Some Like It Hot
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"One of the defining screwball comedies, this classic from Billy Wilder notably contributed to the downfall of Hollywood’s Hays Code. Starring Marilyn Monroe alongside Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, the film’s charming cast matches a perfectly executed madcap script, making audiences howl to this day."
— MUBI's take
Some Like It Hot
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This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 1989.
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Some Like It Hot is a 1959 American black and white romantic comedy film set in 1929, directed and produced by Billy Wilder, starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon. The supporting cast includes George Raft, Pat O'Brien, Joe E. Brown, Joan Shawlee, and Nehemiah Persoff.
Why It Likes It Hot
- This film played a role in the downfall of the Hays Code.
- For brief context, the film is based on the 1951 German musical comedy Fanfaren der Liebe, which was about two unemployed musicians who go to any lengths to find work, including disguising themselves as gypsies and blacks. Dressing in drag to join an all-women orchestra, they'd travel by train to a resort hotel for an extended engagement and fall for the band's singer while fending off advances from clueless but determined men. For the American remake in 1959, Wilder kept the drag idea (while dropping the gypsies and blackface treatment), but his version became a period piece tied to the St. Valentine Day Massacre, with the gangster connection becoming a major force for the musicians -- now named saxophonist named Joe and a bassist named Jerry -- to dress in drag. The gangster subplot helps create a suspense factor the original lacked and raises the film to be a superior remake that's even more memorable than the original.
- Some Like It Hot is full of delightful references to old-time gangster movies, starting with the presence of George Raft as Spats Colombo. Edward G. Robinson was originally also supposed to appear, but he withdrew when he learned of Raft’s involvement, as the two did not get along. Robinson’s son, however, does play a small role. He is seen flipping a coin, causing Raft to sneer, “Where did you pick up that cheap trick?”—a reference to Raft’s coin-flipping character in the gangster classic Scarface (1932).
- While the majority of Fanfaren der Liebe’s plot stays the same, the additions and alterations -- most notably the snappy, vivid dialogue -- are fairly telling.
- Both films have train rides that rely on quick costume changes for jokes, but with Pullman berths instead of separate compartments, the American remake can indulge in much more intimate situations.
- A hotel manager in the German film, became a millionaire and yacht owner Osgood Fielding III in the American remake, In addition, the remake has Osgood become a completely separate character.
- Gaby, the heroine in the German film, is a cool, sophisticated brunette who quickly finds out about cross-dressing. In the American remake, the heroine was given to Marilyn Monroe, and the writers beefed up the part of the heroine -- now she's Sugar Kane Kowalczyk, a blond singer whose bad luck with men gave her a drinking problem.
- Its brilliance perhaps boils down to the fact that for all its dazzling comic lines and funny physical moments, it doesn’t rely merely on surface shtick for its laughs; its comedy goes much deeper. There's a truly funny story, laden with ironies and reversals, and tinged with moments of pathos that build a strong emotional connection between the audience and characters. It also stands as Marilyn Monroe’s most essential film, with her sex-symbol status never used more cleverly than here by director Billy Wilder.
- Marilyn Monroe was stated to have been a very difficult actress for Wilder to work with, however in the beach scene where she first meets Curtis disguised as a bored millionaire, she nailed a three-minute take on the first try with a wonderfully natural, spontaneous delivery. Wilder stated that for all of her faults, she always instinctively knew where the laugh was in any line or scene, something that is not always so obvious.
- The costumes on Joe and Jerry are very well made and make them look like women. Although the film had to be shot in black-in-white since the color tests for the film were so garish (particularly the drag outfits)
- Two factors which keep the film fresh all these decades later are the film's broadly tolerant view of sexuality and the fact that it was Monroe's last successful role
- For Billy Wilder, the film serves as a chance to evaluate his film career, and the industry in general. Similar to North by Northwest, the film looks back to the past, reworking old bits with modern technology and gently mocking faded styles and customs. They both give the current viewer a way of seeing the 1950s, with Wilder seeing the contradictions between lust and repression in popular culture. He seemed to be reverting to his past as a gigolo and a taxi driver giving 1959 viewers some decadence, perversion, and smut before calling everything a joke.
Bad Qualities
- By today’s standards, Joe’s seduction of Sugar Kane can be viewed his cruel, as he manipulates her into kissing him, by making up a tragic story about never having been able to feel anything for a woman before.
- Sugar Kane seems a bit lost and doesn’t make good eye contact
Videos
External Links
Some Like It Hot at the Internet Movie Database
Some Like It Hot on Rotten Tomatoes
Some Like It Hot on Metacritic
Some Like It Hot on Letterboxd
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