Some Like It Hot

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For other uses, see Some Like It Hot (disambiguation).
Some Like It Hot

theatrical poster
Directed by Billy Wilder
Produced by Ashton Productions / Mirisch Company
Written by Billy Wilder
I. A. L. Diamond
Starring Marilyn Monroe
Tony Curtis
Jack Lemmon
George Raft
Joe E. Brown
Music by Adolph Deutsch
Cinematography Charles Lang
Editing by Arthur P. Schmidt
Distributed by United Artists
Release date(s) March 29, 1959
Running time 120 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $2,883,848
IMDb profile

Some Like It Hot is a 1959 comedy film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon. The supporting cast includes George Raft, Joe E. Brown, Pat O'Brien, and Nehemiah Persoff.

The film was adapted by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond from the story by Robert Thoeren and Michael Logan. Logan had already written the story (but without the gangsters) for a German film, Fanfaren der Liebe (directed by Kurt Hoffmann, 1951), so that Wilder's film is seen by some as a remake.

In 2000, the American Film Institute listed Some Like It Hot as the greatest American comedy film of all time.


Contents

[edit] Plot

Marilyn Monroe as Sugar Kane in Some Like It Hot
Marilyn Monroe as Sugar Kane in Some Like It Hot

Two struggling musicians, Joe and Jerry (Curtis and Lemmon), witness what looks like the Saint Valentine's Day massacre of 1929. When the Chicago gangsters, led by 'Spats' Columbo (Raft) spot them, the duo flee for their lives. They escape and decide to leave town, only to find the sole out-of-town jobs available are in an all-girl band headed to Florida. The two disguise themselves as women, calling themselves Josephine and Geraldine (later Jerry changes his pseudonym to Daphne), join the band and board a train. Joe and Jerry both fall for "Sugar Kane"(Monroe), the band's sexy Polish-American vocalist and ukulele player, and fight for her affection while maintaining their disguises.

In Florida, Joe woos Sugar by assuming a second disguise as a millionaire named "Junior", the heir to Shell Oil, while mimicking Cary Grant's voice. An actual millionaire, Osgood Fielding III (Brown), falls for Jerry in his Daphne guise. One night Osgood asks Daphne out to his yacht. Joe convinces Daphne to keep Osgood ashore while he goes on the yacht with Sugar. That night Osgood proposes to Daphne who, in a state of excitement, accepts.

When the mobsters arrive at the same hotel for a conference honoring "Friends of Italian Opera", Spats and his gang spot Joe and Jerry. After several humorous chases (and witnessing yet another mob murder), Jerry, Joe, Sugar, and Osgood escape to the millionaire's yacht. Enroute, Sugar tells Joe that she's in love with him and not with "Junior". Jerry, for his part, tries to explain to Osgood that he can't marry him, but Osgood is oblivious to all of Jerry's objections and remains determined -- to the very end—to go through with the love match; finally, Jerry removes the wig and yells, "I'm a man!", prompting Osgood to utter the movie's memorable last line: "Well, nobody's perfect."

[edit] Cast

Cover of VHS release
Cover of VHS release

[edit] Production

The film was originally planned to be filmed in full color, but after several screen tests, it had to be changed to black and white because of a very obvious 'green tint' around the heavy make-up required by Curtis and Lemmon when portraying Josephine and Daphne.

The Florida segment was filmed at Hotel Del Coronado in Coronado, California.

Some Like It Hot received a "C" (Condemned) rating from the Catholic Legion of Decency. The film, along with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) and several other films, led to the end of the Production Code in the mid-1960s. It was released by United Artists without the MPAA logo in the credits or title sequence, since the film did not receive Production Code approval.

[edit] Adaptations

In 1972, a musical play based on the screenplay of the film, entitled Sugar, opened on Broadway, starring Elaine Joyce, Robert Morse, Tony Roberts and Cyril Ritchard, with book by Peter Stone, lyrics by Bob Merrill, and (all-new) music by Jule Styne. A 1991 production of this show in London featured Tommy Steele and retained the original title.

In 1975, Indian film director Narendra Bedi directed Rafoo Chakkar (U-Turned), a film strongly inspired by Some Like It Hot. It starred Indian actor Rishi Kapoor and actress Neetu Singh as the main stars.

In 2002, Tony Curtis performed in a stage production of the film. He portrayed the character originally played by Joe E. Brown.

The 2004 film Connie and Carla has a very similar plot, to the extent it might be considered a remake of this film

[edit] Awards

The film won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (Orry-Kelly) and was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Jack Lemmon), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, Best Director and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

It won the Golden Globe for Best Comedy. Marilyn Monroe won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in Musical or Comedy, and Jack Lemmon for Best Actor in Musical or Comedy.

The film has been acclaimed worldwide as one of the greatest film comedies ever made. It ranked #1 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest comedies as well as #14 on their list of the 100 best American films.

In 1989, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", going in the first year of voting.

In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted it the 8th greatest comedy film of all time (see Total Film Magazine's List of the 50 Greatest Comedy Films of All Time).

In 2002, Channel 4 ranked Some Like It Hot as the 5th greatest film ever made in their 100 Greatest Films Poll.

[edit] Soundtrack

[edit] In popular culture

[edit] "Nobody's perfect!"

The film's last line has frequently been parodied:

  • In the Torchwood episode "To the Last Man", as "Gwen: He's a frozen soldier from 1918. / Jack: [grinning] Nobody's perfect."
  • In Independence Day, as "Albert Nimzicki: I'm not Jewish. / Julius Levinson: Nobody's perfect."

[edit] Miscellany

  • Tony Curtis is frequently quoted as saying that kissing Marilyn Monroe was like "kissing Hitler." In a 2001 interview with Leonard Maltin, Curtis stated that he never made this claim.
  • The film's title is a line in the nursery rhyme "Pease Porridge Hot." It also occurs as dialogue in the film when Joe, as "Junior", tells Sugar he prefers classical music over hot jazz.
  • The film's working title was "Not Tonight, Josephine".

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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Films directed by Billy Wilder