Runnin' Wild with Curtis, Lemmon, and Monroe...

Rating: 9/10 (20 April 2011)

Brazen, rambunctious, lascivious comedy, expertly written by Billy Wilder (who also directed) and I.A.L. Diamond from a story by R. Thoeren and Michael Logan. High-spirited slapstick, with both sharp and soft edges, involves two luckless Prohibition-era musicians in Chicago who inadvertently witness the St. Valentine's Day massacre; they take it on the lam after disguising themselves as women, becoming part of an all-female jazz combo! Hilarious film still delivers the goods, from Tony Curtis' Cary Grant impression (to win over chanteuse Marilyn Monroe) to Jack Lemmon inexplicably falling for a wacky elderly millionaire (the priceless Joe E. Brown). Only in the more subdued seduction scenes between Curtis and Monroe does the film's pacing flag; otherwise, boffo entertainment. ***1/2 from ****