Some Like It Hot (1959)

User Rating:

8.4/10   

Director:

Billy Wilder

Writers:

Robert Thoeren (story) and
Michael Logan (story) ...

Release Date:

29 March 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Family | Music | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

The movie too HOT for words!

Plot:

When two musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.

Plot Keywords:

Band | Witness | Yacht | Musician | Massacre

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 10 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Marilyn Monroe	...	Sugar Kane Kowalczyk
Tony Curtis	...	Joe - 'Josephine' / 'Junior'
Jack Lemmon	...	Jerry - 'Daphne'
George Raft	...	Spats Colombo
Pat O'Brien	...	Det. Mulligan
Joe E. Brown	...	Osgood Fielding III
Nehemiah Persoff	...	Little Bonaparte
Joan Shawlee	...	Sweet Sue
Billy Gray	...	Sig Poliakoff
George E. Stone	...	Toothpick Charlie
Dave Barry	...	Beinstock
Mike Mazurki	...	Spats' henchman
Harry Wilson	...	Spats' henchman
Beverly Wills	...	Dolores
Barbara Drew	...	Nellie

Also Known As:

Not Tonight, Josephine! (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Mexico:A | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Singapore:PG | USA:Approved (PCA #19281) | Brazil:Livre | USA:PG-13 (DVD version) | Finland:K-16 (1959) | Finland:S (1987) | South Korea:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Norway:15 (re-rating) | Norway:16 (original rating) | New Zealand:PG | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | France:-12 (original rating) | France:U (re-rating) | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 (re-release) | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:U (video rating) (1989) | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Coronado Beach, Coronado, California, USA

Company:

Ashton Productions

Trivia:

Marilyn Monroe required 47 takes to get "It's me, Sugar" correct, instead saying either "Sugar, it's me" or "It's Sugar, me". After take 30, Billy Wilder had the line written on a blackboard. Another scene required Monroe to rummage through some drawers and say "Where's the bourbon?" After 40 takes of her saying "Where's the whiskey?", 'Where's the bottle?", or "Where's the bonbon?", Wilder pasted the correct line in one of the drawers. After Monroe became confused about which drawer contained the line, Wilder had it pasted in every drawer. Fifty-nine takes were required for this scene and when she finally does say it, she has her back to the camera, leading some to wonder if Wilder finally gave up and had it dubbed.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: In the speakeasy as we see Mulligan packing his cigar, the top of someone's head is in the bottom of the screen. However, in the scene where he first sits down at the table, you can see that there's no place for that person to be sitting as he is right next to the stage.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Mulligan: All right, Charlie; that the joint?
Toothpick Charlie: Yes, sir.
Mulligan: Who runs it?
Toothpick Charlie: I already told you.
Mulligan: Refresh my memory.
Toothpick Charlie: Spats Columbo.
Mulligan: That's very refreshing; what's the password?
Toothpick Charlie: "I've come to Grandma's funeral." Here's your admission card.
[he gives Mulligan a mourning armband]
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Due South: Some Like It Red (#2.12)" (1996)

Soundtrack:

Some Like It Hot

As hot as it gets

A Comedy that has it all, and lacks absolutely nothing. "Nobody's perfect" may be an inherent truism, but "Some Like it Hot" is a definite somebody in the universe of cinema, thus it IS perfect in every sense. Swing, sex and slapstick, (three words that immediately come to mind when trying to describe it) , are a mix so delicious, so fruitful in its possibilities that one cannot imagine a film which can live up to them, and yet this one does. Marilyn, her trademark, displeasingly infantile voice aside, is a bombshell of thermonuclear dimensions, whose powers of titillation will not expire so long as there are hormones and/or Viagra. The sexual content, for socio-historical reasons cannot be as explicit as we've come to expect, but there's still plenty of it, from Monroe's see-through outfit to the double entendre worthy of the Farelli Brothers ("What do I do if it's an emergency ? - Pull the emergency break!" ), including overtly gay themes that have a cult following of their own. The Lemmon/Curtis duo operates with gleeful, unrestrained vitality that can only be likened to Chaplin in his heyday. Though not a Musical, the combustive energy of this movie is so stimulating it almost makes you get up and dance.