Some Like It Hot is a 1959 American crime comedy film produced, co-written and directed by Billy Wilder. It stars Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, with George Raft, Pat O'Brien, Joe E. Brown, Joan Shawlee and Nehemiah Persoff in supporting roles. The screenplay by Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond is based on a screenplay by Robert Thoeren and Michael Logan from the 1935 French film Fanfare of Love. Set in the Prohibition era, the film is about two musicians (Curtis and Lemmon) who disguise themselves as women to escape Chicago mobsters they witnessed commit murder.
Some Like It Hot opened to critical and commercial success and is considered to be one of the greatest films ever made. The film received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Actor, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, winning for Best Costume Design. In 1989, the Library of Congress selected it as one of the first 25 films for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot In Prohibition-era Chicago, Joe is a jazz saxophone player and an irresponsible, impulsive gambler and ladies' man; Jerry, his anxious friend, is a jazz double bass player. They work in a speakeasy owned by local Mafia boss "Spats" Colombo. Tipped off by informant "Toothpick" Charlie, the police raid the joint. Joe and Jerry escape but accidentally witness Spats and his henchmen gunning down Toothpick and his gang in revenge (an incident inspired by the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre). Spats and his gang see them as they flee. Broke, terrified, and desperate to leave Chicago, Joe and Jerry disguise themselves as women named Josephine and Daphne so they can join Sweet Sue and her Society Syncopators, an all-female band headed to Miami by train. On the train, they befriend Sugar Kane, the band's vocalist and ukulele player.
Joe and Jerry become obsessed with Sugar and compete for her affections while maintaining their disguises. Sugar confides to Joe that she has sworn off (male) saxophone players, who have taken advantage of her in the past. She hopes to find a gentle, bespectacled millionaire in Florida. Joe and Jerry become close friends with Sugar during a late-night party on the train, while struggling to remember that flirting with her would compromise their cover.
After arriving in Miami, Joe woos Sugar by posing as Junior, heir to the Shell Oil fortune, affecting a Cary Grant-esque accent while feigning indifference to her. Aging, multi-divorced Osgood Fielding III—an actual millionaire—persistently pursues "Daphne" (Jerry), whose refusals only fuel his desire. After Osgood invites Jerry to dinner on his yacht, Joe convinces Jerry to keep Osgood occupied onshore, so Joe can pass the yacht off as his own and entertain Sugar. As Junior, he tells Sugar that psychological trauma from the death of a former lover has left him impotent, but he would immediately marry anyone who could cure him. Sugar tries to arouse him, with considerable success. Meanwhile, Jerry and Osgood tango until dawn. Back at the hotel, Jerry announces that he has accepted Osgood's proposal of marriage, anticipating a divorce and cash settlement when the ruse is revealed. Joe convinces Jerry that he cannot marry Osgood.
The hotel hosts a conference for the Friends of Italian Opera Society, a front for a national Mafia meeting, presided over by Little Bonaparte—who already has a grudge against Spats over the murder of Toothpick. Spats and his men arrive, and this time see through Joe and Jerry's disguises. Fearing for their lives, Joe and Jerry realize they must quit the band and leave the hotel. Joe breaks up with Sugar over the telephone, telling her that he must marry a woman of his father's choosing and move to Venezuela, leaving her heartbroken. In male disguises, Joe and Jerry evade Spats' men by hiding under a table at the syndicate banquet, where Little Bonaparte has Spats and his gang gunned down. Joe and Jerry are spotted as they flee through the hotel. They revert to women's clothing to evade capture. On the way out, Joe, dressed as Josephine, sees Sugar onstage singing a lament to lost love, kisses her, then rejoins Jerry in their flight. Realizing that Josephine and Junior are the same person, Sugar follows them.
Still dressed as Daphne, Jerry persuades Osgood to take him and Joe away on his yacht. Sugar unexpectedly joins them on Osgood's launch just as it leaves the dock. Removing his disguise, Joe confesses to Sugar and tells her that she deserves better, but Sugar wants him anyway, realizing he is the first man to genuinely care for her. Meanwhile, Jerry, as Daphne, tries to get out of his engagement, listing reasons why "she" and Osgood cannot marry—she can't wear his mother's wedding gown because she's "not built the same", is not a natural blonde, smokes, cannot have children, has been living with a saxophone player—none of which bother Osgood. Exasperated, Jerry rips off his wig and says, "I'm a man!" in his normal voice. Still unperturbed and smiling, Osgood replies "Well, nobody's perfect!" leaving Jerry speechless.
Cast
Soundtrack
The soundtrack features four songs performed by Marilyn Monroe, nine songs composed by Adolph Deutsch, and two songs performed by jazz artist Matty Malneck.
Production Pre-production Billy Wilder wrote the script for the film with writer I. A. L. Diamond.Rolston, Lorraine, Some like it Hot (York Film Notes). Longman; 1 edition, 2000 pp. 7–57 The plot was based on a screenplay by Robert Thoeren and Michael Logan for the 1935 French film Fanfare of Love ().Curtis, T. and Vieira, M. (2009). Some Like It Hot. London: Virgin Books, p. 13 The original script for Fanfare of Love was untraceable, so Walter Mirisch found a copy of the 1951 German remake, Fanfares of Love (). He bought the rights to that script, and Wilder worked with this to produce a new story. Both films follow the story of two musicians in search of work, but Wilder created the gangster subplot.
The studio hired female impersonator Barbette to coach Lemmon and Curtis. Monroe worked for 10 percent of the gross in excess of $4 million, Curtis for 5 percent of the gross over $2 million, and Wilder for 17.5 percent of the first million after break-even and 20 percent thereafter.
Casting Billy Wilder spotted Tony Curtis while he was making the film Houdini (1953). Wilder thought that Curtis would be perfect for the role of Joe: "I was sure Tony was right for it", said Wilder, "because he was quite handsome, and when he tells Marilyn that he is one of the Shell Oil family, she has to be able to believe it".Golenbock, Peter, American Prince: A Memoir, 2008, Publishing Group Wilder's first idea for the role of Jerry was Frank Sinatra, but he later thought that he would be too difficult.Alison Castle (Hrsg.): Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot. Taschen, 2001, p. 24. Jerry Lewis and Danny Kaye were also considered for the role of Jerry. Lewis was offered the role, but he declined, as he did not want to do drag, a decision that he later would regret. Finally, Wilder saw Lemmon in the comedy Operation Mad BallAlison Castle (Hrsg.): Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot. Taschen, 2001, S. 238. and selected him for the part. Wilder and Lemmon would go on to make numerous films together, including The Apartment and several films that also included Walter Matthau.
According to York Film Notes, Wilder and Diamond did not expect a star as big as Marilyn Monroe to take the part of Sugar. "Mitzi Gaynor was who we had in mind", Wilder said. "The word came that Marilyn wanted the part and then we to have Marilyn." Monroe considered the role of Sugar Kane another "dumb blonde", but she accepted it due to her husband Arthur Miller's encouragement and the offer of 10% of the film's profits on top of her standard pay. Curtis stated that everyone told Wilder not to cast Monroe as she was too difficult to work with. Wilder and Monroe had previously worked together on The Seven Year Itch in 1955.
It was George Raft's first "A" picture in a number of years.
Filming
The film was made in California during the summer and autumn of 1958.Castle, Alison (Hrsg.): Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot. Taschen, 2001, p. 24. AFI reported the production dates between early August and November 12, 1958, at Samuel Goldwyn Studios. Many scenes were shot at the Hotel del Coronado in Coronado, California, which appeared as the "Seminole Ritz Hotel" in Miami in the film, as it fit into the era of the 1920s and was near Hollywood. The Mirisch Company was the film's presenter, and producer Walter Mirisch employed several crew members from his home base, the Allied Artists studio.
The film's difficult production has since become "legendary". Monroe demanded dozens of retakes, and did not remember her lines or act as directed—Curtis famously said that kissing her was "like kissing Hitler" due to the number of retakes. The line "It's me, Sugar" took 47 takes to get correct because Monroe kept getting the word order wrong, saying either "Sugar, it's me" or "It's Sugar, me". Curtis and Lemmon made bets during the filming on how many takes she would need to get it right.Jack Lemmon in: Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot. Taschen, 2001, . p. 277 Monroe privately likened the production to a sinking ship and commented on her co-stars and director saying why should I worry, I have no phallic symbol to lose." Many of the problems stemmed from her and Wilderwho also had a reputation for being difficultdisagreeing on how she should play the role. She angered him by asking to alter many of her scenes, which in turn made her stage fright worse, and it is suggested that she deliberately ruined several scenes to act them her way. Three days were scheduled for shooting the scene with Shell Jr. and Sugar at the beach, as Monroe had many complicated lines, but the scene was finished in only 20 minutes.Schlöndorff, Volker: Billy Wilder in Billy Wilder speaks. Some Like It Hot. DVD, October 2006. Monroe's acting coach Paula Strasberg and Monroe's husband Arthur Miller both tried to influence the production, which Wilder and other crew members found annoying.Walter Mirisch in: Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot. Taschen, 2001, Tony Curtis in: Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot, Taschen 2001 (2010), S. 286 Grace Lee Whitney noted in her autobiography that she and other women in the case were required to dye their hair a darker color because Monroe would not permit any other female cast member to be as blonde as she was.The Longest Trek: My Tour Of The Galaxy, Grace Lee Whitney, pg. 42
Wilder spoke in 1959 about making another film with Monroe: "I have discussed this with my doctor and my psychiatrist and they tell me I'm too old and too rich to go through this again." But Wilder also admitted: "My Aunt Minnie would always be punctual and never hold up production, but who would pay to see my Aunt Minnie?" He also stated that Monroe played her part wonderfully.Alison Castle (Hrsg.): Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot. Taschen, 2001, S. 287. Years later, Wilder noted "I think there are more books on Marilyn Monroe than there are on World War 2, and there's a great similarity."Basinger, Jeanine & Wasson, Sam, Hollywood: The Oral History, Harper, 2022, p. 393
The film's closing line, "Well, nobody's perfect", is ranked 78th on The Hollywood Reporter list of Hollywood's 100 Favorite Movie Lines, but it was never supposed to be in the final cut. Diamond and Wilder put it in the script as a "placeholder" until they could come up with something better, but they never did. Wilder's tombstone pays homage to the line by reading, "I'm a writer, but then, nobody's perfect". In 2000, The Guardian ranked the closing scene at No. 10 on their list of "The top 100 film moments".
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