From the beginnings of mainstream film, men have dressed up at women to get laughs. In 1959, when Billy Wilder’s comedy feature Some Like It Hot hit big screens, it was greeted with great enthusiasm and loud applause. For decades it has been judged not only one of the greatest comedies ever made, but one of the greatest motion pictures of all time. So judged polls by the American Film Institute, the Library of Congress, and the BBC, among many others. At the time of its release it was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning the Oscar for Costume Design.
For most of us, Some Like It Hot is in the category of a sure thing to screen for friends who haven’t come across it or want to see it again. I’ve never met a soul who has been disappointed by seeing it. Critics rave about it as a treasure, a film that is close to perfect.
Yet, in today’s straight-laced, bigoted world of book and other forms of entertainment censorship, a world in which LGBTQ+ people are bullied and abased, this incredibly wonderful comedy may be off limits for some folks.
The film stars Marlyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon. The story opens in Chicago during prohibition. Two broke musicians, Joe and Jerry, witness a St Valentine’s Day massacre and so are forced to leave town to avoid their own extinction. The two guys pose as women to join Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopators and soon are on a train to Miami. That’s where they meet Sugar, a totally sexy, sometimes inebriated ukelele player.
Jerry, now named Daphne, sees Sugar and emotes to Joe/Josephine, “Look how she moves—just like jello on springs.” I suppose the sexual feelings that Sugar exudes would not be banned. After all, she is a woman and she goes out with men. The haters of our society would accept that heterosexual premise. Sugar is one of Marilyn Monroe’s most engaging characters. As she sings “Running Wild” and “I Want to Be Loved by You,” viewers are entranced.
There are a host of top Hollywood character actors and stars, including George Raft, Pat O’Brien, and Joe E. Brown. The comic dialog by director/co-writer Billy Wilder and co-wirter I.A.L. Diamond is hilarious. The pace is non-stop. The actors are absorbed into the imaginary world of millionaire bachelors, tough gangsters who aren’t really scary, and the collection of characters who make up Sweet Sue’s female orchestra. This is movie comedy at its highest level!
The controversies nowadays would concern some of the sexual inuendos, I suppose, and all the gender-bending plot elements. Now most audiences would relish seeing Some Like It Hot. When I talk about banned film programmers, I’m speaking of the folks who refuse to let their family read books about transgender and nonbinary persons. Books that feature boys dressing up as girls, or vice-versa. Books about gay lifestyles and same sex romances.
Some Like It Hot not only features cross-dressing, but it also addresses same sex marriage. Joe warns Jerry that his new romance with a millionaire has limitations. “You’re not a girl; you’re a guy. Why would a guy wanna marry a guy?”
This film also has one of the most famous last lines of any motion picture, as Osgood, played by Joe E. Brown, learns that his fiancée is not a woman. I won’t give away that line. Either you already know what Osgood says, or you can see the film which recently came out as a 4K UHD and Blu-ray combo from the Criterion Collection.
Audrey Kupferberg is a film and video archivist and retired appraiser. She is lecturer emeritus and the former director of Film Studies at the University at Albany and co-authored several entertainment biographies with her late husband and creative partner, Rob Edelman.
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