me to stay for the surprise ending and she was right.

The scene where Shirley MacLaine shows up at his apartment and says she wants to play gin rummy with him on New Year's Eve delivered a classic last line.

You hear what I said, Miss Kubelik? I absolutely adore you.
Shut up and deal...

Sounds like the makings of a successful relationship to me.