TheProduction Code had been gradually weakening in its scope since the early 1950s, owing to greater social tolerance for taboo topics in film, but it was enforced until the mid-1960s. The overwhelming success ofSome Like It Hot is considered one of the reasons behind the retirement of the code.[6]
In Prohibition-eraChicago, Joe is a jazzsaxophone player and an irresponsible, impulsive gambler andladies' man; Jerry, his anxious friend, is a jazzdouble bass player. They work in aspeakeasy 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 theSaint Valentine's Day Massacre).[7] Spats and his gang see them as they flee. Broke, terrified, and desperate to leave Chicago, Joe and Jerrydisguise themselves as women named Josephine and Daphne so they can join Sweet Sue and her Society Syncopators, an all-female band headed toMiami by train. On the train, they befriend Sugar Kane, the band's vocalist andukulele player.
Joe (Curtis) and Jerry (Lemmon) disguise themselves as Josephine and Daphne to evade execution by the mob.
The two musicians become obsessed with Sugar and compete for her affections while maintaining their disguises. Sugar confides to Josephine that she has sworn off saxophone players, who have taken advantage of her in the past, and hopes to find a gentle, bespectacled millionaire inFlorida. Josephine and Daphne become close friends with Sugar during a late-night party on the train, and struggle to remember that flirting with her would compromise their cover.
After arriving in Miami, Joe woos Sugar by posing as Junior, heir to theShell Oil fortune, affecting aCary Grant-esque accent[8] while feigning indifference to her. Aging, multi-divorcee Osgood Fielding III – an actual millionaire – persistently pursues Daphne, whose refusals only fuel his desire. After Osgood invites Daphne to dinner on his yacht, Josephine convinces her to keep him occupied onshore, so that Junior can pass it off as his own and entertain Sugar. He tells Sugar that psychological trauma from the death of a former lover has left him impotent, but that he would immediately marry anyone who could cure him. Sugar tries to arouse him, with considerable success. Meanwhile, Daphne and Osgood dance until dawn. Back at the hotel, Daphne announces that she has accepted Osgood's proposal of marriage – anticipating a divorce and cash settlement when the ruse is revealed – but Josephine convinces her not to go through with it.
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 recognize Josephine and Daphne as the witnesses they'd been looking for. Fearing for their lives, the pair decide to cut and run. Junior breaks up with Sugar over the telephone, telling her that he must marry a woman of his father's choosing and move toVenezuela, leaving her heartbroken. As the two try to leave the hotel in male disguises, they accidentally witness Little Bonaparte's execution of Spats and his gang for bungling the situation in Chicago, and revert to women's clothing to evade capture. On the way out, Josephine sees Sugar onstage singing a lament to lost love, kisses her, then rejoins Daphne in their flight. Sugar realizes that Josephine and Junior are the same person, and follows them.
The film's trailer
Daphne persuades Osgood to take her and Josephine away on his yacht, and Sugar unexpectedly joins them on his launch just as it leaves the dock. Removing his disguise, Joe confesses to Sugar and tells her that she deserves better, but she wants him anyway, realizing he is the first man to genuinely care for her. Meanwhile, Daphne tries to get out of her engagement, offering escalating half-true reasons why she and Osgood cannot marry, none of which dissuade him. Exasperated, Jerry rips off his wig and says "I'm a man!" in his normal voice. Still smiling, Osgood replies "Well, nobody's perfect!" confounding Jerry and leaving him speechless.
The soundtrack features four songs performed by Marilyn Monroe, nine songs composed byAdolph Deutsch, and two songs performed by jazz artistMatty Malneck.[9]
Billy Wilder wrote the script for the film with writerI. A. L. Diamond.[10] The plot was based on a screenplay byRobert Thoeren and Michael Logan for the 1935 French filmFanfare of Love.[11] The original script forFanfare 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.[11] Both films follow the story of two musicians in search of work,[10] but Wilder created the gangster subplot.[12]
The studio hired female impersonatorBarbette to coach Lemmon and Curtis.[11] 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.[13]
Billy Wilder spotted Tony Curtis while he was making the filmHoudini (1953).[14] 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 theShell Oil family, she has to be able to believe it".[15] Wilder's first idea for the role of Jerry wasFrank Sinatra, but he later thought that he would be too difficult.[16][17]Jerry Lewis andDanny Kaye were also considered for the role of Jerry. Lewis was offered the role, but he declined, as he didn't want to do drag, a decision that he later would regret. Finally, Wilder saw Lemmon in the comedyOperation Mad Ball[18][19][20] and selected him for the part. Wilder and Lemmon would go on to make numerous films together, includingThe Apartment and several films that also includedWalter Matthau.
According to York Film Notes, Wilder and Diamond did not expect a star as big asMarilyn Monroe to take the part of Sugar.[10] "Mitzi Gaynor was who we had in mind", Wilder said. "The word came that Marilyn wanted the part and then wehad to have Marilyn."[21] Monroe considered the role of Sugar Kane another "dumb blonde", but she accepted it due to her husbandArthur Miller's encouragement and the offer of 10% of the film's profits on top of her standard pay.[22] Curtis stated that everyone told Wilder not to cast Monroe as she was too difficult to work with.[23] Wilder and Monroe had previously worked together onThe Seven Year Itch in 1955.
It wasGeorge Raft's first "A" picture in a number of years.[24]
The film was made inCalifornia during the summer and autumn of 1958.[25]AFI reported the production dates between early August and November 12, 1958, atSamuel Goldwyn Studios.[26] Many scenes were shot at theHotel del Coronado inCoronado, 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 producerWalter Mirisch employed several crew members from his home base, theAllied Artists studio.[citation needed]
The film's difficult production has since become "legendary".[27] Monroe demanded dozens of retakes, and did not remember her lines or act as directed—Curtis famously said that kissing her was "like kissingHitler" due to the number of retakes.[28] 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.[29] Monroe privately likened the production to a sinking ship and commented on her co-stars and director saying"[but] why should I worry, I have no phallic symbol to lose."[30] Many of the problems stemmed from her and Wilder—who also had a reputation for being difficult—disagreeing on how she should play the role.[31] 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.[31] 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.[32] Monroe's acting coachPaula Strasberg and Monroe's husbandArthur Miller both tried to influence the production, which Wilder and other crew members found annoying.[33][34]
Wilder and Monroe during the filming
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."[35] 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?"[36] He also stated that Monroe played her part wonderfully.[37] 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."[38]
The film's closing line, "Well, nobody's perfect", is ranked 78th onThe 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.[39] 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".[40]
With regard to sound design, there is a "strong musical element"[10] in the film, with the soundtrack created byAdolph Deutsch. It has an authentic 1920s jazz feel using sharp, brassy strings to create tension in certain moments, for example whenever Spats's gangsters appear. In terms of cinematography and aesthetics, Wilder chose to shoot the film in black and white as Lemmon and Curtis in full drag costume and make-up looked "unacceptably grotesque" in early color tests.[10] Despite Monroe's contract requiring the film to be in color, she agreed to it being filmed in black and white after seeing that Curtis and Lemmon's makeup gave them a "ghoulish" appearance on color film.[41]Orry-Kelly created the costumes for Monroe[42][43] as well as Lemmon and Curtis,[44] after the stock costumes the studio provided for the male leads fit poorly.
July 2, 1959, newspaper advertisement for a drive-in theater viewing of the film
By 1962,Some Like It Hot had grossed $14 million in the US.[45] According toThe Numbers, the film ultimately grossed $25 million domestically.[3]Box Office Mojo reported that its re-releases outside North America had grossed over $83.2 million internationally.[46]
The film opened in the week ended March 24, 1959, in several cities in the United States; the highest grossing of which were in Chicago, where it grossed $45,000 at theUnited Artists Theatre with Monroe making an appearance, and in Washington, D.C., where it grossed $40,000 at the Capitol Theatre.[47][48] With results from just six key cities,Variety listed it as the third highest-grossing film in the United States for the week.[49]
The film then expanded to 100 theatres around the country for theEaster holiday,[50] including at the newly renovatedState Theatre in New York City on Sunday, March 29, 1959,[26][51] and became number one in the country and remained there for three weeks before being knocked off the top byImitation of Life.[52]Imitation of Life was top for two weeks before being replaced again bySome Like It Hot,[53] which remained there for another four weeks before being replaced byPork Chop Hill.[54] In its first month, the film grossed $2,585,120 from 96 engagements.[55]
Some Like It Hot received widespread acclaim from critics and is considered amongthe best films of all time. On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, 95% of 73 critics have given the film a positive review, with an average rating of 9.1/10. The website's critical consensus calls it "a spry, quick-wittedfarce that never drags."[56] According toMetacritic, another review aggregator which calculated a weighted average score of 98 out of 100 based on 19 critics, the film received "universal acclaim".[57] TheChicago Sun-Times'sRoger Ebert wrote: "Wilder's 1959 comedy is one of the enduring treasures of the movies, a film of inspiration and meticulous craft."[58] Ebert gave the film four stars out of four and included it in hisGreat Movies list.[58]John McCarten ofThe New Yorker referred to the film as "a jolly, carefree enterprise".[59]Richard Roud, writing forThe Guardian in 1967, called it "close to perfection".[60]
In 1989, the film became one of the first 25 inducted into the United StatesNational Film Registry.[61] In 1998, the film was ranked at No. 7 inTime Out's poll of Top 100 Films.[62] In 1999,Entertainment Weekly voted it at No. 9 on their list of "100 Greatest Movies of All Time".[63]
Some Like It Hot was voted as the top American comedy film by theAmerican Film Institute on their list onAFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs poll in 2000, and was selected as the best comedy of all time in a poll of 253 film critics from 52 countries conducted by theBBC in 2017.[64] In 2005, theBritish Film Institute included this film on its list of "Top fifty films for children up to the age of 14".[65] The2022Sight & Sound critics' poll ranked it as the 38th greatest film of all time, tied withRear Window anda bout de souffle.[66] The 2022Sight & Sound directors' poll ranked it 62nd, tied with nine other films.[67] In the earlier2012Sight & Sound polls, it was ranked the 42nd-greatest film ever made in the critics' poll[68] and 37th in the directors' poll.[69] The 2002Sight & Sound polls the film ranked 37th among critics[70] and 24th among directors.[71] In 2010,The Guardian considered it the third-best comedy film of all time.[72] In 2015, the film ranked 30th onBBC's "100 Greatest American Films" list, voted on by film critics from around the world.[73] It was included inThe New York Times's "The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made" list in 2002.[74] In 2005, it was included onTime'sAll-Time 100 best movies list.[75] The film was voted at No. 52 on the list of "100 Greatest Films" by the French film magazineCahiers du Cinéma in 2008.[76] In July 2018, it was screened in the Venice Classics section at the75th Venice International Film Festival.[77]
According to film historianFoster Hirsch, during a screening of the film atGrauman's Chinese Theatre in March 1959, "Joe E. Brown's nonchalant delivery of the final line elicited the loudest, deepest, heartiest laughter I have ever heard in a theater...recognizing a perfectly timed one-liner for the ages, a thousand spectators roared in unified delight."[78]
An unsold television pilot was filmed byMirisch Productions in 1961 featuringVic Damone andTina Louise. As a favor to the production company, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis agreed to film cameo appearances, returning as their original characters, Daphne and Josephine, at the beginning of the pilot. Their appearance sees them in a hospital where Jerry (Lemmon) is being treated for his impacted back tooth and Joe (Curtis) is the same O blood type.[97]
A 1991 stage production of this show inLondon featuredTommy Steele and retained the film's title.[99]
Tony Curtis, then in his late 70s, performed in a 2002 stage production of the film, this time cast as Osgood Fielding III, the character originally played by Joe E. Brown.[100][101]
^rich-826 (July 2, 1953)."Houdini (1953)". IMDb.Archived from the original on September 20, 2017. RetrievedMarch 14, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^Golenbock, Peter,American Prince: A Memoir, 2008, Publishing Group
^Alison Castle (Hrsg.):Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot.Taschen, 2001, p. 24.
Some Like It Hot essay by Danel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010ISBN0826429777, pp. 552–553
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