Some Like It Hot 1959

Some Like It Hot 1959

Some Like It Hot. 1959. USA. Directed by Billy Wilder. Screenplay by I. A. L. Diamond, Wilder, based on a story by Robert Thoeren, Michael Logan. With Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe. DCP. 121 min

Some Like It Hot is a 1959 American crime comedy film directed, produced and co-written by Billy Wilder. It stars Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, with George Raft, Pat O’Brien, Joe E. Brown, Joan Shawlee and Nehemiah Persoff in supporting roles

The screenplay by Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond is based on a screenplay by Robert Thoeren and Michael Logan from the 1935 French film Fanfare of Love. The film is about two musicians who disguise themselves by dressing as women to escape from mafia gangsters whom they witnessed committing a crime

Some Like It Hot opened to critical and commercial success and is considered to be one of the greatest films of all time. The film received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Actor, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, winning for Best Costume Design

In 1989, the Library of Congress selected it as one of the first 25 films for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant

Okay, admit it, you’ve seen this movie many, many times but keep coming back for the side-splitting humor, Marilyn Monroe’s bon mots, and Josephine and Daphne’s fashion sense! After musicians Joe and Jerry witness the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in Chicago, they need to get out of town fast and make some extra scratch on the run

In 1920s drag, the boys apply to join the all-woman Sweet Sue and Her Society Synchopators band and jump on a train bound for fantastic adventure—and Cheboygan

Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon won Golden Globe awards for their roles as Sugar and Jerry/Daphne, respectively

What’s the movie? Some Like it Hot of course. The genius that was Billy Wilder wrote and directed this classic in between Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and possibly his biggest hit also starring Jack Lemmon; The Apartment (1960)

Some Like it Hot remains one of cinemas best comedies and was named the funniest movie of all time. Though in black and white it looks better for it and has not dated at all

The film stars Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon as two financially struggling musicians who witness a gang related murder and have to go on the run

They do this by accepting the only job they can, playing the saxophone and bass fiddle for a girls band travelling to Florida. Hang on a minute I can hear your confusion how can they join a girls band? To escape the gangsters Curtis’ Joe and Lemmon’s’ Jerry become Josephine and Daphne and hilarity ensues

They are joined in this band by Marilyn Monroe at her finest and in one of her most memorable roles as Sugar ‘Kane’ Kowalczyk. Monroe; the definition of sex appeal in 1959 when the movie was made, was at the height of her celebrity status

So therefore it is no surprise that both men are vying for her affection, this would be rather difficult as women

So adding to an already excellent plot Curtis becomes a young millionaire with glasses, blazer and a suave Cary Grant accent who owns Shell oil, in the hopes of snaring Sugar who is determined to marry a rich man with a yacht. While Curtis is playing/wooing Sugar Jerry/Daphne is being wooed/harassed by an old millionaire played brilliantly by Joe E. Brown

Everything is going great, though bizarrely until the gangsters arrive in town, with a chaotic zinger of an ending Billy Wilder ties everything up and delivers the best last line of any comedy movie ever made

“You don’t understand Osgood I’m a man”, – “Well, nobody’s perfect” That might be so, but what is perfect is this film, it hits all the right beats, the performances are spot on, the writing could not be better; there are so many quotable lines in this movie, as Tony Curtis stated in an interview; there was no need for improvisation it was all in the script

And Billy Wilder proves he really was one of the best Directors in Hollywood and I believe he remains so to this day

Tony Curtis the last surviving cast member died in 2010, all that we have left is the movie itself but boy what a legacy to film and comedy it is. If you haven’t seen this film, I strongly recommend when you finish reading this, you sit down and watch it, you won’t be disappointed. This is Hollywood at its best

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Some Like It Hot (1959)