Profile- Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959)

When considering the comedy films of the 1950s United States, no filmmaker comes close to Billy Wilder (1906-2002) in the sense of the quantity and the quality of films. As Wilder’s stature in the industry grew, he had the ability to attract some of the biggest stars of the time to perform in his pictures, most notably Marilyn Monroe, who worked with Wilder on this film as well as on The Seven Year Itch (1955).  If Wilder had made The Seven Year Itch and Some Like It Hot twenty years earlier, they would have fit quite well into the Screwball Comedy subgenre. Wilder often explored many of the same themes in the majority of his films, particularly impersonation. Today, Wilder is remembered as one of the greatest film directors of any genre.

Once again, we see an example of a sound comedy being the medium of filmmaker and not comic performer, as Jack Lemmon (1925-2001) was not yet the popular and critically acclaimed actor that we think of today.  Wilder discovered him through his Best Supporting Actor Academy Award win in 1956, for Mister Roberts (John Ford 1955). Lemmon was delighted with the screenplay when he first received it. He believed that the reason the film succeeded was due to the writing of Wilder and Diamond. Lemmon’s performance in this film is considered one of his greatest.

Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962) was indisputably one of the biggest stars of the Twentieth Century.  More than 50 years after her death, she is still a major cultural icon. However, many film scholars and critics seem to overlook her great talent.  The addition of Monroe to the cast made Some Like It Hot the classic that it is today.  Without her, the picture was simply an amusing story about two men disguised as women—her screen presence was the icing on the cake that made it something magical.

Production

From the beginning, Wilder wanted Tony Curtis to star in his film, but Monroe and Lemmon were not the people he envisioned in the particular roles.  Monroe actually approached Wilder for the role, but was at first disgusted when she read the screenplay because once again she would have to play a stereotypical dumb blonde.

Some Like It Hot marked the beginning of the tragic final Chapter of Monroe’s life.  Monroe was almost always tardy to the set and missed several days of filming. While her antics during the production sound like the product of a selfish and careless person, they were the result of someone who was overwhelmed and struggling with addiction.  

According to producer Mirisch, the production had to extend an additional eighteen days because of Monroe’s behavior and it caused the film’s budget to increase to $2.8 million. At one point during the production, Monroe suffered a miscarriage.  One can assume it was due to her drug and alcohol abuse, but husband Arthur Miller would forever blame Wilder.

Wilder’s decision to shoot the film in black and white had two reasons behind it.  First, he felt that it would be more fitting for the 1920s time period of the picture.  Second, he felt that Curtis and Lemmon’s makeup would have appeared far too ridiculous in color. Monroe objected at first since her contract stated that her films were to be filmed in color. However, once Monroe saw the color tests with Curtis and Lemmon in drag, she agreed with Wilder that black and white would be more suitable.  
Wilder possessed a great knowledge of comedy, not only of the visual aspects of comedy like Joe and Jerry’s appearance, but of comic timing as well.  In the original screenplay, for the scene after Joe’s night on the yacht and Jerry’s night on the dance floor, Jerry was not playing the maracas, but Wilder added Jerry playing the maracas in order to leave time between lines for the audience to laugh. Wilder’s insight went beyond comic timing to an ability to predict audience reactions.  

Once filming was complete, two problems arose.  First, The Legion of Decency objected to the film’s portrayal of cross-dressing as a legitimate lifestyle choice—that recurring trend of the Production Code and Legion of Decency wishing to censor the social transgressions inherent in comedy, as they did with It Happened One Night (1934), Bringing Up Baby (1938), and Sullivan’s Travels (1942) decades earlier.  The second problem was a failed preview.  United Artists made the poor decision to screen the film at a local theater after a showing of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (Richard Brooks 1958), a drama. Mirisch figured that the running time was too long, and ordered Wilder to shorten the film by 10 minutes.  However, Wilder decided to show the film in an unaltered version to another test audience, and it was much more successful since the audience was expecting a comedy. 

Reception

According to Tim Dirks of American Movie Classics Filmsite, Some Like It Hot “was the all-time highest-grossing comedy up to its time, one of the most successful films of 1959, and Wilder’s funniest comedy in his career”.  Variety praised the film, saying “Some Like It Hot, directed in masterly style by Billy Wilder, is probably the funniest picture of recent memory. It’s a whacky, clever, farcical comedy that starts off like a firecracker and keeps on throwing off lively sparks till the very end”.  Both reviews particularly praise the comedy.  The National Board of Review declared it one of the Top Ten Films of 1959.  The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, Best Directing, Best Writing (Adaption), Best Actor (Lemmon), Best Art Direction (Black and White), Best Cinematography (Black and White), and Best Costume Design (Black and White).  Orry-Kelly won for costume design.  The reader should remember that the 32nd Academy Awards was when William Wyler’s Ben-Hur (1959) won a record eleven Academy Awards, including Best Directing and Best Actor.  As for the remaining three nominations for Some Like It Hot, Art Direction (Black and White) and Cinematography (Black and White) went to The Diary of Anne Frank (George Stevens 1959), while Writing (Adaption) went to Room At The Top (Jack Clayton 1959), a drama-romance.

Over the past decade, encouraged by several home video releases, more critics have reviewed the picture than ever before.  Many reviewers praise the film for its overall product, “one of those rare movies where all the elements gel all the time”, as Michael Thomson of the BBC described it.  Clark Douglas of DVD Verdict said that the film is “only regarded as a comedic masterpiece because… every … element is handled with such professionalism and wit”.  Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called it “one of the enduring treasures of the movies, a film of inspiration and meticulous craft”, and that the “screenplay by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is Shakespearean in the way it cuts between high and low comedy, between the heroes and the clowns”.  Dennis Schwartz of Ozus’ World Movie Reviews said “The broad slapstick juxtaposed against the hard-hitting gangland scenes, worked amazingly well even if some scenes seemed forced”—using “forced” as a term to describe comedy that does not seem to register.  Schwartz brings attention to the way in which this film, like so many other film comedies borrows the conventions of a non-comic genre.

Many reviewers praise Monroe’s performance.  Jeffrey M. Anderson of Combustible Celluloid called it “Monroe’s greatest film”. Ed Howard of Seul Le Cinema commented on the necessity of Monroe in the film when he said “Of course, the transformation of Curtis and Lemmon into a pair of very unlikely-looking women, funny as it is, wouldn’t be nearly as brilliant without a true avatar of femininity to contrast against them”.  Chris Cabin of Slant Magazine described the suspension of disbelief necessary of the viewer when he remarked, “Of course, Joe and Jerry are the only men who seem interested in actually courting Sugar Kane”.  Regarding Monroe, Tomas Alfredson of The Telegraph said, “she is acting stupid of course—which takes a lot of intelligence. She must have been a very intelligent woman—you can see that masterfully in this film”.  

Regarding its longevity and continued relevancy, Brad Laidman of FilmThreat, said it is “as funny today as it was when it was first released”.  James Kendrick of QNetwork stated “In the annals of film comedy, there are a select few films that truly stand out as having withstood the test of time—that are just as funny now, if not funnier, than they were when first released—and Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot is right at the top”.  Angie Errigo of Empire Magazine called it “A joyful classic which delivers on comedic value no matter how many times you’ve seen it”.  Joshua Rothkopf of Time Out New York Magazine called it “the Great American Comedy (if you discount the Marx Brothers)”.  

Of the couple less than favorable reviews that I was able to find, the main criticism is that the entire film centers around a “one-joke premise”, as Jeremy Heilman of MovieMartyr.com described it.  David Nusair of Reel Film added, “The American Film Institute recently declared Some Like It Hot to be the funniest movie ever made. And while that may have been true upon its release (which was some odd 40 years ago), it’s certainly not true now. It’s a different kind of funny - based mostly upon double entendres and dry one-liners—more likely to elicit smiles and chuckles rather than full-fledged belly laughs”.  Clearly, both reviewers have difficulty judging the success of a comedy besides relying on quantifying it according to how many jokes it contains or how many times it elicits laughter, once again returning to the mindset of Vaudeville managers. I find the film to be highly rewatchable.