Forty-three years ago today, on September 21, 1983, a new David Mamet play opened in the smallest theater at London’s National Theatre. Seven men, two rooms, a lot of talking. Mamet had worked in a Chicago real estate office for a while in the late 1960s, and he wrote about it like someone who never quite got the smell of the place off his clothes. The play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama the next year.
Continue readingFiled under Steven Doyle
Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot (1959) remains one of cinema’s most enduring comedies, a film that effortlessly blends sharp wit, sophisticated farce, and pointed social commentary. At its heart, the story follows two down-on-their-luck musicians, Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon), who witness a brutal mob hit and flee Chicago disguised as women, joining an all-female band touring Florida. Their ruse sets up a series of comedic entanglements, but beneath the humor lies a sharp exploration of identity, desire, and the constraints of society.
Continue readingFiled under Steven Doyle
The Apartment is a sharp, bittersweet movie about ambition, loneliness, and the messy compromises we make to get ahead. Set in 1960s Manhattan, it follows C.C. “Bud” Baxter, a quiet insurance clerk who lends his small apartment to company executives for their extramarital affairs — hoping the gesture will help him climb the corporate ladder. But when Baxter falls for the building’s kind-hearted elevator operator, the affair‑scheme gets tangled, and what begins as a pragmatic arrangement becomes a story of heartbreak, self‑worth, and the bravery required to demand something real.
Continue readingFiled under Steven Doyle
