By Robert Bellissimo
Some Like it Hot was released 65 years ago in 1959 and it still holds up beautifully! The film is often considered to be one of the funniest movies ever made and I’d have to agree.
It was directed by Billy Wilder. The screenplay was by Billy Wilder and I.A.L Diamond. The film starred Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Marilyn Monroe. The story concerns two male musicians, Jerry (Jack Lemmon) and Joseph (Tony Curtis) who have witnessed the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in Chicago in 1929. They are on the run from gangster Spats Colombo (George Raft) who doesn’t want any witnesses to stay alive. In order to hide, Jerry and Joseph decide to join an all-girl band dressed in drag, where they meet Sugar, (Marilyn Monroe) who they both find themselves attracted to.
Film Scholar, Professor, and Writer Joseph McBride told me that when he introduced Billy Wilder to his wife, she thanked him for making a feminist film, which caught Wilder by surprise. She said it’s because the film is about men becoming better men by walking in women’s shoes. I owe a great deal to Joseph McBride for his extensive writing on Some Like it Hot in his book “Billy Wilder: Dancing On The Edge”, which I highly recommend. His insights into the film helped me see things that I hadn’t thought of before, such as how the film explores gender fluidity, feminism, and homosexuality.
Before Jerry and Joseph get into trouble with the mob, they were broke and desperate for work. They had blown their paycheque by gambling, and went to their agency to look for openings. When they hear that a band needs two musicians, who play their instruments, they jump at it, but once they find out it’s an all girl band, Joseph begins to turn to leave, except for Jerry who jumps at the opportunity, and says they can dress in drag.
Jerry’s sexuality and gender are ambiguous. He doesn’t hesitate to dress in drag and he’s instantly comfortable disguising himself as a woman. When they meet the band on the train, Joseph introduces himself as Josephine, and Jerry was going to call himself Geraldine, however he blurts out Daphne. It’s as though dressing as a woman has given him a whole new life, which has transformed him into Daphne.
Later in the film, Jerry/Daphne meets Osgood (Joe E. Brown), who won’t stop harassing him. This initially infuriates Jerry/Daphne, but he/she later uses Osgood’s crush to her/his advantage, in order to help Joseph get on Osgood’s yacht so he can sleep with Sugar, who he is deeply attracted to, and who thinks Joseph/Josephine is a millionaire with a yacht. If you’ve seen the film, this won’t sound at all confusing, but if you haven’t, what are you waiting for ?
Jerry/Daphne dances with Osgood all night, which he gradually seems to enjoy, and announces the next day to Jerry that he’s engaged to Osgood, which he is very excited about because Osgood is a millionaire. Joseph reminds Jerry that he’s a boy. Jerry/Daphne keeps telling himself “I’m a boy, I’m a boy”. Billy Wilder claimed that Jerry/Daphne is excited in that scene because it’s exciting to be engaged to someone wealthy, but that seems far-fetched. I see it as Jerry/Josephine finding himself attracted to Osgood, and the icing on the cake being that Osgood is also rich.
Like Joseph, Gerry/Daphne is also attracted to Sugar, which makes it all the more complex, and ambiguous as to what his sexuality is. Wilder and Diamond are exploring gender fluidity and sexuality through Gerry/Daphne in ways that make the film way ahead of it’s time.
In Nat Segaloff’s book “The Naughty Bits: What The Censors Wouldn’t Let You See In Hollywood’s Most Famous Movies”, he writes about how the production code at the time (which heavily censored movies until the rating system was created in 1968) didn’t have any problems with the film, which on the one hand is a surprise, but on the other hand isn’t because Wilder and Diamond were such skilled screenwriters that they found clever and coded ways to get around the production code, which the best artists in those days managed to do very well.
Early in the film we see Joseph manipulate a woman who works for the agency they frequent to look for work as musicians. When he meets Sugar (initially in disguise as Josephine) he learns that she has been used by men and wants to marry someone rich, since many of those men took money from her. This gives him the idea to disguise himself as a millionaire in order to manipulate her into bed. When he gets Sugar on Osgood’s yacht he pretends that he is impotent, which can’t be cured, as a way to get Sugar to seduce him which, of course, works.
This is all played comically, but part of it’s genius is that beneath the comedy is something very dark. A vulnerable woman who has been used by men many times and is now being used once again by a man who knows full well what her experiences with men are and who shared with him (when he was Josephine) her pain from being taken advantage of so often.
When Jerry and Joseph run into the gangsters who are after them, they decide to flee. However, Joseph finds himself caring about Sugar and doesn’t want to just take off on her without saying goodbye. As Josephine, he has experienced being harassed by men, which has given him a different perspective and has made him see that he has treated women badly.
He phones her (disguised as the millionaire) and says he has to go away on business for a long time and doesn’t know when he’ll be back.
This scene is beautifully acted by Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis. Marilyn’s tears break your heart, and Curtis’s concern and care for her really shines.
The famous last scene comes as Osgood, Jerry/Daphne, Joseph, and Sugar all leave together on Osgood’s boat. Joseph tells Sugar that he isn’t any good for manipulating her the way he did, (she now knows the truth about everything) Sugar kisses Joseph, which strongly suggests that she is aroused by his hard to get ways, like he pretended to do as the impotent millionaire.
I’ve always found it unusual that Sugar wasn’t initially angry with Joseph for manipulating, lying and taking advantage of her, but this being a sex comedy and a farce, plausibility is not something really to consider. It’s more of the emotional truth of what is shown on the screen. Sugar has gotten to know Joseph as a caring, attentive and compassionate person as Josephine and a wonderful lover who knows how to spice things up in the bedroom as the rich millionaire. A perfect recipe for a lover.
The famous last lines in the film between Joseph/Daphne and Osgood:
Joseph/Daphne: You don’t understand, I’m a man.
Osgood: Well – nobody’s perfect.
Strongly suggests that Osgood doesn’t care if Joseph/Daphne is a man or a woman. He loves them for who they are, which once again proves how the film was way ahead of it’s time in its exploration of gender fluidity and sexuality.
Some Like it Hot has left audiences laughing for 65 years. It plays on many levels, where one can be entertained, but also challenged by its many complexities, as well as its insights into how men should treat women.
Some Like it Hot is available on Kanopy.
You can find more of Robert on Youtube at Robert Bellissimo at the Movies.
