I was lucky enough to first see this film in a theater, at a university cinema club screening. It's a common cliche to talk about "rolling on the floor laughing," but this was the only film where I actually got down on the floor and rolled. And of course, there was Marilyn. After viewing this movie, my eternally unfulfillable fantasy became to be cured of frigidity as Tony Curtis's character is.
Recently, I have read about the making of the film: how Marilyn suffered a miscarriage, and had extreme difficulty learning her lines. Jack Lemmon evidently treated her with compassion, adding to my already great admiration for this man, a fine actor and decent human being. Tony Curtis, on the other hand, hated her and compared the scenes where he kissed her to "kissing Hitler." To which, I can only respond, "what an [seven-letter `a'-word]." Luckily, none of this alters the film's content (Curtis's character is already something of a putz).
It is Chicago during prohibition, right at the end of the roaring twenties. Down-on-their-luck musicians Jerry and Joe (Lemmon and Curtis) witness a mob murder, and flee to Florida in drag, playing for a girls' band. If you can overcome the knowledge that there isn't a person alive who would mistake Lemmon and Curtis for women, then you can certainly buy the cockamamie plot and unbelievable coincidences.
It's not until the "girls" join the band that the real fun begins. Jerry, calling himself Daphne, endears himself to Sugar Kane (Marilyn, who else?). They have a great scene together in Jerry/Daphne's Pullman berth. The more he is aroused, the funnier he gets. Once they reach Florida, it is Joe/Josephine (Curtis) who tries to woo Sugar, in the guise of "Shell Oil Jr." Curtis was to use his Cary Grant imitation from here in many future occasions. Jerry tries to spoil his partner's romance, but is hindered by a zany old millionaire (Joe E. Brown) who is crazy for Daphne.
What makes the movie so funny? Is it just the sight of men in drag? Or is it, as I suspect, the idea that men could so quickly come to love becoming women? Witness, for example, the scene where Jerry/Daphne is lying on the bed, playing the maracas. If you don't find that scene funny, not only don't you have a sense of humor, you're dead, my friend.
Monroe and Lemmon deliver the performances of their careers as Sugar and Jerry/Daphne. From Sugar's would-be lover, to Curtis's competitor, to collaborator, to the unwilling object of another's affections, Lemmon is consistently convincing. This was his great role: although he is a convincing dramatic actor, he is peerless in comedy. His Oscar for Save the Tiger was, more than anything, an apology for not giving him the Oscar here. Monroe plays the dumb blonde role, adding quite a bit of poignancy. Her line (about drinking), "I could quit if I want to, but I don't want to," reveals so much about the character as well as Monroe herself, that it almost hurts. She is extraordinarily sexy, as in the scene on the yacht: there isn't a hetero man alive who wouldn't be turned on by her. Also, she really sells her three songs. "Running Wild," "I Want to Be Loved by You," and "I'm Through with Love," all become instant classics with her inimitable breathy performance.
Tony Curtis gets his share of laughs, though he doesn't throw himself into the drag scenes with the glee that Lemmon does. Joe E. Brown may be a bit of the old vaudeville ham, but he remains very funny. George Raft and the remaining gangsters are all stereotypical but effective.
The Billy Wilder-I.A.L. Diamond screenplay is a modern classic, full of wry one-liners and many opportunities for physical humor, which Wilder stages in a lively manner. See, for instance, the wild transitions between Curtis and Monroe kissing on the yacht and Lemmon and Brown tangoing in the roadhouse. It's probably safe to say that Some Like it Hot was the career highlight for everyone associated with it, Appropriately, the film was a hit upon release and has never lost favor with critics or audiences.
Four stars
Copyright 1997 by Dale G. Abersold
