Billy Wilder Articles
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1957 was arguably the busiest year yet for seasoned director Billy Wilder. A prolific filmmaker releasing two films in one year is rare but not unheard of (The Big Stevens- Spielberg and Soderbergh– have both done it in several instances), but Wilder released three that particular year. The first two, THE SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS and…
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When someone enters the back half of his or her years on Earth, it’s only natural to look back and relive the past. Especially for those who are in the grips of a decline of some sort– health, stamina, status, or any other other signifier of a life well-lived– the idea of revisiting past battles…
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Out of the countless world-changing innovations brought about in the last hundred years, the most transformative have been new technologies that serve to connect the disparate corners of the earth closer together. The internet springs to mind as the most immediate example, but despite its widespread availability in the 1990’s, it will play a much…
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The 1950’s and 60’s in American history are generally regarded as a time that saw a great loosening of sexual mores. While the era of free love and casual sex wouldn’t be ushered in until the very late 60’s, anyone who participated in pop culture during the post-war era would have definitely noticed that the…
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Inducted into the National Film Registry: 2002 Academy Award wins: Best Costumes As a director, Billy Wilder was instinctively drawn to stories that subscribed to that distinctly American conceit: that whatever class you’re born into, you always have the innate power to better your station in life. Wilder himself was living proof, working his way…
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Academy Award Wins: Best Actor There’s a case to be made that director Billy Wilder is the pre-eminent filmmaker of the twentieth century (albeit an assertion that can be challenged by any number of other, equally-superlative directors). The cornerstone of this claim is that the content and subject matter of Wilder’s work is fundamentally informed…
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Inducted into the Criterion Collection: 2007 Inducted into the National Film Registry: 2017 Since his Hollywood debut with 1942’s THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR, director Billy Wilder had steadily built of a filmography of ever-increasing excellence, culminating in 1950 with what’s come to be regarded as his supreme achievement, SUNSET BOULEVARD. However, no director– not…
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Academy Awards : Best Screenplay, Music, and Art Direction Inducted into the National Film Registry: 1989 When we talk about “the cornerstones of American cinema”, only a select few films lay true claim to the title– films like Orson Welles’ CITIZEN KANE (1941), Alfred Hitchcock’s VERTIGO (1958), or Billy Wilder’s SUNSET BOULEVARD(1950). These are some…
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The destruction caused by World War II left a profound gash in the psyche of citizens belonging to both the Axis and Allied nations. Director Billy Wilder’s personal and professional life was deeply entwined with the global conflict– not only did he hail from the regions hit hardest within the European theatre, his heritage as…
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Director Billy Wilder’s Oscar wins for Best Picture and Best Director for THE LOST WEEKEND (1945) positioned him as not just an important dramatic director, but one of the most valuable filmmakers in Paramount’s stable. Like many other directors who’ve been bestowed with The Golden Statue, the occasion marked a profound transition in both Wilder’s…
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The Holocaust is easily the most horrific crime that man has ever perpetrated upon his fellow man. A genocide on the largest scale, it’s hard to comprehend or even convey the full scope of its evil. Fortunately, motion pictures have proven quite capable as a medium to appropriately hammer home the horror of these atrocities…
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Inducted into the National Film Registry in 2011 Academy Award Wins: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor Notable Festivals: Cannes (Grand Prix) The year 1944 saw director Billy Wilder’s biggest success up to that point– the hardboiled noir thriller DOUBLE INDEMNITY. Of all the film’s Oscar nominations, none was perhaps as hard-fought as…