Two musicians on the run from the mob don drag and meet sweet Sugar

Rating: 10/10 (19 December 2012)

Some Like It Hot is a retelling of a West German tale titled Fanfaren der Liebe (1951) (Fanfares of Love) beautifully directed by Billy Wilder with an all-star cast including the eternal beauty of Marilyn Monroe, and comedy styling's of Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. With a central prolific theme that has been told more than once and yet is just as prevalent today as it ever was or will be: What we want and what we need are often two separate things. However, under the expertise of Wilder, the pure star quality of cast and crew shine out all the more. The gags come thick and fast with almost every sequence either a set up for the next gag or a gag in the making. Some Like It Hot is a tale that begins with a bitterly cold February in Chicago 1929, which two musicians find themselves on the run from the mob, after witnessing the Saint Valentines Massacre. Our intrepid hero's Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) disguise themselves as female musicians Josephine (Curtis) and Daphne (Lemmon), and join an all-girl orchestra bound for Miami.
Leaving behind a bitter Chicago winter, they meet the intoxicating Sugar Kane Kowalczyk (Marilyn Monroe), which Jerry remarks "Look how she moves. Like Jell-O on springs. She must have some sort of built-in motor. I tell you, it's a whole different sex."(Jack Lemmon Some Like It Hot 1959) Henceforth comedy ensues with the gags coming thick and fast, lightening reflexes with the dialogue between Joe, Jack and Sugar and perfect comedic timing between them.
A testament to all that is womanhood, has yet to be a finer than Marilyn Monroe, seemingly poured into the gowns lovingly crafted by Australian costume designer Orry-Kelly, with neck lines and translucent qualities that would even have the censors of today raising eyebrows. With her classic solo of "I Wanna Be Loved by You." Albeit Marilyn does not have the best singing voice, which is superfluous when one considers the situation, a pretty girl standing in front of an orchestra and singing a song. Monroe and Wilder turn it into one of the most blatantly sexual scenes in the movies.
Monroe wears a clinging, see-through dress, gauze covering the upper slopes of her breasts, the neckline scooping to a censor's eyebrow north of trouble. Wilder places her in the centre of a round spotlight that does not simply illuminate her from the waist up, but toys with her like a secondary neckline, dipping and clinging as Monroe moves her body higher and lower in the light with teasing precision.
All the time Monroe seems oblivious to the effect of singing this song so innocently. To experience that scene is to affirm as to why no other actor since, male or female has more sexual chemistry with the camera.
Underneath all the frills, bold sexual symbolism, and gender bending, the movie is ultimately about Joe and Jerry (Curtis and Lemmon) with truly outstanding supporting characters like Osgood Fielding III (Joe E. Brown) and Spats Colombo (George Raft). While Joe (Curtis) when not in drag introduces himself as the Shell Oil heir and wickedly parodies Cary Grant's unmistakable accent in brilliant fashion, so much so that when Daphne/Jerry (Lemmon) says accusingly "And where did you get that phoney accent? Nobody talks like that!" Jerry (Lemmon) gets the fuzzy end of the lollipop taking the selfless route and entertains a real millionaire whose yacht is being used by Joe (Curtis) in an attempt to seduce Sugar (Monroe). Daphne (Lemmon) is so unlike a real woman in mannerism as much as appearance that when real millionaire Osgood (Joe E. Brown) attempts to wine and dine him, it is hilarious that he cannot see behind Jerry's (Lemmon) disguise. With Osgood seducing Jerry (Lemmon) on the dance floor and Joe (Curtis) seducing Sugar (Monroe) on the yacht is both romantic and wickedly funny at the same time. The payoff happens during the following morning, when Joe returns to their room to find Jerry now engaged to Osgood. Keep an eye Jack Lemmon (Jerry/Daphne) during this scene; he is so energetic, so full of life, almost to the point of hamming it up with his castanets. Jerry/Daphne (Lemmon) is exquisite in this sequence. He is deliriously happy at finding his soul mate. He is so hilariously convincing that even when asked by Joe (Curtis), "Why would a guy want to marry a guy?" that we completely buy it when he answers, "Security!" Even though the violence in this gem of the silver screen is neither satire nor comedy but visceral and grim, which adds to the overall feel that the Hero's (Joe and Jerry) very lives are in peril and we joyously buy every gag and punch line that Billy Wilder expertly delivers to us. I do not believe I am alone in the opinion that Wilder was one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century. Escaping Europe before World War II, Wilder set about commenting on the world around him with a sensibility and awareness seldom seen in cinema today. Yet he could create a film that, yes has a darker undertone of the mob's ruthlessness, but oh so wonderfully light hearted and romantic characters that once they realized what they wanted wasn't what they needed, and that they needed no pretence to attain what they desired. Simply put Some Like It Hot is one of those timeless classics that are just as relevant and amusing today as it was when it was released. It captured one of those great moments in movie-making, where a film no longer is a simple representative of its period, but has transcended itself to become something that is truly timeless. Osgood (Brown) delivers the best curtain line in the movies. If you have seen the movie, you know what it is, and if you have not, you deserve to hear it for the first time from him.