Some Like It Hot, written by Billy Wilder and
I.A.L. Diamond suggested by stories by Robert Thoeren and Michael Logan
10 out of 10
Notes and
thoughts on other books are available at:
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVa4_CsRStSBBDo4uJWT8BSWtTTn0N1E and http://realini.blogspot.ro/
Some Like
It Hot is one of the best films ever made, included on various prestigious
lists, including my favorite top 50.
It is on
the All-TIME 100 Movies list:
the writer
and director Billy Wilder is also one of the best in the “Screen Trade”, winner
of Six Academy Awards and responsible for masterpieces like:
-
Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard,
The Seven Years Itch, The Apartment and perhaps his best: Some Like It Hot
Leading the
cast is the incredible Marilyn Monroe, also in one of her best, if not their
top performance in this fantastic comedy.
Jack Lemmon
as Jerry and then Daphne and Tony Curtis as Joe aka Josephine aka Shell Oil
Junior have written pages of cinema history here.
Joe and
Jerry are two musicians that are accidental witnesses of a bloody attack by
mobsters led by Spats Colombo.
They are
desperate to get out of town and remain alive, for they know what the mafia
does to those who see their murders.
Alas, the
only way out of town, in a band of musicians is to join a band of…women performers
and they take the ticket.
They arrive
at the train station and watch with infinite desire the passing Marilyn Monroe
in a scene that is also included in cinema history.
Joe and
Jerry have now become Josephine and Daphne respectively, but they both long for
the beautiful Sugar Kane Kowalczyk aka Marilyn Monroe.
When they
reach Florida, another historical moment is staged, where a line of men, all
sitting on chairs, look after the all-girl band, moving at the same time- legs,
necks and all…
Joe has an
idea about how to seduce Sugar, who told him/her about her dreams of meeting a
young, rich playboy.
So Joe is
no longer Josephine, at least for a while, as he dresses again as a man, Shell
Oil Junior to be more precise.
This rich
contraption has a yacht and more importantly, a cunning plan to conquer the
heart of any woman- maybe.
One could
think of the greatest writer ever- Marcel Proust, who says in Remembrance of
Things Past that we want what we do not have.
And Shell
Oil- what a wondrous name- is not interested in women, although he has tried to
see an analyst about that…
Meanwhile,
Jerry stays in the shoes and clothes of Daphne and a real millionaire, Osgood
Fielding III becomes infatuated with him/her.
The result
is hilarious and the writers have been using comedy for what may be subversive
themes for the time.
Behind all
the laughter, there may be a message of tolerance and acceptance, in a period
when homosexuality was illegal.
This is not
a gay themed film, but the idea that a man can be attracted by another male,
albeit dressed as a woman could be seen as advanced for 1959.
-
“Jerry: Have I got things to tell
you!
-
Joe: What happened?
-
Jerry: I'm engaged.
-
Joe: Congratulations. Who's the
lucky girl?
-
Jerry: I am!”
Well, how
much funnier or subversive the dialogue can get? The answer is in the next
quote form this magnificent, glorious comedy:
-
“Jerry: Oh no you don't! Osgood, I'm
gonna level with you. We can't get married at all.
-
Osgood: Why not?
-
Jerry: Well, in the first place, I'm
not a natural blonde.
-
Osgood: Doesn't matter.
-
Jerry: I smoke! I smoke all the
time!
-
Osgood: I don't care.
-
Jerry: Well, I have a terrible past.
For three years now, I've been living with a saxophone player.
-
Osgood: I forgive you.
-
Jerry: [tragically] I can never have
children!
-
Osgood: We can adopt some.
-
Jerry: But you don't understand,
Osgood! Ohh...[Jerry finally gives up and pulls off his wig]
-
Jerry: [normal voice] I'm a man!
-
Osgood: [shrugs] Well, nobody's
perfect! [Jerry looks on with disbelief as Osgood continues smiling with
indifference…”
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