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These days, comedic directors seem to be competing to see who can be the most outrageous—who can shock audiences the most with their crude, irreverent humor. Call me old-fashioned, but I still prefer the shocking comedy of director Billy Wilder’s 1959 cross-dressing classic, Some Like It Hot.
Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) are trying to make ends meet as musicians, but they aren’t having much luck. Desperate to take any job that’s available, they agree to play a Valentine’s Day dance 100 miles away—but, on the way, they witness a mob massacre and barely escape with their lives.
With bloodthirsty gangster Spats Columbo (George Raft) and his men eager to silence the two witnesses, Joe and Jerry need to leave town without being noticed. So, posing as female musicians Josephine and Daphne, they join Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopators, an all-girl band that’s leaving Chicago for a three-week gig in Florida.
On the way to Florida with their unsuspecting new band mates, Joe and Jerry both fall for beautiful singer / ukulele player Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe). And once they arrive at their hotel, Joe pulls out all the stops to make her fall in love with him.
Back in 1959, this irreverent, boundary-pushing comedy must have been even more shocking than Judd Apatow’s most outrageous productions. Now, however, it’s just a lovable madcap classic, complete with roaring ‘20s mobster action, twisted romance, and even a few musical numbers.
If you really wanted to do so, you could learn a lot about things like gender roles and attitudes by watching Some Like It Hot. As Josephine and Daphne, Joe and Jerry find themselves in completely unfamiliar territory. It’s interesting to watch the two men discover what it’s really like to be a woman—both through their own experiences and from their candid conversations with their band mates—and to be on the other end of the jeers, the catcalls, and the awkward relationships.
If you’re not interested in the sociology lessons, though, Some Like It Hot is simply a brilliant comedy, written with the perfect balance of slapstick antics and sharp wit. And its stars couldn’t be much better—especially Oscar nominee Lemmon, who completely opens himself up to the ridiculous notion of spending most of the film in drag. He fully embraces the insanity—and, as such, his performance stands out.
Meanwhile, despite her notoriously maddening on-set behavior (when she managed to show up, that is), Monroe is as sweet and sultry as she ever was as Sugar, the bourbon-swilling songstress who’s determined to fall in love with a millionaire during her three weeks in Florida. Sugar is playful and fun-loving and adorably naïve, but there’s a hint of rebellion that makes her all the more appealing—and her costumes alone must have stirred up quite a bit of scandal.
It may not be as outrageous today as it was in 1959, but Some Like It Hot is a classic that’s worth watching again and again. Thanks to its lovable cast and its remarkable comedic writing, there’s nothing not to like about this hot little comedy.
Blu-ray Review:
Not only does the Blu-ray edition of Some Like It Hot present the comedy classic in crisp black and white, but it also comes complete with oodles of extras (so many, in fact, that it might make you say “Zowie!”).
Special features include a 25-minute making-of feature (which includes interviews with Wilder, Lemmon, Curtis, and others) and a 20-minute feature on the film’s legacy, as well as more documentaries, the original trailer, galleries, a commentary track, and more.
Since the film’s stars are no longer with us (Curtis, the last remaining cast member, passed away in September of 2010), the interviews are quite old—mostly from the film’s 25th anniversary celebration—but they’re still fascinating to watch. And fans of the film will love watching the behind-the-scenes footage and hearing the cast members’ recollections.
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