the PR department
Vanderhof. Public Relations.The Apartment · 1960 — 第 1 / 15 章 · 4'09" · B1
Baxter Swaps His Apartment Nights, Explained：throw a monkey wrench
Baxter runs his bosses' private lives from his office desk, rescheduling nights at his own apartment like a booking clerk. He bends over backwards for them, then politely asks one to switch: "You'd be doing me a great favor." The man with the apartment holds the least power in the room.
あらすじ
At his desk at Consolidated Life, C.C. Baxter spends the day on the phone, rescheduling which night each executive gets to use his apartment. He coughs through the calls, moves a booking to Wednesday, another to Friday, then hears that Personnel called — Mr. Sheldrake's secretary — and bets a coworker a dollar on whether it means a promotion or a firing.
注目の表現
type uporder the cakepencil inthrow a monkey wrench
00:00 / 04:09Space 再生 · ← → セリフ移動 · R リピート
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このシーンの表現
throw a monkey wrench
spoil the plan
Told Wednesday is out, the boss complains it wrecks his schedule.
Please don't throw a monkey wrench into our plan.
このシーンの他の表現
- type up
put into typed form
- order the cake
reserve a cake in advance
- pencil in
schedule provisionally
- do someone a great favor
help someone a lot
- make a wager
place a bet
このシーンのメモ一覧
45 行のセリフに 29 件のメモ
put into typed form
Baxter's boss hands his notes to Miss Finch and tells her to type them up.
All right, Miss Finch. Type up what we got so far.scheduled someone for
Look, I've got you down for tonight...present perfect: The present perfect here shows a booking already made and still standing.
Look, I've got you down for tonight...occupy the apartment
...but I'll be using the place myself, so I'll have to cancel.a bad cold
But I am sick. I got a terrible cold and a fever.immediately after work
I got to go to bed right after work.Got to often collapses to gotta in fast speech.
I got to go to bed right after work.have to — Spoken form of have to; too casual for writing.
I got to go to bed right after work.sweat out an illness
If you got a cold, you go to a Turkish bath. Spend the night. Sweat it out.catch pneumonia
That's how you get pneumonia. If I got pneumonia, I'd be in bed for a month.unreal conditional: A past-tense if with would describes an imagined situation, not a real one.
That's how you get pneumonia. If I got pneumonia, I'd be in bed for a month.proved the argument
OK. You made your point. We'll just have to do it next Wednesday night.schedule provisionally
While juggling bookings, Baxter says he has someone penciled in, meaning a soft reservation.
I got somebody penciled in.spoil the plan
Told Wednesday is out, the boss complains it wrecks his schedule.
Wednesday is out? Oh, that throws a little monkey wrench into my agenda.busy, unavailable
Thursday? No, I'm all tied up on Thursday.what's going on — Casual check-in; not for formal talk.
Hello? Yeah, Baxter. What's up?change to
Instead of Friday, could you possibly switch to Thursday?polite request: Could you possibly softens a request, sounding more tentative than can you.
Instead of Friday, could you possibly switch to Thursday?Could you can blur into a single sound.
Instead of Friday, could you possibly switch to Thursday?help someone a lot
Baxter asks for a schedule switch, framing it as a favor done to him.
You'd be doing me a great favor.put the call through
Consolidated Life. I'll connect you.The t and y in connect you merge in fast speech.
Consolidated Life. I'll connect you.set it for Thursday
Look, Sylvia. Instead of Friday, could we make it Thursday night?so what
All right, so we'll watch it at the apartment. Big deal!so what — Sarcastic; used to mock someone making a fuss.
All right, so we'll watch it at the apartment. Big deal!place a bet
A coworker asks whether Baxter is promoted or fired, then offers to bet on it.
- Are you getting promoted? Or fired? - Would you care to make a small wager?double the time
- I've been here twice as long as you but... - Let's say a dollar?agreed, done
It's a bet!「Baxter Swaps His Apartment Nights」を読み解く
What's really going on
The comedy is in the inversion: Baxter is a low-ranking insurance clerk, yet his whole day is spent running the romantic schedules of men far above him. He isn't asserting power — he's paying tribute, hoping the apartment buys him a future. When he tells Kirkeby "You'd be doing me a great favor," the politeness is genuine but the phrase has been turned inside out: the favor is really his to grant, and he knows it. The last beat sharpens the theme. Learning that Sheldrake's office called, a coworker asks, "Are you getting promoted? Or fired?" — and Baxter answers, "Would you care to make a small wager?" His fate is a coin flip, decided by people he serves. That's the film's bargain in miniature: access to the top always comes at someone else's price.
Theme
PowerA junior clerk runs his superiors' love lives, yet he holds no real power over them.
AmbitionBaxter lends his apartment hoping the favors will buy him a promotion.
このチャプターで学べること
- Phone favors in an office are really about who owes whom.
- Baxter stalls every boss with the same polite line.
- A borrowed key quietly turns a favor into a job.
- A bet between coworkers hides real anxiety about the call.
発音のポイント
- got to go — Got to often collapses to gotta in fast speech.
- could you — Could you can blur into a single sound.
- connect you — The t and y in connect you merge in fast speech.
If you got a cold, you go to a Turkish bath. Spend the night. Sweat it out.A boss dismisses Baxter's excuse by prescribing a Turkish bath instead of bed. The absurd advice shows how little his health matters next to the man's night at the apartment.
You'd be doing me a great favor.Baxter's polite request when asking a boss or colleague to switch nights. The irony is that the apartment is his own, yet he frames the accommodation as a favor done for him.
- Are you getting promoted? Or fired? - Would you care to make a small wager?A coworker can't tell whether Sheldrake's summons means a rise or the ax, so Baxter turns his own fate into a one-dollar bet — a joke about how little he controls it.
Wednesday is out? Oh, that throws a little monkey wrench into my agenda.Eichelberger's response to losing his usual night. He treats a scheduling clash like a broken machine, and his agenda is really his affair, not work.
このシーンについての質問
Why does Baxter lend his apartment to his bosses at all?
He's a junior clerk at a big insurance company, and lending the place is how he buys goodwill. The bosses reward him with good reviews and hints of promotion, so he keeps saying yes even when it costs him his own nights and his health.
Why does Baxter say he's sick?
It's his excuse for wanting to keep the apartment one night. But the boss on the phone brushes it aside with the Turkish-bath line, and Baxter's weak comeback about pneumonia only proves he has no leverage.
What does "throw a monkey wrench" mean here?
It's an idiom for disrupting a plan. Eichelberger says the changed Wednesday "throws a little monkey wrench into my agenda" — though his agenda is an affair, not a business meeting.
Why do Baxter and his coworker bet on his future?
Sheldrake's secretary has called, and nobody knows if Baxter is being promoted or fired. Turning it into a one-dollar wager is the office's way of laughing at how arbitrary his fate is.
Does the scene show Baxter enjoying his arrangements?
Not really. He coughs through the calls and ends up betting on his own job. The sequence plays as comedy, but it mostly shows a man working hard to be used by people above him.
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次のチャプター · 第 2 章out of handSheldrake Grills Baxter About the Key
再生中 · 第 1 章throw a monkey wrenchBaxter Swaps His Apartment Nights
第 2 章out of handSheldrake Grills Baxter About the Key
第 3 章go to wasteBaxter Meets Fran at the Theatre
第 4 章kid yourselfFran Turns Sheldrake Down at the Booth
第 5 章all that jazzThe Bosses Welcome Baxter to His Office
第 6 章stood me upBaxter Asks Fran Out at the Party
第 7 章ancient historySheldrake Leaves Fran on Christmas Eve
第 8 章might as wellBaxter Picks Up Mrs. MacDougall
第 9 章out of the woodsDreyfuss Saves Fran and Scolds Baxter
第 10 章touch and goBaxter Calls Sheldrake About Fran
第 11 章good-time CharlieFran Rehearses the Cover Story
第 12 章from the word goFran Tells Baxter Her Life Story
第 13 章can't say noBaxter Saves Fran From a Gas Leak
第 14 章had it comingBaxter's Dinner for Two Is Interrupted
第 15 章take someone off your handsSheldrake Takes Fran off Baxter's Hands第 1 / 15 章 · 残り約 55 分