Some Like It Hot starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon takes a notorious page out of history and combines it with the shenanigans of three jazz band musicians to bring us a hilarious adventure involving devious and risky mischief.
Prohibition became the law in the United States in 1920. Of course, outlawing a personally satisfying indulgence as widespread and as deeply ingrained in social relations and cultural heritage as drinking, whether in the form of taking a nip or tanking up, was nearly impossible to enforce. Yet, Prohibition remained in effect until 1933.
Consequently, during that time the sale of bootleg whiskey provided a lucrative business to those with the means to overcome the law enforcement obstacles.
When two mobster gangs led by Al Capone and Bugs Moran clashed over territorial disputes, an execution-style wipeout of seven mobsters took place in an infamous incident in a garage on the north side of Chicago on Saint Valentine’s Day 1929.
A depiction of the incident, known as the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre, is used to advance the plot of this screwball comedy and lends an aura of farcical menace to the film.
The story begins with Toothpick Charlie informing the police about the sale of alcoholic beverages (sold as coffee) at Spats Columbo’s nightclub disguised as a funeral parlor.
When the police raid the nightclub where Joe (Curtis), a saxophone player, and Jerry (Lemmon), a bass player, are working with a jazz band, the two musicians escape arrest by climbing down a fire escape ladder.
Although in debt to all the girls in the chorus line and behind on their bills, Joe talks Jerry into gambling their overcoats for a ticket on a sure thing at the race track.
After losing the coats off their backs they stop at the employment agency and accept a gig some distance from the city.
Joe sweet talks a girlfriend into lending him her car, and they arrive at the garage minutes before the gangster attack. Hiding behind the car, they witness Spats Columbo’s assassins eliminate Toothpick Charlie and his associates.
Spats spots the jazz players and shoots at them (hitting the bass fiddle) before they get away. Joe decides the best course of action will be to shave their legs, dress as girls and accept a job in an all girls’ band leaving on the train for sunny Miami that evening.
Thus the juggling of personalities begins when Joe becomes Josephine and Jerry becomes Daphne. On the train they meet Sugar (Monroe), a vocalist & ukulele player, when they see her taking a nip from a flask she keeps stashed in her garter.
That night at a drinking party overflowing from Daphne’s berth, Sugar confides in Josephine that she has an unhealthy attraction to saxophone players who love her, spend her money on gambling and leave her, a modus operandi that fits Joe. She intends to change course and snag a millionaire during their stay in Miami.
As they enter the swanky Seminole Ritz Hotel Daphne catches the eye of one of the millionaires, Osgood Fielding III (Joe E. Brown). Nothing she does seems to deter Osgood, not even a slap across the chops when he gets fresh.
Meanwhile, Josephine swipes a suitcase and pretends to be Junior, the heir of a lucrative oil company and the owner of a large yacht anchored in sight of Sugar’s beach playground.
The rapid-fire change of voices, costumes and personalities by Curtis and Lemmon takes a surprising turn when Jerry assumes the role of Junior. Curtis slips into a convincing imitation of Cary Grant at his most debonair of character portrayals.
Since the yacht actually belongs to Osgood, Joe convinces Jerry to keep Osgood busy on shore after the evening’s show so that Sugar can pursue him on the vessel. While Daphne and Osgood tango the night away, Junior pretends to have suffered a calamity that has robbed him of his passion. The suave lover boy allows Sugar to woo him until his glasses become steamy.
Jerry warms to his role as Daphne and comes to enjoy the attention of the wealthy little man, Osgood. The scene of a smiling Daphne lying on the bed while shaking maracas as she breaks the news to Jerry of her engagement to Osgood is one of the most well-known scenes in cinema comedy and remains one of the funniest.
When Spats and his gang arrive at the Ritz for a mobster’s convention and spot Joe and Jerry beneath the wigs and makeup, a more frantic chase of a potentially dangerous kind ensues. Osgood comes to the rescue.
In 2012 Some Like It Hot was tied for #42 on the British Film Institute’s Best Films of All Time. It was nominated for a BAFTA in the category of Best Picture. Jack Lemmon won a BAFTA for Best Foreign Actor.
This movie classic was nominated for five Oscars including Best Director, Billy Wilder and Best Actor in a Leading Role, Jack Lemmon. Orry-Kelly won an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White.
This famous comedy classic was one of the first movies to defy The Motion Picture Production Code, a.k.a. the Hays Code, established by Hollywood producers in 1930.
After the talkies, which began in the late 1920s, the movies could more easily delve into the various unruly aspects of human nature. Consequently, the producers felt it was their duty to uphold the moral values of the time and enforce a code that writers and directors were required to follow.
Some Like It Hot broke the code rules with its subject matter, suggestive lines, passionate kisses, and fetching costumes worn by Ms. Monroe.
By the mid-1960s the code had become antiquated and had gone the way of Prohibition. In 1968 The Motion Picture Association of America adopted the film-rating system that remains in affect today.