Runtime: 121 minutes
Directed by: Billy Wilder
Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft, Joe E. Brown
From: United Artists
Before Sunday afternoon, there was no plans to revisit this classic for the first time in many years; it was the combination of not having any movie planned for the night and noticing it was playing on MGMHD made the choice easy for me. Much to my delight, Some Like It Hot is still great.
It has a simple premise, done quite well. Due to circumstances and inadvertently witnessing a gangland hit in 1929 Chicago, two jazz musicians have to go in drag for the purposes of leaving Chi-town immediately and end up in adventures down in Miami, including both men falling for Marilyn Monroe... who can blame them? The film is two hours long yet it never felt too lengthy for a comedy nor wore out its welcome. The leads stumble into a plethora of absurd situations and the comedy is varied: wordplay, sight gags, ironic humor concerning the women in the band not knowing the “new girls” are not distaff (not to mention multiple men swooning over them) and more.
What a great cast it has: I couldn't imagine anyone else than Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon as the often-bickering leads, nor Monroe as the bombshell dame... and I will acknowledge the fact that apparently she was usually “not in good condition” while on set-it does not show on screen. It was also nice seeing old pros George Raft and Joe E. Brown in prominent roles, the latter delivering one of the best closing lines in cinema history. Mix in some catchy jazz music & songs, and this was as delightful a comedy as I remembered.
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