There are very few films that I consider to be truly timeless, as good today as when they were first seen by audiences in their day. Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush, Casablanca, and The Wizard of Oz are a few, and Some Like It Hot easily belongs alongside them. If theaters screened Some Like It Hot to modern day audiences accustomed to the witty wordplay of Apatow and the raunchiness of The Hangover, I know that audiences would still be roaring with laughter. Some Like It Hot takes universal themes of feminine vs. masculine, sexuality, and falling in love, and it subverts them in a way that is brilliant and sexy and hilarious. When it was released in 1959, Hollywood had never seen a movie like Some Like It Hot, and while many modern comedies borrow and try to repeat that magic, I doubt there will ever be another movie like it.
Some Like It Hot opens in Prohibition-era Chicago. Two musicians Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) are the only witnesses of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, and the whole Chicago mob is looking for them. Their only hope of escaping the city and hiding in plain sight is by dressing as women and joining an all-girls band heading to Florida. Their situation is sweetened by the band's bombshell lead singer Sugar (Marilyn Monroe), a nice girl with a bad taste in men and a particular weakness for saxophone players. As the mobsters slowly close in, Joe and Jerry try to keep up their ruse up but find themselves falling in love...or something like love.
Looking at the cast and creative talent behind Some Like It Hot, it seems like a no-brainer that the stars perfectly aligned with this film. Billy Wilder, the writer and director behind classics like Sunset Blvd. and Double Indemnity, is teamed up again with starlet Marilyn Monroe who he previously worked with on The Seven Year Itch. Tony Curtis brings the leading man looks and charisma, and rising comedy talent Jack Lemmon brings the laughs. What could go wrong?
Well, Wilder was known for being a stickler with his dialogue. His script was skillfully crafted, and he didn't want people adding or taking out his words. This was a problem for Marilyn Monroe who often had trouble remembering the simplest lines. During a difficult day of filming, Wilder actually put Marilyn's lines in the bottom of every dresser drawer and instructed Marilyn to rummage through the dresser while she said her lines. When he called action, she went to the wrong dresser. Needless to say, the film took much longer to shoot than initially planned, driving up the cost of the movie, and Wilder's problems with Some Like It Hot didn't end after he called, “That's a wrap.” The film's racy subject matter got it banned in more conservative regions, and several “family values” organizations condemned the film. Some audiences just didn't get the film and were confused by the serious nature of the Chicago mob mixed in with a sex comedy.
It is a cliched saying, but Some Like It Hot truly was a film ahead of its time. The story took on cross-dressing, homosexuality, and sexism without getting preachy, and Wilder, a director skilled at stirring up tension in his darker work, threw in a feeling of real danger which was something that the whole premise hinged on. After all, would Joe and Jerry have ever considered trying to pass themselves off as girls if these were goofy bumbling gangsters instead of ruthless killers?
More than 50 years after its first release, Some Like It Hot has proven that it will stand the test of time. If there is ever a time when Marilyn Monroe is not considered a bombshell, Jack Lemmon's maracas don't get a laugh, or Wilder's script is not considered brilliant wordplay, I don't want to live in that world. At the end of the film, Jerry's persistent suitor deadpans, “Well, nobody's perfect.” That might be true, but Some Like It Hot is damn close to perfection.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
Special features include a behind-the-scenes featurette, an interview with Tony Curtis, a look-back with four of the girls from Sweet Sue's Band, a “video scrapbook” of each actor, and the original theatrical trailer. I also must mention that the Blu-ray transfer looks and sounds exceptional, so if you have worn out your old DVD or VHS copies, by all means pick up the Blu-ray. Strike that, everyone should pick up Some Like It Hot on Blu-ray. It's a great movie. Why wouldn't you buy it?
"Some Like It Hot" is on sale May 10, 2011 and is not rated. Comedy, Crime, Musical, Romance. Written and directed by Billy Wilder. Starring Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis.
