I would like to believe in God in order to thank him, but I just believe in Billy Wilder so… thank you so much Mr. Wilder!
This was the speech pronounced by Fernando Trueba when in 1993 he won the Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film.
And somehow he was right because no one like Wilder could turn a good screenplay into a great film; he was just a magician, one of the best filmmakers of the history without any doubt.
Some Like It Hot tells the story of two musicians, Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon), who witness a massacre in Chicago. They have the bad luck of being spotted by the head of the gangsters so these two run away and decide to take a new job as they can save their lives. Their new occupation is in a women’s orchestra called Sweet Sue and her Society Syncopators. Dressed up as women Joe and Jerry get into the band and travel to Miami. We will be able to enjoy all the insane situations created by these two characters dressed up as women, just hilarious!
With their new feminine identities, Josephine and Daphne, cheat everyone and establish a nice friendship with the vocalist of the band: Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe), a pretty young girl whose dream is to marry a wealthy heir.
The problems, and the real peals of laughter, start when Joe fall in love with Sugar as Jerry will have to cover the saxophonist so as to Joe can pretend he’s a millionaire…
The main story between Joe and Sugar is quite entertaining, but the real cornerstone of the film is the subplot with Jerry and Osgood Fielding III (Joe E. Brown). Maybe the name doesn’t ring you a bell but he’s the one who said one of the most famous sentences in the Cinema: “Well, nobody’s perfect”. To my mind this is the best ending possible for the film, a masterpiece made by a genius. Although the Academy did not recognize either the director or the main actor this film is among the 100 Best Pictures of all time.
Not only is the soundtrack beautiful and delicate but the settings are also amazing and fit perfectly with the issue and the costumes won an Oscar! It goes without saying that the actors were the best part of the movie, though Marilyn had some problems at memorizing her lines and argued all the time with Curtis; but we all know some stars are difficult to deal with and she is a myth for some reasons…
If you have not seen this jewel please don’t waste any minute and watch it! And, on the contrary, if you’ve seen Some Like It Hot one hundred times, as I have, enjoy it once more because the film is really worth it!
The Best: Jack Lemmon and the love who drives him crazy: Joe E. Brown and the charming atmosphere created by black and white.
The Worst: we’d love to had a second part.
Some Like It Hot (USA, 1959, 121 min.) Directed by: Billy Wilder. Actors: Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe, George Raft, Joe E. Brown. Screenplay by: I.A.L. Diamond, Billy Wilder. Cinematography: Charles Lang. Music by: Adolph Deutsch. Production Company: Mirisch Company. Edited by: Arthur P. Schmidt
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