Ahead of its time

Rating: Null/10 (6 March 2019)

Directed by Billy Wilder and starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, this comedy follows two musicians (Curtis and Lemmon) during the Prohibition Era. The two friends have to flee for their lives after they attract the attention of gangsters in the worst way possible. The solution? Pull on a dress and join an all-female band headed for Florida. What else? Things start to derail when they lay eyes on Sugar (Monroe) and become instantly smitten.
Some Like It Hot has topped more than one list as the best comedy ever made. And yes, there is some truth to that. It is a very good comedy. Especially given its age.
It has been said that the pinnacle of humour is a dude in drag. And here we have two. The film was made near the end of the so called Hays Code era. This list of rules set very strict rules for what could be shown on screen and what kind of stories could be told, but towards its end these rules were not as ardently enforced. Still, I can imagine that this film was something of a game changer. Men in drag, Monroe's many many curves flashing all around, and plenty of jokes about flirting, fooling women, homosexuality and about how insulted the two main characters are when they're objectified while posing as women.
The film is sixty years old now, and while it was very progressive when it came out, it suffers from the gender stereotypes of its day. I don't believe you would see a modern film where Monroe's character was lead around quite so blatantly. Or at the very least it wouldn't be shown as something quite as acceptable.
Well okay, they definitely could make a film with such a plot nowadays, but it wouldn't be seen as one of the greatest films ever made. It would have to fight to reach a B-movie status.
And that's the great divide of this film. If you believe that films (or any art, really) shouldn't be given a pass for giving offense because of its age, then this is not a movie for you. It has a wide misogynistic streak. But, if you're willing to accept that it was made in the middle of the last century and that despite its best intentions, it does show some bias when it comes to gender roles, then I'd say that it is a very well written, acted and directed movie that will definitely stay with you.