Ingen er fuldkommen
Comedies do
not age well. Sadly, really, because I love good comedies. It is something
about the cultural references that change over time, I suppose. It is one
reason the List is so thin on comedies. Most comedies that do survive are those
that rely on physical comedy, such as the silent masters or Tati.
This is why
I am super delighted that “Some Like It Hot” comes a long and proves the exception
to the rule. It is not a physical comedy (not at heart at least), but more of a
situational comedy, thick with wonderful dialogue. It is a comedy that is funnier
than most comedies made today and immensely more charming. “Nobody is perfect”
but “Some Like It Hot” is damn close.
Okay, I
think I made it clear that I love this movie. It is an absolute bliss to watch
and it totally makes me crack. Not just the happy, fuzzy smile, but the
Oh-God-I-Cannot-Watch-He Did-Not-Do-That roaring laughter. Man, I needed that.
Those last few weeks have been terribly busy and this movie is the second best
medicine (getting less busy is after all the best). In fact I would prescribe this
movie to anybody with any sort of trouble.
If you do
not know this movie I will personally spank you. Even I knew it and not just of
it. “Some Like It Hot” defines a classic movie on par with “Gone with the Wind”
and the Indiana Jones movies and a synopsis would be a waste of time.
Here is
instead all the wonderful things this movie provides.
Jack
Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe is career defining roles. As a trio they
are just perfect. Tony as Joe/Josephine is the guy with all the harebrained scams
and Jack Lemmon as Jerry/Daphne has that perfectly timed wackiness that makes
him wonderfully funny without going over the (Jerry Lewis) top. In fact, they
accomplish successfully what Martin and Lewis tried and failed to be. And
Marilyn Monroe is of course the star. If you ever wondered about her reputation
and “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” did not convince you then “Some Like It Hot”
will. She is perfect as the silly, but sweet blonde bombshell. If anything she
is almost too good for the band she is supposed to sing in. I would have liked
to say that her comedic timing was perfect, but I read that she was so high on
pills that she could not remember her lines and her scenes had to be taken
dozens of times to get them right. Sad, really. Wikipedia writes that when
Billy Wilder was asked about another movie with Monroe he answered: "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."
Billy
Wilder of course has a large share in this movie. He is one of my favorite
directors and certainly one of the most versatile. He excels at every genre and
his trademark is that his movies always have bite. Even “Some Like It Hot”. It
went far beyond the production code in what you could show, say and do. Cross
dressing, hints at homosexuality and a Monroe so hot that she could wake a
dead, which is incidentally what she is supposed to do (Tony Curtis in his
third incarnation as the emotionally crippled Shell heir). Wilder always
challenged his viewers and never followed the standard recipes. That makes him
a star in my eyes.
Then there
is the music, oh boy. As the music is supposed to take place in the late
twenties we get a jazzy score that is warm and fuzzy throughout, but when
Monroe gives her songs we go a notch up and hit the roof. All her songs in this
movie are classics, none more than “I Wanna Be Loved by You” but it is “I’m
Thru with Love” that swipes my feet away. It is no wonder Joe/Josephine gives
up her pretense and goes up to kiss her right there and then. I would want to do
that.
I was
trying to think of the funniest part in the movie, but gave up. There are just
too many candidates. There are chase scenes, pretense scene, witty comments
scenes, outrageous scam scenes, awkwardness galore… just too many to mention,
and the crazy thing is they all work, even today. “Tootsie” owes a lot to this
movie and any comedian on the run from the mob plot derive from “Some Like It
Hot”. This may well be one of the most influential comedies ever made, if not
the funniest.
1959 is a
great year so far, I love it already.
I love this movie inordinately as well. Jack Lemmon deserved the Oscar! I stayed with my family in the hotel where this was filmed, the Grand Coronado on Coronado Island outside San Diego, when I was a teenager. It was a thrill and I always remember it when I watch this movie.
ReplyDeleteAh, that must have been a special experience. I love visiting location sites of my favorite movies. Sadly I often get disappointed, the places are rarely as in the movies (no point in looking up Amelie's café in Paris), but it is still fun.
DeleteQuite possibly the best comedy ever made. Still sharp and witty today, which is a remarkable testament to a fantastic script and perfect performances.
ReplyDeletePrecisely. It is simply a movie that works on every accounts and surviving almost sixty years is very impressive.
DeleteComedies don't age well, except for when they do. There is something timeless about Some Like It Hot, which is why it continues to work as well as it does. There's something silent comedy-ish about it in that respect. So much of the humor is visual, and funny is funny.
ReplyDeleteI was actually thinking of whether it was the visual or phyisical comedy that made it work, but I think there is much less of that here than in those silents. Yes, it is terribly fun to look at and the chase scenes are like Keaton or the Keystone Cops, but so much of the humor are in the scams and deceptions and the witty dialogue that this is way beyond a visual comedy. It is hits a timeless vein and that is either a lucky strike or a masters hand.
DeleteThis is my favourite film of all time (along with The Lady Eve). I love it to pieces, and am so glad you do as well! Completely agree about the music, it is wonderful. I also love the costumes, and Joe E. Brown as Osgood is great.
ReplyDeleteI've watched it countless times and it always makes me laugh. If you enjoyed this check out Billy Wilder's film The Major and the Minor. It is one of his first films, and you can see the seeds of Some Like It Hot in it. It stars Ginger Rogers as a women who dresses as a young girl to get a cheaper train ticket, and ends up at a cadet camp surrounded by randy young boys, and Ray Milland.
It was a toss up between the picture I used and one with Osgood and Lemmon in the boat, the final Nobody Is Perfect shot. He was great.
DeleteThat sounds like a fun movie and one I should look up. Thank you for the recommendation.
The film is a perfect blending of the right elements coming together. Monroe, Curtis and Lemmon work seamlessly together but they all also interact with every other character just as well, there are no flat spots in the film that slacken the pace-which of course is to Wilder's credit. Jack & Tony with the mobsters, Marilyn with the band and Lemmon and Joe E. Brown are on their own faultless wavelength.
ReplyDeleteAnd I LOVE Sweet Sue!! I remember being shocked when I found out that Joan Shawlee who played her also played the very different Pickles Sorrell Buddy's scatterbrained wife on the Dick Van Dyke Show. She and Beanstalk add another great piece to a film that is as close to perfect as you can get.
I never watched the Dick van Dyke Show so I believe this was the only tmine I have watched Joan Shawlee. She did that job flawlessly. There are many excellent support roles in this movie. I loved the gangsters, they are awesome.
Delete