Una Eva y dos Adanes

There is always a thing about Classics, even before you absorb the first frame; you are burdened with huge expectations. But, Some Like It Hot is one of those jet planes where you got to tight your seat belt and forget everything else to enjoy the joyride or you would fall off your seat.

I feel casting in a movie is one of the most under discussed elements of movie making amongst general public but it plays a very significant role in the success of a movie and SLIH is the prime example of it. Apart from Jack Lemmon, none of the protagonists were known for their superior acting skills and they would not have made the cut for a Billy Wilder piece. But, in retrospect, who other than Tony Curtis who had a boyish look and at the same time possessed sharp features could have played a saxophone playing woman charmer who could cross dress to be a part of a woman band. You can only get a flawless performance from a bad actor only if he/she is playing himself/herself and that is the exact reason why Marilyn Monroe wows you in every scene of Some Like It Hot. She is playing a dumb, vivacious and vulnerable damsel who can sing, doesn't mind sleeping with a charming guy whenever she gets a chance and then dips herself in a whiskey bottle when left all alone with herself. Jack Lemmon with a broad muscular jawline was surely the one who had a better chance of getting caught as someone not in the right clothes, but that is very small price to pay, as an actor of his caliber was indispensable to the cause of SLIH. He has an amazing sense of timing when it comes to humor; he is almost chaplinesque when it comes to expressions and the confidence with which he delivers his lines puts him right at the top of stack.

I am not sure when was the concept of black humor introduced in the world of cinema, but, SLIH has to be one of the better examples from the old times where black humor is integrated in the comedy. The black humor is there only to make its presence felt and nothing more. Other than that SLIH is a fun filled journey of Gerald (Lemmon) and Joseph (Curtis), two musicians on the run from dangerous Chicago gangsters who are after their lives. They find their safe house in an all-woman band that is off to Florida for a string of performances. This is where they meet the gorgeous Sugar (Marilyn) and try their luck on flattering her. It is all about how Joseph manages to get ahead in the race and Gerald like a true friend tags along without any explaining or pleading by Joseph. This is what makes SLIH sweet. The necessary salt is added to the movie by little moments like women having a party on train, Sugar hiding whiskey in her stocking, Fielding (Joe Brown) hitting on Dalphe (Gerald disguised as a woman) and further complications that set in because of these. What makes this classical comedy special is the fact that it makes you laugh at so many occasions without being slapstick or cheap or using the chaos technique. And when it doesn't make you laugh, it makes you smile. Most importantly, the movie stays with you.

The manner in which the movie begins, it suddenly makes you wonder - that's too much of real car chasing and shooting for a black and white movie of 40's and then you realize it's done in 1959 and the movie was intentionally produced in black and white. The first scene itself is a cracker and will create a cocktail of emotions, with words like liquor, crime, party, death, music all floating around at the same time. There are plenty of scenes where the camera pans out from one object to another capturing multiple things with different moods and complexion in the same scene and that is a technique which I guess wasn't used quite frequently back then. Make-up job of Curtis and Lemmon is too good for those times and it would have been so important for that to have been correctly done as that is absolutely central to the whole plot. Marilyn's costumes are way modern and she carries them effortlessly.

Some Like It Hot is without any doubt a classic but, probably in no other movie would have the last line played such an important role as in this. The finishing frames where Joe Brown utters the unexpected leave you pleasantly surprised and I am sure it would have had far better impact on the audience 50 years back.

Legendary comedy masterpiece from filmmaker Billy Wilder and IAL Diamond that Won Oscar and another 13 wins & 8 nominations . Immensely charming comedy set among Chicago and Miami , being starred by an all-star-cast . When two unemployed musicians witness a mob hit , the St Valentine massacre in Chicago carried out by mobster chief (George Raft) they flee the state in an all female band disguised as women and headed for Florida , but further complications set in. There appears a gorgeous singer , Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe) , who is object of pursuit by the musicians (Jack Lemmon , Tony Curtis) who cannot reveal their identity because are dressed as women in order to getaway from killer gangsters' retaliation .

Rightly enjoyable and fun-filled , milestone comedy which neatly combines humor , mirth , entertaining situations and amusement . This noisy comedy is intelligently and pleasingly written to gives us lots of fun , laughters and smiles . Mordantly funny , though by time of premiere was rated as bad taste and some discomfort ; however , is todays considered a real classic movie . Billy Wilder kept the studio Paramount happy , the picture consistently made money and was hit at box office . Flawless comedy with a trio of sensational protagonists , including an unforgettable Marilyn who parades sexily at her best and more relaxed and enticing than ever . The hit of the show is undoubtedly for the fetching Marilyn Monroe who gives one of the best screen acting and sings marvelous songs as ¨Running wild¨, ¨I'm through with love¨ and the immortal ¨I wanna be loved you¨. Magnificent performances from Jack Lemmon as angst-ridden musician dressed in drag and sensational Tony Curtis as a philander young , playing his Gary Gray Grant impression . Furthermore , a splendid secondary cast , a variety of notorious actors who make sympathetic interpretations such as Pat O'Brien , George Raft , Mike Mazurski , Nehemia Persoff and , of course, smitten Joe E Brown , including his now-classic closing line .

The motion picture was very well directed by Billy Wilder who includes several punchlines . Billy was one of the best directors of history . In 1939 started the partnership with Charles Bracket on such movies as ¨Ninotchka¨ , ¨Ball of fire¨ , making their film debut as such with ¨Major and the minor¨ . ¨Sunset Boulevard¨ was their last picture together before they split up . Later on , Billy collaborated with another excellent screenwriter IAL Diamond . Both of them won an Academy Award for ¨Stalag 17¨ dealing with a POW camp starred by William Holden . After that , they wrote/produced/directed such classics as ¨Ace in the hole¨ , the touching romantic comedy ¨Sabrina¨ , the Hickcoktian courtroom puzzle game ¨Witness for the prosecution¨ and two movies with the great star Marilyn Monroe , the warmth ¨Seven year itch¨ and this ¨Some like hot¨. All of them include screenplays that sizzle with wit . But their biggest success and highpoint resulted to be the sour and fun ¨¨The apartment¨. Subsequently in the 60s and 70s , the duo fell headlong into the pit , they realized nice though unsuccessful movies as ¨Buddy buddy¨ ,¨Fedora¨ , ¨Front page¨ and ¨Secret life of Sherlock Holmes¨, though the agreeable ¨Avanti¨ slowed the decline . The team had almost disappeared beneath a wave of bad reviews and failures . ¨Some like hot¨ rating : Above average , essential and indispensable watching ; extremely funny and riveting film and completely entertaining . It justly deserves its place among the best comedy ever made . One of the very funniest films of all time and to see and see again . It's the kind of movie where you know what's coming but , because the treatment , enjoy it all the same .

Sit back and enjoy this comedy, I don't believe in greatest this and that when it comes to films, but boy, this is superb.

The acting here is fantastic, all actors, even Monroe are on top form.

The direction by Wilder is superb, the guy's style in this picture is perfect. He directed this film in a very clever way, by using one camera for the majority of the scenes, he could easily edit the film together without studio interference.

The script is well written. The dialogue between Lemmon and Curtis is beautifully balanced.

Monroe is just too hot for the screen in this picture. Although, Monroe had major off-screen problems (83 takes to get things right) she is fantastic on-screen. She may not have the best lines, but what the heck! She plays the role very well.

Overall, this is awesome, it really is.

Why a man would want to marry another man? asks Tony Curtis, Security! Jack Lemmon replays without missing a beat. Clearly he had put the question to himself before and had arrived to a perfectly sensible conclusion. Everything in this gem of a movie had been thought so cleverly and as it turned out so prophetically, that the world of our three characters, a world of prohibition and gang wars could be today and more than likely will be tomorrow. Billy Wilder analyzes human nature with an acid eye and a glorious panache for underlining our most endearing features. Our frailties. Marilyn Monroes is at her pick, the sadness in her eyes a startling metaphor in a comedy about wanting. Tony Curtis with an Eve Arden's pout is so beautiful, so charming, imitating Cary Grant and trying to be himself that, in my mind he'll be always be in a frock. And, of course, Jack Lemmon, throwing himself into the part, body and should. Only perfection can allow to end its course with a line like "Nobody's perfect"

With Billy Wilder's steady direction, the great casting, and Wilder/Diamond's sparkling script Some Like It Hot has become one of the most enjoyed comedies of cinema history. The story itself is pure comedy gold; the unhappy jazz-musicians Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) are witness to the St. Valentine massacre in 1929 and flees from Chicago with an all-girl-band who's headed for Miami, dressed up as "Josephine" and "Daphne". Soon both are hooked on Sugar Kane (Marylin Monroe), the band's lead singer - but things gets more complicated when arrived in Miami, Daphne attracts a elderly playboy and the gangster of Chicago arrives at the Floria-hotel to have a mafia-meeting.

The work of the three participants in center is truly great; Marylin Monroe is at her most sexy and charming, Tony Curtis' brilliant control and Jack Lemmon is truly priceless at his peak. The movie paces fantastically throughout opening scenes of Chicago, onto the train-ride (features fantastically funny moments of brilliant comedy timing) and arriving at the hotel in Florida, and the situations that occurs with the band, with playboy Osgood Fielding III, Marylin Monroe and the mafia. And Billy Wilder shows his talent with keeping such a sparkling screenplay brilliantly paced and edited, never rushing itself - and Wilder sneaks in some fine moments of noir with the Chicago-gangsters brutality and cruelness. And the movie is a altogether different experience as a comedy than anything before it, the absurdity and quirkiness of Curtis and Lemmon in a transvestite-comedy is fantastically funny, and the final dialog between Osgood Fielding and Daphne/Jerry seemingly came out of the blue, and surprised me just as much today as it did back in 1959. Some Like It Hot is nothing less than a must-see in comedy, and cinema history.