SOME LIKE IT HOT

SOME LIKE IT HOT Directed and Produced by Billy Wilder Written by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond Set in Chicago, Prohibition, speakeasies, gangsters, jazz, St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, just before Stock Market Crash

Billy Wilder, Director: Very successful in many different genres Double Indemnity - Film Noir The Lost Weekend - Social issues - alcoholism Sunset Boulevard - Film Noir Seven Year Itch - Comedy Spirit of St. Louis - Biography The Apartment - Comedy Stalag 17 - War/Prison

Set in Chicago, *Prohibition *Speakeasies *Gangsters *Jazz *St. Valentine’s Day Massacre *Just before Stock Market Crash

PLOT SYNOPSIS Two jazz musicians, Joe and Jerry, lose their job when the speakeasy they are playing at gets raided by Mulligan. They inadvertently witness the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, and have no money to get out of town to safety. They disguise themselves as women, Josephine and Daphne, and join Sweet Sue’s Society Syncopaters, who are headed for a two week job in Florida. They meet Sugar Kane, the band’s singer and ukelele player, and compete for her affections.

CAST: Jack Lemmon - Jerry/Daphne Tony Curtis - Joe/Josephine/Shell Oil, Jr. Marilyn Monroe - Sugar Kane Joe E. Brown - Osgood Fielding III Joan Shawlee - Sweet Sue Dave Berry - Bienstock Pat O’Brien - Mulligan George Raft - Spats Columbo Edward G. Robinson - Johnny Paradise George Stone - Toothpick Charlie

Nominated for six Academy Awards * Won Best Costume Design * Best Actor - Jack Lemmon * Art Direction * B & W Cinematography * Director - Billy Wilder * Screenplay Won three Golden Globe Awards * Best Film - Musical/Comedy * Best Actor - Musical/Comedy - Jack Lemmon * Best Actress - Musical/Comedy - Marilyn Monroe

The all-time outrageous, satirical, comedy farce favorite, Some Like It Hot (1959) is one of the most hilarious, raucous films ever made. The ribald film is a clever combination of many elements: a spoof of 's gangster films with period costumes and speakeasies, and romance in a quasi-screwball comedy with one central joke - entangled and deceptive identities, reversed sex roles and cross- dressing. In fact, one of the film's major themes is disguise and masquerade - e.g., the drag costumes of the two male musicians, Joe's disguise as a Cary Grant-like impotent millionaire, and Jerry's happiness with a real wealthy, yacht-owning retiree.

It's also a black and white film (reminiscent of the early film era) filled with non-stop action (e.g., the initial car chase), slapstick, and one-liners reminiscent of Marx Brothers and Mack Sennett comedies. The film's working title was Not Tonight, Josephine! (its origin was reportedly taken from Napoleon Bonaparte's response when refusing sex with Empress Josephine).

The exceptional film 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. The film was inspired by director Kurt Hoffmann's German movie comedy/musical Fanfares of Love (1951) with a similar plot element that writer/director Wilder borrowed: two down-on-their-luck, unemployed jazz musicians dress up as women in order to get two weeks of work in an all-women's dance band bound for Florida, after witnessing a gang-land massacre in Prohibition-Era Chicago and being pursued by the mob. Only a few other cross-dressing comedies have come close to approximating the film's daring hilarity: Tootsie (1982), La Cage Aux Folles (1978) and Victor/Victoria (1982).

Themes: Often called the first movie with a strong feminist theme - explores gender roles and how women are treated in our society. Watch Joe and Jerry’s attitudes toward women and how they change after they have lived for a short time as women. * Disguise and Masquerade * Parody of 1930s gangster movies * Parody of Marilyn Monroe’s ditzy blonde image

Acting: * How well do Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon present themselves as women in their dual roles? Also, Curtis portrays a third character - Shell Oil, Jr. * Most critics consider this to be Marilyn Monroe’s best performance. She isn’t often considered one of our great actresses, but rather as a great screen presence. Critics often talk about her great comedic timing. * How believable are the minor roles, keeping in mind that the film was intended to be a parody of gangster movies?

Screenwriting It’s a frantic script, full of switches and surprises and some of the funniest dialogue ever written for the screen. It also contains far fewer scenes than the average movie. Wilder’s love of dialogue forced him to write scenes that ran longer than average; he knew that his involved verbal riffs wouldn’t work with shorter scenes and that he had to write a movie that was a play in disguise.