Portrait of a '60% Perfect Man': Billy Wilder interview (1982)

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  • Опубліковано 18 тра 2017
  • French film critic Michel Ciment interviews Billy Wilder about his life and film-making.
    Cast
    Billy Wilder Himself
    Michel Ciment Himself - Interviewer
    Jack Lemmon Himself
    Walter Matthau Himself
    I.A.L. Diamond Himself

КОМЕНТАРІ • 117

  • @lawrencejhutchinson
    @lawrencejhutchinson 2 роки тому +37

    The man who wrote and directed the greatest film ever made: The Apartment. A true genius!

    • @faxnumber8502
      @faxnumber8502 2 роки тому +1

      Мой любимый фильм.лучший

    • @Skanda1111
      @Skanda1111 Рік тому +7

      I think his most underrated is, one two three.

    • @jorgevillavicencio427
      @jorgevillavicencio427 Рік тому +1

      Frankly, it's hard to decide between The Apartment, Ace in the Hole, and Sunset Boulevard.
      His last film, Fedora from 1978. I don't know what to make of. It was disappointing but I haven't been able to figure why. It bombed at the time it was released, but a few years ago was fully restored and revalued. I did like it, but I can't say I was blown away.

    • @josephhewes3923
      @josephhewes3923 8 місяців тому +1

      You can make a better case for Sunset Boulevard being the greatest film ever made.

    • @joshv3585
      @joshv3585 5 місяців тому +1

      Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, Witness For the Prosecution and The Apartment are the films of Wilder I revisit the most often.

  • @alexrivera1161
    @alexrivera1161 3 роки тому +27

    "I had no problems with Monroe...Monroe had problems with Monroe."

  • @nudnikjeff
    @nudnikjeff 5 років тому +25

    Billy is my IDOL!

  • @riteshyadavrk
    @riteshyadavrk 5 років тому +49

    "I love it you know to irritate everybody.. Ultimately naturally they're gonna put me against a cellophane wall and shoot me from both sides.. The Communists and the Capitalists..I love it"
    I'm glad I watched this..To find that Billy is as marvellous a character as any of his marvellous movies, is immensely pleasing.

  • @mirazusta2002
    @mirazusta2002 5 років тому +47

    This is a great documentary about one of the greatest movie makers ever. It gives an invaluable insight into the man behind the camera. Priceless! Thanks for posting!

    • @josephhewes3923
      @josephhewes3923 8 місяців тому +2

      His wide ranging experiences are well reflected in his movies. It would have been a priviledge to have known him.

    • @mirazusta2002
      @mirazusta2002 8 місяців тому +1

      @@josephhewes3923 Absolutely agree with you.

  • @iiiiiccccc
    @iiiiiccccc 5 років тому +18

    genius man. could listen to him tall all day.

  • @fatenabukhriss9265
    @fatenabukhriss9265 3 роки тому +5

    This was one of the best things I've seen on the internet

  • @jcollins1305
    @jcollins1305 4 роки тому +42

    You couldn’t invent Billy Wilder. A man that saw hypocrisy, tragedy, love, comedy, pathos in so many different things. What a treat to listen to him in these wonderful interviews.

    • @lemorab1
      @lemorab1 Рік тому +4

      I agree! He is absolutely fascinating to listen to, and one of my favorite screenwriters. I do wonder, however, if he directed "Sabrina" for the money or to fulfill a contractual obligation.

  • @heitormoreiramassola297
    @heitormoreiramassola297 4 роки тому +14

    This film is amazing!! Wilder was such a character and Ciment guides it all marvelously! Thanks for uploading

  • @keepmewierd
    @keepmewierd Рік тому +4

    10:55 what a classic Wilder scene meeting Freud, wild to imagine the two of them overlapping

  • @adamblue2980
    @adamblue2980 5 років тому +22

    Wilder is brilliant, the films and the man himself. Thanks so much for sharing!

  • @_youness_sabri
    @_youness_sabri 4 роки тому +7

    This video is Gold !

  • @electrojones
    @electrojones 5 місяців тому +2

    I worked as an assistant to Mr. wilder as he developed two films that unfortunately were never made. The first was a picture about a man who invents a new mousetrap that eventually leads to the downfall of the world economy, titled, Mouse Trap. The second was a comedy about two twelve-year-old serial killers who move unobserved throughout a small city in France, racking up dozens of murders before one killed the other. That one was titled Our Days In Heaven. He was ahead of his time, certainly.

  • @erlstone
    @erlstone 5 років тому +22

    brilliant little doco...brilliant guy who made some of the best movies that will ever be made..howeevr, .made me feel a real lament and sadness for the loss of a whole medium that was once a great art form of the USA. RIP Billy..and RIP Cinema.

  • @hirondellescie356
    @hirondellescie356 2 роки тому +5

    What an outstanding and stylish documentary! And like Sunset Boulevard, also full of self-irony and self-reflection, so the style of the documentary says something about the subject matter. Billy Wilder and Michel Ciment in top form! And, I must admit, incredibly more stimulating and profound than the chatterbox Karasek's conversations with Billy...

  • @jorgeponce5512
    @jorgeponce5512 5 років тому +14

    He considers his first film as a director in America, "The Major and the Minor", a small picture. What he doesn't tell is that the writing is SO funny and intelligent.

  • @truecynic1270
    @truecynic1270 3 роки тому +4

    The ONE person I would've loved to have dinner with - the most creative mind! I agree with all the previous posts !.........especially those who described Wilder as brilliant!!

  • @rext8949
    @rext8949 4 роки тому +34

    Wow, unbelievable that this man at the end of his career was looking desperately for a job . The vagaries of Hollywood .

  • @josebenito15
    @josebenito15 2 роки тому +5

    B.Wilder has to have at least 5 or 6 Masterpieces.One of the greatest Cinema Director.. Without any doubt. Wonderful documentary and the Interviewer, the French Gentleman, is just perfect asking the right questions. Thanks so much for uploading it🧤🧤🧤🧤

    • @iododendron3416
      @iododendron3416 Рік тому +3

      The Apartment
      Sunset Boulevard
      The Lost Weekend
      Ace in the Hole
      Double Indemnity
      Some Like it Hot
      Stalag 17
      Avanti
      All masterpieces in my eyes and his other films are not that far off :)

  • @fatfrreddy1414
    @fatfrreddy1414 3 роки тому +3

    A REAL TREAT.. What a Great Guy....many thanks....

  • @keilnirby
    @keilnirby 4 роки тому +9

    Notice the interviewer drifting out of frame at 57:03 and Wilder pulling him back in.

  • @parkeobrien7526
    @parkeobrien7526 6 років тому +10

    wonderful interview... a real behind the scenes look at the great billy wilder... so nice to hear view points from jack lemon and walter mathau

  • @TheSaltydog07
    @TheSaltydog07 4 роки тому +5

    My favorite "Double Indemnity": How was I to know that murder could sometimes smell like honeysuckle?"

  • @thomaskirkpatrick1134
    @thomaskirkpatrick1134 6 років тому +15

    Fascinating!

  • @markwardel6751
    @markwardel6751 4 роки тому +4

    what an amazing man....

  • @Mike1jazz
    @Mike1jazz 4 роки тому +5

    The last 5 minutes- priceless!

  • @linscrattish2648
    @linscrattish2648 Рік тому +2

    PERFECTION!!!

  • @philiphaigh5434
    @philiphaigh5434 5 років тому +5

    Thank you very much 👌

  • @goPistons06
    @goPistons06 Рік тому +1

    He is so much fun to listen to. It's easier to see where all his great ideas came from. Working with him must have been amazing.

  • @vino140
    @vino140 6 років тому +8

    Excellent film

  • @massi6528
    @massi6528 10 місяців тому +1

    In my top ten movie list there's always number 5 or 6 which is Double Indemnity. What a director Billy Wilder. What a career! One of few directors you could call a genius.

  • @xyzllii
    @xyzllii 4 роки тому +4

    Interesting and complex man.

  • @mikescott433
    @mikescott433 4 роки тому +3

    ...great doku, thanks for sharing! unbelievable writer/director and fantastic collector - i think he sold a lot in 1989 for over 30 million...

  • @margiemorrow328
    @margiemorrow328 4 роки тому +3

    Excellent!

  • @lionelbergen6948
    @lionelbergen6948 4 роки тому +5

    If I had to chose the first five movies to carry with me I would opt for sunset Blvd.. For sure

  • @elizabethhestevold1340
    @elizabethhestevold1340 2 роки тому +1

    Some off the Finest. When I really thought Film was art, and Actors sublime. 😎🇺🇸🇩🇰

  • @DenkyManner
    @DenkyManner 2 роки тому +3

    This is fantastic, thanks for uploading. I like how relaxed the format is, letting him move around as he pleases and following him to different places.

  • @everythingmax
    @everythingmax 11 місяців тому +1

    thank you for posting. this is real gem

  • @alessandro6024
    @alessandro6024 4 роки тому +3

    Uno dei più grandi registi/sceneggiatori di sempre 😎

  • @seethevolcane
    @seethevolcane Рік тому +1

    Superb documentary.

  • @benicetoanimals8471
    @benicetoanimals8471 3 роки тому +2

    Bravo! J’aime beaucoup! This was very well done, loved the music too. Mr. Wilder is fascinating to listen to.

  • @MrBluoct
    @MrBluoct 4 роки тому +3

    Genius
    And imagine walking the beach - a beach less groomed and developed than today, and see Mr. Wilder...
    flying a kite ~
    And back when remote Broad beach had an expansive non- eroded beach

  • @nabilleal2315
    @nabilleal2315 6 років тому +13

    Michel Ciment, a man who interviewed Kubrick as well.

  • @OLIVCHEN77
    @OLIVCHEN77 2 роки тому +2

    Dieser Mann war ein Genie. There is one God and one Billy Wilder. Even his weakest movie is better then anyone of the last 25 years.

  • @nukliozz
    @nukliozz 2 роки тому +1

    Genius! Loved the ending LOL!

  • @neilmoore7194
    @neilmoore7194 3 роки тому +2

    The last part of the interview where he is told he has become a romantic and he rejects that and doesn't want to be thought as a "softie" is very lol funny.

  • @gilbertdeschamps9207
    @gilbertdeschamps9207 4 роки тому +7

    His art collection must have been worth hundreds of millions in 2020 dollars.

    • @katharinebuckman2815
      @katharinebuckman2815 3 роки тому +1

      You may not be listening carefully. Not a serious collector in his own words

    • @souldiving4197
      @souldiving4197 3 роки тому +4

      @@katharinebuckman2815 doesn’t matter if he was serious about his collection or not. Point of that fact is that it’s worth millions.

    • @marydestefano9487
      @marydestefano9487 Рік тому +1

      @@souldiving4197 Right? I absolutely agree.

    • @sclogse1
      @sclogse1 Рік тому

      No Otto Dix.

  • @songhitathakur3624
    @songhitathakur3624 2 роки тому +2

    He was Lubitsch's disciple and made such great movies .

  • @suzannevaichinger8233
    @suzannevaichinger8233 2 роки тому +1

    GENIUS!

  • @Jacksirrom
    @Jacksirrom 2 роки тому +1

    Other than the movies being really old to me, IDK why I'm just getting around to Billy Wilder. I have watched 4 of them in quick succession.

  • @CompoundNihilist
    @CompoundNihilist 2 роки тому +1

    What makes a legend most.

  • @gomezrock12
    @gomezrock12 2 роки тому +1

    what a man

  • @guileniam
    @guileniam 3 роки тому +8

    One of the most brilliant geniuses in hollywood, made some of the best films of all time.
    Yet he couldn't even get a meeting at the end of career.
    Hwood sucks.

  • @rkomgm3932
    @rkomgm3932 5 років тому +11

    What a legend rip billy
    Or as Alison said in melrose place, “Oh Billy”!

    • @Jacobias
      @Jacobias 5 років тому +5

      Most RANDOM comment, but I remember that!

    • @rkomgm3932
      @rkomgm3932 5 років тому +2

      Jazzmin Earthling thank you !

  • @bennyhannover9361
    @bennyhannover9361 5 років тому +3

    13:43 He tells from his first script for a film directed by Robert Siodmak "People on Sunday" (Menschen am Sonntag) filmed at the Cafe Kranzler Alexanderplatz Berlin

  • @julyandavis8528
    @julyandavis8528 5 років тому +7

    Wonderful. Thank you.

  • @lepetitchat123
    @lepetitchat123 3 роки тому +5

    I read he hated doing Interviews but he seemed quite chirpy here. Is it because the interviewer was French 🤣

  • @classiclife7204
    @classiclife7204 8 місяців тому +1

    I'm glad the program takes the time to discuss his later, 1970s films, which are not bad, and "Fedora" is quite good, despite its punted-around history. Wilder has to be in the discussion of the best directors ever. I'd put him Top 5. Maybe #3, behind Hitchcock and Kurosawa. He's already the greatest screenwriter. It's funny to see him and his writing partner sort of act out the writing scene from Sunset Blvd between Holden and Nancy Olson.

  • @connorbaldwin9872
    @connorbaldwin9872 2 місяці тому

    The greatest

  • @bobbysands6923
    @bobbysands6923 6 років тому +7

    Wow thanks for the post! I've seen an interview with him. Talk about a legend...

  • @danielyoung6630
    @danielyoung6630 6 років тому +4

    bravo wow! but nobodies perfect...

  • @jorgevillavicencio427
    @jorgevillavicencio427 Рік тому +1

    I am so very glad that I didn't passed over this documentary. I'm also very thankful that you posted it.
    Though I knew who Billy Wilder was, and have seen 90% of his films. I knew absolutely nothing about him as a man.
    What an incredible, self possessed, sincere, disaffected, consummate professional he was. It must've been an amazing experience for anyone who had the opportunity to work along side this genius.
    I have saved this documentary for posterity and I intend on sharing it with others fellow cinephiles.

  • @baraka256
    @baraka256 2 роки тому

    Bruh, I just realize that I have seen too much of this guy’s work 🔥

  • @CV_CA
    @CV_CA 4 роки тому +3

    He tells a story at 29:09 In another video he tells the same story but it was his and Curtis idea to go to the ladies room.

  • @pavelchernyshev3689
    @pavelchernyshev3689 4 роки тому +2

    For some mysterious reason he sounds just like zizek

  • @VarietyLevel7
    @VarietyLevel7 4 роки тому

    Sugoi!

  • @bluetoad2001
    @bluetoad2001 6 років тому +38

    hahahhaha, if you can't write direct compose act you become a producer. brilliant

    • @orbison
      @orbison 4 роки тому +5

      And if you're good, you're Robert Evans. When you're bad (in more ways than one), you're Harvey Weinstein!

  • @OnlyThe1Son
    @OnlyThe1Son Рік тому +1

    Lol... 75 years old... Drinking.. smoking.... probably stressed most of his life making pictures...
    and he lived to be 95!!!! 90% of vegan, yoga, gym freaks who wont smoke, wont drink, wont eat sweets or eat carbs wont even make it past 85! LOL
    He sold some of his art collection 7 years after this interview for like 32 million dollars... 32 million in 1989!!! thats huge money....

  • @MattRichardsonX
    @MattRichardsonX 5 років тому +6

    Another one of those videos with some bewildering thumbs-down.

  • @pillettadoinswartsh4974
    @pillettadoinswartsh4974 4 роки тому +1

    The greatest American Writer/Director was from.............................Germany.

    • @marlenamarlena1602
      @marlenamarlena1602 3 роки тому +1

      .... from Poland!

    • @katharinebuckman2815
      @katharinebuckman2815 3 роки тому +1

      Untrue- Billy was born in Austrian Hungarian Empire before WWI ruled by the Hapsbergs. The influences were Vienese from age 6. Vienna was key element in his develoopment. Leaving there to come to USA.

  • @lepetitchat123
    @lepetitchat123 5 років тому +9

    Funny to know he was a hoarder !

    • @katharinebuckman2815
      @katharinebuckman2815 3 роки тому +1

      Doubtful - since his well ordered mind produced classic diverse cinema magic. Perhaps his focus on his vocation and preference for small spaces such as the office, as he can not be bothered fussing over what he has around him. The beach is where he restores himself.

    • @lepetitchat123
      @lepetitchat123 3 роки тому +1

      @@katharinebuckman2815 "he can not be bothered fussing over what he has around him" - Then why did you say it's doubtful that he was a hoarder?

    • @katharinebuckman2815
      @katharinebuckman2815 3 роки тому

      In general as an aside, perhaps. In a diagnostic sense, hoarding is a lack of insight on top of an overrun of stuff that interferes with a safety and self sustaining life. It poses a danger to which the hoarder is blind to this state.

    • @lepetitchat123
      @lepetitchat123 3 роки тому +2

      @@katharinebuckman2815 He was a hoarder. Not an extreme one I guess. He just hoarded expensive stuff while most hoarders collect garbage

    • @zeldasmith6154
      @zeldasmith6154 Рік тому

      @@lepetitchat123 people who collect art are hoarders but they are called collectors.

  • @Larkinchance
    @Larkinchance 5 років тому +3

    I'll take the Braque

  • @marcelconstantin8497
    @marcelconstantin8497 3 роки тому +1

    anybody can please tell me what's the name of the opening track? it is marvellous...

  • @kevinmuendo9889
    @kevinmuendo9889 4 роки тому +1

    what us the music at the very beginning

  • @rarumorgan9476
    @rarumorgan9476 5 років тому

    What is the initial music?

  • @catherinemalian9558
    @catherinemalian9558 2 роки тому

    Jefdzxsuduesygxfyeiykiisuizvzutfsutjrvkrorivrrfedhrhlochhommrdonsoiblirknigorjrtjuppnvoirtrcrtrxcellenhjrkrtehevufggrvifdocffbkhbzuddiirmelefiuce

  • @josephpanzarella1417
    @josephpanzarella1417 4 роки тому +14

    Wilder's films couldn't get made now. People long ago lost interest in hearing actors speak witty dialog. And he would never have made a film with superheroes.

  • @gulmerton2758
    @gulmerton2758 3 роки тому +4

    What an interesting man! It is strange that he never got rid of such a heavy accent...

    • @marydestefano9487
      @marydestefano9487 Рік тому +2

      He didn't get to the USA until he was in his late 20s.

    • @melefth
      @melefth Рік тому +1

      People lose their accent when they want to lose their identity. Billy Wilder wanted to add new layers to his identity, not to replace it with an American one.

    • @massi6528
      @massi6528 10 місяців тому

      @@melefth "people lose their accent when they want to lose their identity"
      Incorrect 100%!

    • @melefth
      @melefth 10 місяців тому

      Care to add any argumentation there? English people in Greece don't lose their accents, becuase their 'Westernness' conveys some cultural cachet; ALbanians do (entirely), because being Albanian conveys no cultural cachet. They want to shed their identity, so they shed their accent. Billy WIlder was proud of his Hapsburg background (and probably disdainful of Hollywood and American culture)... @@massi6528

  • @deanerhockings-reptilianhu8701

    Jack Lemmon is very confusing regarding his retelling of the decision to visit the ladies room in preparation for "Some Like It Hot" - in some interviews it's Tony Curtis' idea, in some it's his - in this one, it's Billy Wilder's idea. I love love Jack Lemmon as a performer but it kind of makes me doubt anything that comes out of this guy's mouth.

  • @chipnormandy4537
    @chipnormandy4537 2 роки тому

    I would have asked why Swanson did not win Best Actress. He knew why.

  • @cibertronx
    @cibertronx 2 роки тому +1

    The joke about Russians... hilarious! What a sense of humour, with such brilliant sarcasm he had. Funny it was a kind of an American or British type of sense of humour, more than Austrian, German. Germans are not exactly known for their sense of humour.

  • @user-jf3zq9ss7t
    @user-jf3zq9ss7t 7 місяців тому

    A movie seem a boring stuff to those who don't understand it.

  • @VinnyDrugs
    @VinnyDrugs 4 роки тому +1

    He seems very agitated.

    • @katharinebuckman2815
      @katharinebuckman2815 3 роки тому +4

      More to the point active. BW's energy is from within. Active mind, creativity on the move.

  • @ThesySurface
    @ThesySurface 11 місяців тому +1

    “People meet and have a cocktail or two.” 😉