Some Like it Hot

Some Like it Hot is a classic American movie made in 1959 starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon.  The six essential elements of drama can be found in the film.  The plot and characters of Some Like it Hot, which is a comedy, are as follows.  Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon play Joe and Jerry, a pair of Jazz musicians in the city of Chicago.  Jerry is a gambler and ran up a big debt with Chicago mobsters, who want to collect.  George Raft plays gangster Spats Colombo. In order to hide from Spats, make some money, and get out of town, Jerry and Joe pretend to be women and take a job in an all-female band.  The band takes a train to Miami, sharing sleeping quarters because they are all 'women'.  Jerry and Joe fall in love with Sugar Kane, the beautiful leader of the band played by Marilyn Monroe.  When they get to Miami, Joe dons another disguise, pretending to be a millionaire in order to court Sugar Kane. 

The thought/storyline of the film involves Joe and Jerry deciding to pose as, to pretend to be, women. This play on gender roles clearly represents the writer and director's ideas. Mixed in with this is a therapeutic exploration of deceptive identities, cross-dressing, and sexual tension.  This is then doubled by Joe attempted to pretend to be a millionaire, which plays with class differences.  It's as unlikely that Joe will be a millionaire as he will be a woman. 

The melody of the film, its emotional context and flow build out of sexual tension and sexual energy.  Crossdressing raises issues of gender and sexuality yet allows the heterosexual characters into all kinds of awkward scenes with the female characters that are charged with sexual tension and energy.  The dialogue plays off this sexual tension.  There is a lot of sexual innuendo and double entendres.  The dialog not only creates and plays off the sexual tension and gender-bending but uses these plot elements to create humor and make jokes.  For example, Joe falls for Marilyn Monroe but can't tell her he is a man, and Jerry pretends to be frigid in an attempt to get Sugar to 'cure' him.  A great example of the spectacle, or scenery, of the movie, is the train setting and scenes on the train.

Work Cited

Some Like it Hot. Dir. Billy Wilder. Perf. Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemon. United Artists, 1959. Film.