Some Like It Hot-1959

Some Like It Hot-1959

Director Billy Wilder

Starring Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis

Scott’s Review #388

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Reviewed March 26, 2016

Grade: A

Considered to be one of the best comedies ever made, Some Like It Hot is a funny, outlandish, yet controlled film, that never teeters too over the top or dives into outrageous camp, but rather is well written, well-acted, and contains great chemistry between the stars.

In a nutshell, it is a film where all of the elements simply come together just right. In film comedy, this is a very rare event to happen. Rather, typically we are treated to formulas or retreads of past successes.

Some Like It Hot feels refreshing and brilliant.

The film was also monumental in paving the way to the eventual elimination of the hated Hays Code, which put many restrictions on American films from 1930-1968.

Some Like It Hot pushed the envelope in important ways, leading to a spike in creativity and art within the film industry that lasted mainly throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

For that, it is a masterpiece.

Down on their luck, broke, and needing work, Jerry and Joe (Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis) are struggling jazz musicians who seek out a meager existence in snowy Chicago. Having witnessed the St. Valentine’s Day massacre, they go on the run from the assailants, who have seen them, and pose as Josephine and Daphne, dressed in drag.

This leads to one humorous situation after another as they take the bus from Chicago to Miami with an all-girl musical band, a slumber party of sorts, led by boozy starlet Sugar Kane (played by Marilyn Monroe), who serves as the band’s vocalist and ukulele player.

Once arrived in sunny Miami “the girls” both find romantic entanglements, with Sugar and rich millionaire, Osgood Fielding III, with obvious comic antics ensuing. Josephine poses as a male Shell Oil Junior in an attempt to woo Sugar with his assumed riches in the oil business.

What makes Some Like It Hot work so well, for starters, is that it does not go too far over the edge to make it seem campy, nor does it play it too straight if you will. The balance is perfect and that makes the film rich with natural, fresh comedy.

Director Billy Wilder chose wisely to film in black and white, thereby avoiding Lemmon and Curtis looking ridiculous with colorful, bright makeup. This was toned down and muted so that it allowed for more believability.

Additionally, the subtle edginess of the film impresses me with each passing watch.  Some Like It Hot got away with a lot in 1959, keeping in mind the restrictions of the day,  and that knowledge gives it a groundbreaking quality.

There is an air of homosexuality throughout and the final line of the film is my favorite allowing for a thought-provoking interpretation.

When Daphne reaches her breaking point with Osgood’s romancing and yanks off his wig professing in a state of exasperation, “I am a man!!” only to hear Osgood’s startling reply of “Well, nobody’s perfect”, is clever dialogue.

Did Osgood know all along that Daphne was male? Will he marry ‘her’ anyway?

Who wouldn’t have blushed gazing at Monroe’s skin-colored and quite revealing outfit? It gave the impression that she was nude, and how funny is the physical comic timing of Lemmon and Curtis together.

Bumbling around in stockings, heels, and dresses, attempting to be feminine, but never really succeeding, but somehow making all of the other characters think that they truly were women is great.

Curtis was reportedly quite uncomfortable in drag and it shows on camera, but this works out well as it gives Josephine a natural awkwardness.

Lemmon went all out in his costumes and his energy comes across.

In my opinion not looking her best, slightly plump and tired looking, Marilyn Monroe still gives the film added life and charm, and who is not mesmerized viewing her on stage singing “I Wanna Be Loved By You”?

To think that Monroe died only three short years later is sad and an appreciation of her career in the final stages.

A risqué, laugh-out-loud, funny treat, Some Like It Hot resonates with me and did so with audiences upon release in 1959.

Comical, smart, and highly influential, the film is a must-see for fans of film comedy done honestly and free of standard cliché.

A blueprint for all smart comedies to follow.

Oscar Nominations: 1 win-Best Director-Billy Wilder, Best Actor-Jack Lemmon, Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Best Art Direction, Black-and-White, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (won)

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