Date Seen: 6/11/17
Score: 4/5
DIRECTOR: Billy Wilder
PRODUCER: Billy Wilder
STUDIO: United Artists
SCREENPLAY: Billy Wilder & I.A.L. Diamond
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Charles Lang
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| Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon |
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| Marilyn Monroe |
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| "I'm a girl... I'm a girl... I wish I were dead... I'm a girl..." |
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| Tony Curtis |
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| Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis |
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| Joe E. Brown |
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| Watch the earrings, Tony |
I was born in 1998, meaning that by the time I was a teenager, movies centering around men in drag for one reason or another were by no means revolutionary. In fact, they've run the gamut from classless comedies like White Chicks to Academy Award-winning dramas like Dallas Buyer's Club, which is one of several films of recent years to cast (and subsequently honor) cisgender men in the roles of transgender women. Hollywood has a serious problem with drag, used frequently as a cheap gag to get laughs at the expense of real transgender or cross-dressing individuals, or even, more recently, used to portray important LGBTQ+ issues, but done so without the consultation or participation of those actually affected by said issues. I write this as a disclaimer, because I think it's important to recognize that Some Like It Hot was one of the first comedy films to use drag as a comedic tool, inspiring decades of imitations. Michael Musto writes in an article on the history of drag in Hollywood films, "Sexual and gender roles are deftly examined in these films, and many amusing and/or insightful moments emerge, but again, it's generally about heteros finding fulfillment by playing around with drag as a hideout, not gay men who are committed to every bugle bead by means of unapologetic performance art." Musto makes a very important point here: While films like Some Like It Hot play around with sexual and gender roles in a way that was certainly progressive for the 1950s, very few of these films showcase transgender and cross-dressing people as individuals, with their own needs, desires, and, well, lives.
For all of these reasons, I was skeptical about the way that Some Like It Hot would touch on these issues, which have blossomed into important and widespread discussions as of late. Thankfully, Billy Wilder's 1959 comedic masterpiece is much more sensitive than I imagined it would be. While any director could have stuck a man in a dress and made people point and laugh at the breach of societal regulations it implies, Billy Wilder created a masterpiece- and a controversial one at that- by not only putting a man in a dress, but completely upending socially prevalent notions of gender and sexuality, laughing at the way both men and women treat sex, creating a pretty damn-near sympathetic viewpoint towards homosexuality, and, overall, just telling censor boards to fuck off. And, incredibly, it worked: Some Like It Hot was essentially the last nail in the coffin of the Hayes Code, effectively ending the brutal censorship codes of the Hollywood studio system.
Throughout the film I was struck by how much Jack Lemmon's performance (in drag) as Daphne reminded me of two separate, but similar, performances to come later- Nathan Lane's turn as the drag artist Albert Goldman in Mike Nichols's The Birdcage (1996), one of my all-time favorite films, and, more unsettlingly, Jack Nicholson's turn as the Joker in Tim Burton's Batman (1989). It's definitely the smile/laugh thing.
Much has already been said about Some Like It Hot, and I feel as though there's not much I can add, so I'll just make a few more points. Firstly, I think Tony Curtis looks, sounds, and acts like an asshole. Standing next to Jack Lemmon, the love of my life/America's sweetheart, he's frustrating to watch, even though it's pretty funny to hear his gruff, angry voice while he's wearing a dress and full makeup. I will say that his masquerade as the millionaire Shell Oil heir was pretty hot, particularly the makeout scene with Marilyn Monroe in the yacht. Even though his schtick is essentially "a-traumatic-experience-left-me-gay-and-now-I-need-you-to-try-to-turn-me-straight," to which Marilyn-fucking-Monroe responds something along the lines of, "Bitch, if I can't make you straight, no one can," it's a pretty steamy scene.
Marilyn Monroe is lovely in this film- much less annoying than her turn in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. She's genuinely radiant throughout the entire film- her rolling white-blonde curls, her bedroom eyes, her vivacious and- how shall we put this- freed body... it's hard to watch this film without considering her tumultuous real-life experiences concurrent with the production and release of this film, and her looming early death only three years later.
Some Like It Hot is not a perfect movie, but it's pretty damn good. While some of its jokes are eye-rolling, and the whole objectification of women thing gets pretty old very quickly, its screenplay is as sharp as any Billy Wilder film, and it never fails to deliver. Most importantly, it's humanizing, and trailblazing for the time of its production. It's June- Pride Month- and watching this film made me really think about the strides we've made in LGBTQ+ cinema, and the work we still have to do.
Sources:
All pictures and gifs were sourced from Pinterest, Google Images, and FilmGrab.com.
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