BEST BILLY WILDER MOVIES
“Double Indemnity” (1944) Legendary director Wilder’s melodrama casts Fred MacMurray as an insurance agent lured into a scheme by a client’s wife (Barbara Stanwyck) to kill her husband.
“The Lost Weekend” (1945) The Oscarwinning best picture of its year also brought an Academy Award to Ray Milland for his wrenching performance as an alcoholic.
“Sunset Blvd.” (1950) Gloria Swanson’s iconic portrayal of faded star Norma Desmond, seeking a comeback with a screenwriter’s (William Holden) help, fuels this famous dark-side-of-Hollywood drama.
“Ace in the Hole” (1951) A ruthless reporter (Kirk Douglas) exploits a crisis to try to put his career back on track.
“Stalag 17” (1953) William Holden earned an Oscar as a prisoner of war who’s also a hustler ranking with the best of them.
“Sabrina” (1954) Wealthy brothers (Humphrey Bogart, William Holden) become rivals for the affection of their family’s chauffeur’s daughter (Audrey Hepburn).
“The Seven Year Itch” (1955) Marilyn Monroe’s famed pose over a street grate is a highlight of Wilder’s comedy about a family man (Tom Ewell) who meets temptation in human form.
“The Spirit of St. Louis” (1957) James Stewart plays aviator Charles Lindbergh in this drama of the pilot’s preparations to make the first solo transatlantic flight.
“Witness for the Prosecution” (1957) In the Agatha Christie mystery, a veteran barrister (Charles Laughton) agrees to defend a murder-accused man (Tyrone Power) ... but the defendant’s wife (Marlene Dietrich) agrees to testify against him.
“Some Like It Hot” (1959) This classic – with Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon as musicians who disguise themselves and hide in an all-girl band after witnessing the St. Valentine’s Day massacre – leads a night of Wilder-directed comedies Friday, July 1, on Turner Classic Movies. Marilyn Monroe and, with one of the best closing lines in screen history, Joe E. Brown also are featured.
“The Apartment” (1960) An office drone (an outstanding Jack Lemmon) is popular with his boss (Fred MacMurray) for loaning them his apartment for their romantic trysts in one of the best comedydramas ever made. The Oscar-winning best picture of its year also stars Shirley MacLaine.
“Irma la Douce” (1963) Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine reunited for Wilder very effectively as a French policeman and the prostitute he doesn’t want seeing other men.
“The Fortune Cookie” (1966) An injured television cameraman’s (Jack Lemmon) shyster-lawyer brother-in-law (Oscar winner Walter Matthau) tries to get him to sue for all he can get in this great comedy.
“The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes” (1970) Wilder went for something quite different with this drama that involves the legendary title sleuth (Robert Stephens) in the mystery of an amnesiac woman.