Legendary filmmaker Billy Wilder becomes the 14th recipient of The American Film Institute Life Achievement Award as clips from a number of his classic films are unreeled: "The Major and the Minor," "Double Indemnity," "The Lost Weekend," "Sunset Blvd.," "Ace in the Hole," "Stalag 17," "Sabrina," "Love in the Afternoon," "Some Like it Hot," "The Apartment," "Irma La Douce," "The Fortune Cookie," and "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes." Host Jack Lemmon welcomes Walter Matthau, Ginger Rogers, Tony Curtis, Shirley MacLaine, Don Ameche, Charles Durning, Jessica Lange, Whoopi Goldberg, Fred MacMurray, Carol Burnett and Audrey Hepburn to kid and salute him. A loving tribute to the remarkable Mr. Wilder.
—alfiehitchie