A 60s movie that invests a lot of energy being current for its time but really runs out of gas because of it.

There are a number of sly references to cultural norms in this film, generation gaps, bosses and employees, communist...
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A 60s movie that invests a lot of energy being current for its time but really runs out of gas because of it.

There are a number of sly references to cultural norms in this film, generation gaps, bosses and employees, communist influence in Europe, etc. They all come across as very dated - not in their own right but because Wilder insists on making them all "clever" thow-aways. It really doesn't work and in a way Cagney is way too frenetic trying to pull it all together. He's almost breathless in his rapid-fire delivery.

An almost textbook example of film at the time, a mix of what was thought to be serious and frivolous and so, "adult" - but an illusion even at the time it was made.