The Greatest Cross-Dressing Comedy Ever!!!

Rating: 10/10 (5 April 2010)

"Double Indemnity" director Billy Wilder created the ultimate cross-dressing comedy with "Some Like It Hot." The sight of Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon dressed up as a couple of female is unforgettable! Wilder and long-time collaborator I.A.L. Diamond based their screenplay on "Fanfaren der Liebe" (1951), an original German musical. This lively farce about men masquerading as women juggles broard slapstick with sly sexual innuendo. The premise that two hopelessly red-blooded American guys could conceal themselves in a woman's only band is outrageous. Indeed, despite the amendments made to the Production Code in the wake of the Frank Sinatra classic "The Man with the Golden Arm," "Some Like It Hot" managed to raise a lot of eyebrows. United Artists released the film without the MPAA logo in the credits or title sequence because the Production Code refused to give it their approval. Similarly, the Roman Catholic Legion of Decency gave "Some Like It Hot" their "C" rating which stands for 'condemned.' Believe it or not, Bob Hope starred in another movie called "Some Like It Hot" in 1939, but it shared on similarities with the 1959 movie aside from having the same title.
The action unfolds in Chicago, 1929, as the police pursue a hearse and riddle it with gunfire. The guys riding in the back of the hearse aren't funeral attendants. Instead, they are some rough-looking mobsters armed with pump-action shotguns. They manage to elude the cops, but irreparable damage has been done. They raise the lid on the coffin and several bottles of shattered bootleg hooch are among the many other bottles. Notorious hoodlum Spats Columbo (George Raft of "Background to Danger"), owns a speak easy that served liquor in coffee cups. Chicago Detective Mulligan (Pat O'Brien of "Angels with Dirty Faces") busts up the party at Mozarella's and has some tough words with Spats. Meanwhile, Joe (Tony Curtis of "The Vikings") and Jerry (Jack Lemmon of "Mister Roberts") give the police the slip and escape. Joe wagers everything that they have on a 10-to-1 dog, Greased Lightning, at the race track and they come up losers. Sig Poliakoff (Billy Gray of "Two for the Seesaw") gets them a one-night stand in Urbana, but the boys have no car. Joe talks an old girlfriend out of her green coupe for the 100 miles that they have to drive. The musicians head for the garage, but complications ensue. They take refuge behind a car and witness the infamous "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" and they can identify the ringleader, who had his men wipe out another gang in a blaze of gunfire.
Jerry and Joe are so desperate to clear out of the Windy City that they dress up in drag so they can get a job with an all-girl band scheduled to play in Florida. They change their names to Josephine and Geraldine, but Jerry has second thoughts and changes his name to Daphne. They climb aboard the train to Florida. The upper berth scene on the train is a classic. Earlier, Jerry covered for Sugar Kane (Marilyn Moore of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes") when she dropped her flask after a performance on the train. Sweet Sue (Joan Shawlee of "Prehistoric Women") and her manager Beinstock (Dave Barry of "High Society") had warned Sugar that they don't approve of her drinking and will drop her from the band if they catch her with a drop of liquor. Anyway, Sugar climbs into Daphne's berth above Josephine's berth and before they realize it all the girls in the band are mixing up drinks and bringing crackers. When the girls drop ice down Daphne's back, it is just too much for Jerry and he yanks on the emergency brake cord. After they arrivein Florida, Daphne has to deal with elderly tycoon Osgood Fielding II(Joe E. Brown of "Earthworm Tractors") who pinches her/him in the elevator, while Joe disguises himself as a millionaire with a yacht, Junior, and turns his charm on Sugar. Since Sugar has a weakness for men with glasses, Joe sports spectacles as Junior. Eventually, Columbo and his henchmen migrate south and show up at the hotel.
The ending is hilarious!