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Marilyn Monroe is a true gem of art and nature. She is not just an icon from the past but rather continues to morph and transform right before our very eyes. In Billy Wilder’s “Some Like It Hot,” for example, her scenes with Tony Curtis make it seem like her lines come to her effortlessly and her delivery is so carefree that it is as if she is being inspired by pure luck. In one scene, she and Curtis exchange catchphrases like it is a game of hot potato.
Her dress exposes her breasts like jolly treats and she is completely oblivious to the fact that men want to have sex with her, and, at the same time, blazes men’s helpless desire. “Look at that!” Jack Lemmon tells Curtis while enjoying the view. “Look how she moves. Like Jell-O on springs. She must have some sort of built-in motor. I tell you it is a whole different sex.”
Wilder’s 1959 comedy is one of the enduring treasures of the movies, a film of inspiration and meticulous craft, a movie that’s about nothing but sex and yet pretends it’s about crime and greed. It is all a horrible mess of Wilder’s bright pessimism in which every scene assumes that there is no time to waste crying over emotional issues and every character acts according to basic principles of Darwinism. When these characters get caught up in pain that seems genuine, they go through a form of emotional blitzkriegs: Curtis thinks he wants only sex, Monroe thinks she wants only money, and they happen to be as delighted as astonished to learn that they wish to have each other.
The plot sits firmly within classic screwball comedy. Curtis and Lemmon play Chicago musicians who witness the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. To escape being killed, they disguise themselves as women and board an all-female orchestra traveling to Florida. Monroe, a singer in the band, dreams of marrying a millionaire but constantly says, “I always get the fuzzy end of the lollipop.” Curtis pretends to be a millionaire to win Monroe, who desires money and teaches him about love. Reflecting this, “low comedy,” Lemmon becomes engaged to a real billionaire and Joe E. Brown. Curtis shouts, “You’re not a girl!” to Lemmon, which forces the response, “You’re a guy! Why would a guy want to marry a guy?” To which Lemmon replies, “Security!”
The movie has been compared to the classics of the Marx Brothers, especially in the slapstick chase when the gangsters chase the heroes through the hotel corridors. One of the best parts of many Marx Brothers films is certainly the music. And not just Harpo’s solos either, but also the romantic duets where he is accompanied by hopelessly uninteresting supporting characters.
“Some Like It Hot” doesn’t have any problems with the quality of its musical numbers, as the singer is Monroe, who may not have possessed an incredible singing voice, but was as effective as Frank Sinatra at performing the lyrics.
Have a look at Monroe’s performance of ‘I Wanna Be Loved by You.’ The scenario is as simple as it gets A beautiful girl in front of an orchestra sings a piece. However, Monroe and Wilder transform it into one of the most sensual and provocative film scenes ever. She is clothed in that sheer dress beggar which precariously hides her modesty, gauze covering her breasts, while the base of the neckline rests at an eyebrow over trouble. Wilder does right by her, A round spotlight does not simply pinpoint her waist, but rather swathes her chest and uses her as a toy to manipulate. It is a piece of clothing alteration during which full frontal exposure would have been excessive. Over, she appears to blankly stare into the void, her posture revealing her full body as she sings the song as if the reality is what it claims. To feel that scene is to realize why no other performer, male or female, has the most sizzling connection with a lens than Monroe.
It was not easy to crystallize the chemistry. There are many legends surrounding the movie “Some Like It Hot”. When speaking of kissing Marilyn Curtis famously stated, “It was like kissing, ah, what’s his name, Hitler.” Monroe had such difficulties in saying a single line, “Where’s the bourbon?” that Wilder ultimately had to paste it inside a drawer. She then opened the wrong drawer, so, in the end, he had it pasted in all of them.
Monroe’s peculiarities and eccentricities surrounding her neuroses on hearing sets and believed was truly strangeness. And, as much as the studios would have wanted to cash in on the phenomena of having her on set accomplished a lot. Watch the last take of “Where’s the bourbon?” and Monroe looks completely off the rails. And remember the highly publicized scene shot on the yacht where Curtis laments that there wasn’t a single woman he could get excited by. Then, Marilyn tries with all her might. She did not kiss him in a sort of erotic fashion, but with tenderness, sweetly as if she was healing a wound he received long ago. You know what Curtis said, but when you watch that scene all that comes to mind is that Hitler was a good kisser.
What is great about this film, aside from the story, is the supporting cast. It features Joe E. Brown, George Raft, and Pat O’Brien all famous in their own right. But Monroe steals the whole show. She was acclaimed as the best actress of her time for a reason her ability to captivate the audience cannot be matched. As for Tony Curtis, I admire his performance even more considering the number of takes Monroe needed. Sometimes I truly felt pity for Curtis, as I can only imagine how it feels to be in a pro-am tournament. The man stays in character throughout the brilliant dialogue. One example is his first meeting with Monroe during their vacation on the beach. He introduces himself as the Shell Oil fortune heir and perfectly mocks Cary Grant. In the yacht seduction scene, notice how effortlessly seductive he becomes while playing around with her innocence. “Water polo? Isn’t that super dangerous?” Monroe quips. And Curtis responds, “I’ll say! I had two ponies drown under me.” What a classic one-liner.
Remember to not miss Wilder using his genius to portray bold sexual symbols in disguise. Just look at his hand when Monroe first kisses him on the couch. Notice how the mid-distance behind her makes Curtis’ shoe rise phallic-like.
Is Wilder meaning to achieve the effect? For sure. Because much later, after the cold millionaire admits he has been healed, he states, “I have this strange sensation in my toes, It’s almost as if someone is barbecuing them over a slow flame.” To which Monroe replies, “Let’s throw another log on the fire.”
Jack Lemmon gets the fuzzy end of the lollipop in the parallel relationship. The screenplay by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is Shakespearian in hopping between high and low, noble and base, tragedy and farce, heroes and clowns. The Curtis character is able to complete his round trip through gender, but Lemmon gets stuck halfway, so while Curtis connects with Monroe in the upstairs love story, Lemmon is stuck downstairs with Joe E. Brown in the screwball comedy. Their romance is frankly cynical. Not unlike most other men, Brown’s character gets married and subsequently divorced, and Lemmon intends to marry him for the monthly payments.
Yet, their courtships seem to be so much fun! While Curtis and Monroe are on Brown’s yacht, Lemmon and Brown are dancing so perfectly that a rose located in Lemmon’s teeth deftly ends up in Brown’s. One of the most hilarious scenes of the movie is the one which features Lemmon, after his date, still wearing his wedding dress, lying on his bed with castanets, and announcing his engagement. (Curtis “What are you going to do on your honeymoon?” Lemmon “He wants to go to the Rivera, but I kind of lean towards Niagara Falls.”) Curtis and Lemmon are also revealing the most social of lies Curtis has Monroe believing that he is a millionaire, and Brown thinks Lemmon is a woman–but the film skips lightly at the edge of danger for the First Time Everyone Gets to Know the Truth which is known and is not bothered by it, and the best part, after Lemmon announces that he is a man, is when Brown gives out the best curtain line in the whole movie. In case you saw the film you know the line, if you have not then is your time to witness it from him.
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