Oscars for MM, Jack Lemmon, Joe E Brown, Wilder and Picture

Rating: 10/10 (1 December 2010)

Some Like It Hot is arguably the funniest movie ever made. I remember when the picture was announced, and MM had been off the screen for a while. I was so happy to see MM back to work and anticipated its release. In my wildest hopes could I ever image the classic picture it became.
Billy Wilder initially wanted Frank Sinatra to star with Jack Lemmon. Mitzi Gaynor was to be Sugar Kane. However when MM found out about the script her agents approached Wilder and after clearing the pix with her home studio 20th Century Fox MM became Sugar Kane in this UA pic and an immortal iconic portrayal resulted. We all know of the battles MM had with Wilder and their mutual antagonism towards each other. Such is the price of Genius. Tony Curtis replaced Sinatra and the billing was Monroe-Curtis-Lemmon. Curtis who recently died carped about MM all his life and I feel some of it is because MM took an essentially supporting role and made it the star role. While Curtis was excellent Jack Lemmon is magnificent. A special notation should be for Joe E Brown who was retired but cameback to work and gave an memorable performance.
"Some Like It Hot' is very sophisticated today, 50 years ago it was stunning. Two Men in drag, and one may have as the saying goes "jumped the fence" and lived with another man in a relationship!
No praise is enough for this film and those artists who worked on it and I feel Marilyn Monroe should have won Best Actress ( MM wasn't even nominated!), Jack Lemmon should have won Best Actor and Joe E Brown Best Supporting Actor. Billy Wilder should have won for Best Director and the Picture itself should have won for Best Picture.
Bravo Wilder, Monroe, Lemmon, Brown!!