Last updated on September 23rd, 2023 at 05:32 pm
Some Like It Hot 1959 is an iconic screwball film directed by Billy Wilder, that has etched its place in cinematic history as a timeless classic that continues to captivate audiences with its blend of comedy, romance, and sheer audacity. From Marilyn Monroe‘s dazzling allure to Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis’s uproarious gender-bending escapades, this cinematic gem is a masterclass in storytelling and entertainment.
The film shows the characteristics of the stupid beautiful girls who were always on the run to hunt for rich and millionaire partners. We see the very thing to do by run-away girl, Sugar, was up to.
It is one of the best films of the screwball genre. Some Like It Hot is one of the 100 best films of 100 years, according to the American Film Institute, and one of the 100 greatest films of all time by the British Film Institute.
Some Like It Hot was included in the Library of Congress’s complete National Film Registry Listing in 1989, and in 2000 Some Like It Hot was voted the funniest movie in a poll conducted by the American Film Institute. It is one of the 101 best educative films that I have been reviewing.
Starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe, and others, the film bases the witnessing of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929 by two male musicians, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, as (Joe/Josephine) and (Jerry/Daphne), who joined an all-female band in disguise of women to escape from the mob, the South Side Gang. The killing of Irish North Siders by Italian South Siders resulted from control over organized crimes.
However, Joe and Jerry became soon infatuated with the lead singer of the band, Sugar (Marilyn Monroe) who could not realize that Josephine and Daphne were actually men in the guise of women.
In Some Like It Hot, she was featured as some ‘dumb blonde’ who was always after money and rich people. In the journey, Joe pretends as a millionaire and falls in love with Sugar, while another millionaire old man has made up his mind to marry Daphne (Jerry).
Storyline:
Some Like It Hot 1959
A group of criminal joints led by Spats Colombo was carrying alcohol in a cascade by a car in Chicago in 1929 and was being followed by the police. They stopped at the Mozzarella’s Funeral Parlour. Police followed the joint there inside the parlour where actually a dance and music show was underway. Joe and Jerry were playing saxophone and bass.
The police raid began inside the parlour as the gang members occupied their reserved table. Chaos ensued between the police and the Spats Colombo’s gang men. Joe and Ted climbed down the emergency exit ladder and joined the restless crowd who were running frantically along with a band of dancer girls.
Joe and Jerry went to Neil’s office to check if she had any job for them. Neil said an agent called Poliakoff was looking for a Saxophone and bass player for two weeks in Florida, at the Seminole-Ritz in Miami. Transportation and expenses all paid.
At Poliakoff’s office, Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopators, a girl’s band ready to leave for Miami, was complaining to him that even though that they are ready to leave a saxophone and bass players were still missing. Poliakoff informed her and the manager of the band that all of the saxophone and bass players were either ill or engaged. Poliakoff tried all possible options only to find none.
When Joe and Jerry went to try their luck with Poliakoff, he plainly told them that he was looking for girls with blonde or under 25. But Jerry told Joe that they can borrow some clothes and wigs and present themselves as girls to the band as Josephine and Geraldine. Poliakoff remained unconvinced but informed them that there was a St. Valentine’s Day Dance at the University of Illinois that night, which is a hundred miles away.
They immediately decided to take the offer. But to go there they needed a car, for which Joe convinced his beloved Neile. She came to the term to let them use her car to Illinois. Off, they headed to the nearby garage for her car.
In the garage, they encountered Toothpick Charlie, a police informant, and a few gang members of Irish North Siders playing pokers, including the owner of the garage. Stopped at gunpoint, they said they came for Nellie Weinmeyer’s car.
But as the car was filled with petrol, the gang of Spats drove in a car and charged everyone inside the garage to put their hands up and to face the wall. Joe and Jerry managed to hide behind the car while the gang filed everyone into the garage and opened fire and killed them all.
But Spats found out Joe and Jerry’s existence there behind a car and determined to eliminate them as witnesses to the incident. They promised not to breathe a word about the massacre.
But, half-dead, when Charlie tried to reach the telephone, the gang turned their guns at him from the boys making a room for them to narrowly escape. Tricked the bullets, they managed to escape but never were not left alone. The gang followed their track.
They, then, finally decided to join Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopators, in disguise of girls, as Josephine and Daphne. They managed to get on the train to Miami. Inside the train, Jerry preferred to introduce himself and Daphne because he did not like Geraldine.
They came upon a not-so-bright singer and Ukulele player, Sugar Kane, who was drinking bourbon whiskey in the washroom. Came from a musical family, Kane said she was running away from her family.
But, during the rehearsal of ‘Running Wild’ by Sugar on the train the bottle of whiskey slipped through her Stocking on the floor. Sue, the owner of the band did know that it slipped from Sugar.
She angrily called the manager, Bienstock, of the band to deal with the matter. However, Daphanie came to her rescue and said that it belonged to her, not Sugar. Nevertheless, Sue made it clear that she will not tolerate liquor and men in her band.
As the light went off, Sugan ventured to Daphne’s compartment to thank her for rescuing her from the Whiskey dilemma. Sensing Sue’s presence Sugar snicked into Daphne’s room, crowding her.
Secretively, Daphne and Sugar decided to have a party with drinks without letting the other girls know about it. However, all the other girls found out about the party and joined them. Some brought cocktail shakers, corkscrews, and crackers. All the girls crowded in Daphne’s room, making Daphne’s manhood vulnerable.
Asked Sugar by Josephine why she is so enthusiastic about parties and drinks, she answered “I’m not very bright, I guess. I wouldn’t say that. Careless, maybe. No, just dumb. If I had any brains, I wouldn’t be on this crummy train with this crummy girls’ band.”
She told Josephine her weakness towards a saxophone player, “I have this thing about saxophone players. Especially tenor sax. I don’t know why, but they curdle me. All they have to do is play eight bars of “Come To Me, My Melancholy Baby” and my spine turns to custard. I get goose-pimply all over, and I come to ’em. Every time”.
Sugar revealed that she was heading to Florida because there were flocks of millionaires, and that she was going catch one of them as long as he had a yacht, a private railroad car, and toothpaste. A man who wears glasses, because, she thinks, “Men who wear glasses are so much more gentle and sweet and helpless. They get those weak eyes from reading.”.
Drunk, when the girls were making merry with Daphne, she cried for help from Josephine, who was engaged in a conversation with Sugar. Afraid of being revealed her hidden male identity, and being helpless, Daphne pulled the emergency brake of the train. And the girls hurriedly dispatched to their respective rooms as if nothing had ever happened in room 7 or with Daphne.
In the morning they reached Seminole-Ritz Hotel where a dozen of retired rich men were enjoying the sunshine while reading the newspaper on the veranda. Osgood Fielding III is one of them who tried to convince Daphne by putting back her heel when it came off her feet while climbing up the stairs and offering to carry her instruments to the rooms.
Making himself forcefully engaged in a conversation with her, he said he was married 7 or 8 times, and he offered her to have dinner with him. Angry, Daphne slept him and ran away from him because he pinched her inside the lift.
The manager of the band put Josephine and Daphne in the same room, just opposite Sugar’s room. Inside the room, Daphne accused Josephine of being infatuated with and spending time with Sugar. Bienstock came into the room searching for her lost suitcase that Josephine his underneath the bed.
In the afternoon, when Daphne went swimming with Sugar and the girls, Josephine brought out the suitcase she stole, which was stuffed with men’s suits and dresses. Dressed as a young millionaire gentleman she headed for the beach to attract Sugar. While playing volleyball, Sugar accidentally ran into Cary Grant (Josephine/Joe) who was reading the Wallstreet Journal on the beach, pretending to be eating for the signals from his yacht anchored at the shore.
Grant assertively intruded himself as a millionaire and said his father and grandfather own Shell Oil and a yacht and are still unmarried. Grant told her that he likes classical music. Sugar approves his predilection and told that she spent 3 years in Sheboygan Conservatory of Music, which is a lie, a lie Daphne and Josephine tried to establish in the band. Daphne intervened in their conversation.
However, she notices that the gentleman with whom Sugar was talking to is actually Josephine or Joe under the guise of Cary Grant, trying to impress her. Not knowing his real identity Sugar is delighted that she had met a millionaire, after all.
Before they reached their rooms, Josephine hurried to the hotel, claimed into the room through the window, and submerged himself in the bathtub surprising Daphne. She was seen in the bathtub full of foam and transformed into a woman. Sugar excitedly told Josephine about her finding the real gentleman millionaire of her dreams.
Once Sugar left the room, a telephone call came for Daphne from Osgood. Josephine answered the call and had been requested to pass a message to Daphne that he wanted to have supper with her on his yacht after the show, that night. He assured them that all the crews will be taken care of and will give them a shore leave. It will be just the two of them. Josephine assured Osgood to deliver the message to Daphne.
After the conversation, Josephine explained to Daphne that she must be with Osgood as she plans to be with Sugar. Daphne’s strong reluctance was obvious as she did not agree with Josephine’s plan to forcibly send her to Osgood whom she calls a ‘dirty old man’, so she/he can have a date with Sugar at his yacht. Josephine told her to tell Osgood to take her to a restaurant, instead of his yacht, where Josephine (or Cary Grant) and Sugar will meet.
That night when Sugar Kane was performing ‘I Wanna be Loved by You’, at the hotel party, and Josephine Daphne were playing music, a bouquet came in for Daphne from Osgood, who was seen waving at her from the audience. But Josephine hijacked the bouquet and put a tag of Shell Oil and informed Sugar that it came for her from Cary Grant. Cary Grant invited her to supper with him on his yacht. Surprised, Sugar agreed to have supper on his yacht after the show.
Once the show was over, Josephine hurried to her room and changed her feminine dress to Shell Oil Junior and climbed down the hotel wall, and hurried to the yacht of Osgood by bicycle while Sugar was also on her way there, and while Daphne was busy with Osgood somewhere.
Daphne implored Osgood to go somewhere instead of the yacht because she has seasickness and might throw up. Josephine was able to reach the yacht just seconds before and was waiting for her on the lifeboat.
Not knowing how to pilot a boat, Shell Junior, managed to reach the yacht by piloting the boat backwards. Impressed by his hospitality, Sugar said she was afraid because she has never been alone with any man in the middle of the night. Men often take advantage of such situations, she expressed. Junior assured her that she does not have to be worried because he is harmless and because the company of girls leaves him cold, a mental block that does not create any sensual feelings toward girls.
Sugar asked if he had tried it with a girl. He kissed her quickly and said it did not feel anything, that he could not fall in love with anyone since he lost his beloved. When Sugar suggested him to see a good doctor, he said he was with Sigmund Freud for six months in Vienna. Still, nothing worked. Sugar kept trying to rejuvenate his sensation in different ways: by dancing, kissing, and with more champagne.
Daphne kept Osgood busy dancing in a bar while Josephine and Sugar were busing romancing on the yacht. Sugar succeeds in making Junior engage in the loving act by arousing his sense of it.
Drunk and drowsy, Osgood returned to his yacht just a few seconds after Sugar and Josephine left the yacht. After bidding her goodnight in a passionate kiss, Josephine climbed up the wall to her room without making anyone aware of it.
Jerry (Daphne) informed that she/he is engaged with Osgood. She said, Osgood only needs his mother’s approval, who does not like a girl who smokes. Joe (Josephine) reasoned that he can’t marry a guy being himself a guy. Jerry (Daphne) says that he still wants to marry Osgood for security reasons and will reveal his/her real identity once the ceremony is legally done.
And plans to have an annulment and settlement in it. However, his dream of marrying a millionaire shattered once Joe told him that it was not possible legally and advised him to be pretending as a boy instead.
In the meantime, the gang of Spats found their way into the Simonale Ritz Hotel to Friends of Italian Opera. A detective was also seen following them there, where the band of Sweet Sue will perform for the gang in the Opera of Italian South Siders.
Before the Opera, Daphne and Josephine found Spats and his gang members in the bar. Terrified, they ran to the elevator where Spats and other gang members also followed them in on the third floor. Spats became suspicious, even though he let them go this time.
Josephine and Daphne got back to their room and started packing their belongings. Daphne proposed to get away to South Africa by selling the Diamond bracelet that Osgood gave her. Josephine telephoned to room 414, where Sugar was living and informed her that because of an emergency situation, he was going to sail away at night. That he is leaving for Venezuela and not coming back at all. But she said a parcel must be delivered to her door from him as a going away gift. Without Daphne’s knowing, Josephine pushed the box of bracelets across the door of room 414.
Coming from the bathroom, Daphne realised that her bracelet is not there. Just the moment they were about to have a brawl on the bracelet, broken-hearted Sugar entered room 413 interrupting their argument. She was looking for bourbon. Daphne notices her bracelet on Sugar’s wrist. Sugar said it was from Shell Junior who was going away to marry another girl.
To escape, Daphne and Josephine climbed down through the window. Unfortunately, they were climbing down through windows in the same direction to the windows of the room where Spats and his gang members were playing cards. Spats is sure about their pretentious guise at the moment and goes after them. Nevertheless, they were able to hide themselves underneath the lined-up banquette table covered with a big table spread.
The rival group of Friends of Italian Opera decided to eliminate Spats and his group because of the mess they made on Valentine’s Day by killing seven in the garage. Therefore, they decided to celebrate Spats’ birthday 4 months ahead.
They made a huge cake, inside which hid someone from the rival group with a Kalashnikov. They came in after singing ‘he is a jolly good fellow’ twice. Then from inside the cake came and opened fire at Spats and its members, that killed them all. And some from the delegates ran after Daphne and Josephine.
Josephine suggested Daphne to call Osgood to tell him that she wants to elope with him. From the telephone booth, Josephine heard Sugar singing ‘I am through with love’ still on the stage. Josephine approached the stage and gave her a hug only to make her realise that it was actually Joe under the guise of Josephine.
But because of the chase, they both run into Osgood who was waiting on the boat for them. And just as they were about to sail, Sugar reached them and cried at them to wait for her.
Once the four got on the boat, Josephine revealed the truth to Sugar and advised her to leave him to find a millionaire instead, but she was very adamant and reluctant to go back. Sugar, Josephine, Daphne, and Osgood left the shore for the yacht.
Happy, Osgood told Daphne that his mother was very happy about their wedding and that Daphne was going to wear his mother’s gown. But Daphne said, his mother and she are built in a different way to wear the gown.
She also said that she can’t marry him because she actually he, and she does not have a natural blonde. Osgood says ‘doesn’t matter’, ‘I smoke all the time’ says Daphne, “I don’t care’ replied Osgood.
Daphne said’ I have a terrible past”, and that she has been with many saxophone players. Still, Osgood says he forgives her. “I can never have children,” Says Daphne “We can adopt some” replied, Osgood. Putting off her wig Daphne said, “You don’t understand, I am a man”, “Nobody’s perfect”, refuted Osgood. This is the ending line of Some Like It Hot, anyway. They sailed away.
Some Like It Hot Movie Quotes
I always get the fuzzy end of the lollipop~ Sugar
Embalming people with coffee I’ve come to my grandfather’s funeral. ~ Sugar
25, is a quarter of a century, makes a girl think of her future ~ Sugar
Men who wear glasses are so much more gentle and sweet and helpless. ~ Sugar
Conclusive remark
Men can fall in love in the guise, and once the real identity is revealed, sometimes, they are ready to accept any possible flaws or inequities, in most cases seeking richness can be disastrous.
It also reminded me of the dilemma and the life-threatening situation the witnesses of a crime have to go through. Some Like It Hot 1959 is so full of comedy and real-life events that one will have to return to the film repeatedly.
