Some Like It Hot (novel)

''Some Like It Hot'' is a 1959 American crime comedy film directed, produced and co-written by Billy Wilder. It stars Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, with George Raft, Pat O'Brien, Joe E. Brown, Joan Shawlee and Nehemiah Persoff in supporting roles. The screenplay by Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond is based on a screenplay by Robert Thoeren and Michael Logan from the 1935 French film '' Fanfare of Love''. The film is about two musicians who disguise themselves by dressing as women to escape from mafia gangsters whom they witnessed committing a crime.

''Some Like It Hot'' opened to critical and commercial success and is considered to be one of the greatest films of all time. The film received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Actor, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, winning for Best Costume Design. In 1989, the Library of Congress selected it as one of the first 25 films for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

The film was produced without approval from the Motion Picture Production Code (Hays Code) because it features cross-dressing. The code had been gradually weakening in its scope since the early 1950s, owing to greater social tolerance for taboo topics in film, but it was enforced until the mid-1960s. The overwhelming success of ''Some Like It Hot'' is considered one of the reasons behind the retirement of the Hays Code.

Plot

In February 1929, in Prohibition-era Chicago, Joe is a jazz saxophone player and an irresponsible, impulsive ladies' man; his anxious friend Jerry is a jazz double bass player. They work in a speakeasy owned by gangster "Spats" Colombo. Tipped off by informant "Toothpick" Charlie, the police raid the joint. Joe and Jerry escape, but later accidentally witness Spats and his henchmen gunning down "Toothpick" and his gang in revenge, which was inspired by the real-life Saint Valentine's Day Massacre. Spats and his gang see them as they flee. Broke, terrified, and desperate to get out of town, Joe and Jerry disguise themselves as women named Josephine and Daphne so they can join Sweet Sue and her Society Syncopators, an all-female band headed by train to Miami. On the train, Joe and Jerry befriend Sugar Kane, the band's vocalist and ukulele player.

Joe and Jerry become obsessed with Sugar and compete for her affection while maintaining their disguises. Sugar confides to "Josephine" that she has sworn off male saxophone players, who have taken advantage of her in the past. She hopes to find a gentle, bespectacled millionaire in Florida. During the forbidden drinking and partying on the train, "Josephine" and "Daphne" become close friends with Sugar, and struggle to remember that they are supposed to be girls and cannot make passes at her.

Once in Miami, Joe woos Sugar by assuming a second disguise as millionaire Junior, the heir to Shell Oil while feigning indifference to her. An actual millionaire, the much-married, aging, mama's-boy Osgood Fielding III, persistently pursues "Daphne", whose refusals only increase his appetite. He invites "her" for a champagne supper on his yacht, ''New Caledonia''. Joe convinces Jerry to keep Osgood occupied onshore so that "Junior" can take Sugar to Osgood's yacht and pass it off as his own. Once on the yacht, "Junior" tells Sugar that psychological trauma has left him impotent and frigid, but that he would marry anyone who could cure him. Sugar tries to arouse him, with considerable success. Meanwhile, "Daphne" and Osgood dance the tango (" La Cumparsita") till dawn. When Joe and Jerry get back to the hotel, Jerry announces that Osgood has proposed marriage to "Daphne" and that he, as Daphne, has accepted, anticipating an instant divorce and huge cash settlement when his ruse is revealed. Joe convinces Jerry that he cannot marry Osgood.

The hotel hosts a conference for "Friends of Italian Opera", which is a major meeting of the national crime syndicate, presided over by "Little Bonaparte". Spats and his gang recognize Joe and Jerry as the witnesses they have been looking for. Joe and Jerry, fearing for their lives, realize they must quit the band and leave the hotel. Joe conceals his deception from Sugar by telling her, over the telephone, that he, Junior, must marry a woman of his father's choosing and move to Venezuela for financial reasons. Sugar is distressed and heartbroken. Joe and Jerry evade Spats' men by hiding under a table at the syndicate banquet. "Little Bonaparte" has Spats and his men killed at the banquet; again, Joe and Jerry are witnesses and they flee through the hotel. Joe, dressed as Josephine, sees Sugar onstage singing a lament to lost love. He runs onto the platform and kisses her, causing Sugar to realize that Josephine and Junior are the same person.

Jerry persuades Osgood to take "Daphne" and "Josephine" away on his yacht. Sugar runs from the stage at the end of her performance and jumps aboard Osgood's launch just as it is leaving the dock with Joe, Jerry, and Osgood. Joe confesses the truth to Sugar and tells her that she deserves better, but Sugar wants him anyway, realizing he is the first man to genuinely care for her. Meanwhile, Jerry tries to get out of his promise to marry Osgood, by listing reasons why "Daphne" and Osgood cannot marry, ranging from a smoking habit to infertility. Osgood, smiling broadly, has answers for all of them. Exasperated, Jerry rips off the wig, switches to his normal voice, and says "I'm a man!" Still smiling, Osgood replies "Well, nobody's perfect", leaving Jerry speechless.

Cast

Soundtrack

The soundtrack features four songs performed by Marilyn Monroe, nine songs composed by Adolph Deutsch, as well as two songs performed by jazz artist Matty Malneck.

Production

Pre-production

Billy Wilder wrote the script for the film with writer I. A. L. Diamond.Rolston, Lorraine, Some like it Hot (York Film Notes). Longman; 1 edition, 2000 pp. 7–57 The plot was based on a screenplay by Robert Thoeren and Michael Logan for the 1935 French film '' Fanfare of Love''.Curtis, T. and Vieira, M. (2009). ''Some Like It Hot''. London: Virgin Books, p.13 The original script for ''Fanfare of Love'' was untraceable, so Walter Mirisch found a copy of the 1951 German remake, ''Fanfares of Love''. He bought the rights to that script, and Wilder worked with this to produce a new story. Both films follow the story of two musicians in search of work, but Wilder created the gangster subplot that keeps the musicians on the run.

The studio hired female impersonator Barbette to coach Lemmon and Curtis on gender illusion for the film. Monroe worked for 10 percent of the gross in excess of $4 million, Curtis for 5 percent of the gross over $2 million, and Wilder for 17.5 percent of the first million after break-even and 20 percent thereafter.

Casting

Tony Curtis was spotted by Billy Wilder while he was making the film '' Houdini'' (1953), and he thought Curtis would be perfect for the role of Joe. "I was sure Tony was right for it", said Wilder, "because he was quite handsome, and when he tells Marilyn that he is one of the Shell Oil family, she has to be able to believe it". Wilder's first idea for the role of Jerry was Frank Sinatra, but he did not come t