Billy Wilder's Œuvre Total, Part 3

Every writer, I think, has a natural triptych to their writing, whether they know it or not;  never mind whether they admit it or not.  And — never mind finding it or not - looking for Billy Wilder’s is one of the things that makes him endure.  Look at this, from his childhood.  When asked if he got his sense of humor from trying to make his mother laugh: She was a very tough laugh.  My father was a rather easy laugh.  My father had kind of everyday humor.  He, for...

Billy Wilder's Œuvre Total, Part 5

           One of the wonderful things about the written conversation is each party gets to do it alone.  They can get their thoughts down on paper in as organized (and hopefully as entertaining) a fashion as possible.  Well, one of the horrible things about the written conversation is each party has to do it alone.  It isn’t really a conversation at all;  at least not a fluid one.  (Christ, you’re thinking, now where’s he going with this?...

Oeuvre Total Part 6: Billy Wilder, Giant Killer

 - cowboys - In an election year you hear a lot of history. A recent statement that the White House was built by slaves was rebutted with the astonishing assertion that those slaves were fed and housed. This kind of dialogue marks the periodic ebbs in our national discourse.Every single American election year, our people tell us that, historically, this is the wrong year to take a moral stand; that this time, a vote for anyone but our factory-fresh candidate (we already printe...

Billy Wilder's Œuvre Total, Part 7

I’m writing this immediately following THE LAST TIME WE WERE TOGETHER.  I don’t just mean before I even enjoy JASON’S NEXT PART, I mean the same day;  my last Part straight into this one, even before going to see Double Indemnity and Body Heat.  Why?  Over the last couple get-togethers, I’d been trying to work in something I mentioned all the way back in Part 1.  I wrote, “Every time Shirley MacLaine hands the carnation to Jack Lemmon as he’s on his way up...