Editing Billy Wilder (section)

=== 1950s ===
[[File:Gloria Swanson & Billy Wilder - ca. 1950.JPG|thumb|175px|right|[[Gloria Swanson]] with Wilder on the set of ''Sunset Boulevard'']]
In 1950, Wilder co-wrote and directed the cynical noir film ''[[Sunset Boulevard (film)|Sunset Boulevard]]''. It follows a reclusive silent film actress ([[Gloria Swanson]]), who dreams of a comeback with delusions of her greatness from a bygone era. She accompanies an aspiring screenwriter ([[William Holden]]), who becomes her [[gigolo]] partner. This critically acclaimed film was the final film Wilder collaborated with Brackett. The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards; together Wilder and Brackett won the [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay]].

In 1951, Wilder directed ''[[Ace in the Hole (1951 film)|Ace in the Hole]]'' (a.k.a. ''The Big Carnival'') starring [[Kirk Douglas]] in a tale of media exploitation of a caving accident. The idea had been pitched over the phone to Wilder's secretary by [[Victor Desny]]. Desny sued Wilder for breach of an implied contract in the California copyright case ''Wilder v Desny'', ultimately receiving a settlement of $14,350.<ref>46 Cal.2d 715, 299 P.2d 257, CAL. 1956.</ref><ref>Sikov, Ed. ''On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder'', Hyperion Press, 1998, p. 328</ref> Although a critical and commercial failure at the time, its reputation has grown over the years. The following year, Wilder announced plans to direct and produce a film version of the [[Sophocles]] [[tragedy]] ''[[Oedipus Rex]]'', adapted for the screen by [[Walter Reisch]]. They planned to shoot the film on location in [[Greece]] in [[Technicolor]],<ref>{{cite news|last=Pryor|first=Thomas M.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1952/09/05/archives/billy-wilder-lists-oedipus-rex-film-plans-to-produce-technicolor.html|title=BILLY WILDER LISTS 'OEDIPUS REX' FILM; Plans to Produce Technicolor Version of Sophocles Tragedy in Greek Locale Next Year|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=September 5, 1952|access-date=June 13, 2024}}</ref> but it never went into production.

Subsequently, Wilder directed three adaptations of Broadway plays, war drama ''[[Stalag 17]]'', for which William Holden won the Best Actor Academy Award, romantic comedy ''[[Sabrina (1954 film)|Sabrina]]'', for which [[Audrey Hepburn]] was nominated for Best Actress, and romantic comedy ''[[The Seven Year Itch]]'', which features the iconic image of [[Marilyn Monroe]] standing on a subway grate as her white dress is blown upwards by a passing train. Wilder was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for the first two films and shared a nomination for Best Screenplay for the second. He was interested in doing a film with one of the classic slapstick comedy acts of the Hollywood Golden Age. He first considered, and rejected, a project to star [[Laurel and Hardy]]. He held discussions with [[Groucho Marx]] concerning a new [[Marx Brothers]] comedy, tentatively titled ''A Day at the U.N''. The project was abandoned after [[Chico Marx]] died in 1961.<ref name="Gore">Gore, Chris (1999). ''The Fifty Greatest Movies Never Made'', New York: St. Martin's Griffin</ref>

In 1957, three films Wilder directed were released: [[biopic]] ''[[The Spirit of St. Louis (film)|The Spirit of St. Louis]]'', starring [[James Stewart]] as [[Charles Lindbergh]], romantic comedy ''[[Love in the Afternoon (1957 film)|Love in the Afternoon]]''—Wilder's first screenplay with [[I. A. L. Diamond]], who would become his regular partner—featuring [[Gary Cooper]], [[Maurice Chevalier]] and Audrey Hepburn, and courtroom drama ''[[Witness for the Prosecution (1957 film)|Witness for the Prosecution]]'', featuring [[Tyrone Power]], [[Marlene Dietrich]] and [[Charles Laughton]]. Wilder received an Academy Award nomination for Best Director for the last film.

[[File:Some like it hot film poster.jpg|thumb|left|Curtis, Lemmon and Monroe in ''[[Some Like It Hot]]'']]
In 1959, Wilder reunited with Monroe in the United Artists released Prohibition-era farce film ''[[Some Like It Hot]]''. It was released, however, without a [[Motion Picture Production Code|Production Code]] seal of approval, which was withheld due to the film's unabashed sexual comedy, including a central cross-dressing theme. [[Jack Lemmon]] and [[Tony Curtis]] played musicians disguised as women to escape pursuit by a Chicago gang. Curtis's character courts a singer (Monroe), while Lemmon is wooed by [[Joe E. Brown (comedian)|Joe E. Brown]]{{snd}}setting up the film's final joke in which Lemmon reveals that his character is a man and Brown blandly replies "Well, nobody's perfect". A box office success, the film was lightly regarded by film critics during its original release, although it did receive six Academy Award nominations, including for Best Director and Best Screenplay. But its critical reputation grew prodigiously; in 2000, the [[American Film Institute]] selected it as the best American comedy ever made.<ref>{{cite web |title=AFI's 100 Funniest American Movies Of All Time |url=http://www.afi.com/100Years/laughs.aspx |work=[[American Film Institute]] |date=2000 |access-date=June 6, 2016}}</ref> In 2012, the [[British Film Institute]] decennial ''[[Sight and Sound]]'' poll of the world's film critics rated it as the 43rd best movie ever made, and the second-highest-ranking comedy.<ref>{{cite web |title=Critics' top 100 |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/critics |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207035347/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/critics |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 7, 2016 |work=[[British Film Institute]] |date=2012 |access-date=June 6, 2016}}–</ref>