Review of Some Like It Hot, directed by Billy Wilder

For the longest time, before I began working as a film critic and was creating posts on this blog, having left my critic position, I had an aversion to older movies. I didn’t grow up in a household that really liked movies; our idea of splurging when I was in school was going to the $3 movies up the street every so often—it would show movies six months after they released originally in theaters, but it was all we could afford.

I began getting more into film when I was in high school, and then I only watched contemporary movies because it was all I really knew how to do. When I was in college I minored in film and then began to gradually get exposed more to the classics, and then I landed a film critic job out of college and was being sent out to film festivals.

Nowadays I tend to rarely watch the classics, and because I didn’t have my blog back then, I have no reviews up really. I’m slowly fixing this throughout my time online here, but I was having an itch the other day (when writing this) to watch Some Like It Hot.

I’d been thinking about watching it ever since the Broadway show based on it closed, but never got around to it. When I saw this film featured on my Kanopy account one day, I shrugged my shoulders and decided it was time. And so I watched it!

Here’s my review! I don’t want to ramble too much in the introduction.

Two men on the run disguise themselves as women, but then fall for the same woman.

This movie takes place in Chicago during the 1920s, when Prohibition is very much a thing. The protagonists are Joe and Jerry, who play the saxophone and double bass, and they’re employed by a speakeasy that’s owned by the local mafia. Joe is brash and popular with the ladies, while Jerry is someone who is more anxious and disappears into the wallpaper during social situations.

But when the police discover their workplace is ran by the mafia, a raid is conducted and the two friends are forced to flee. They see their boss killing the informant and his gang, but when they are spotted by their boss’ crew, they have to run away because they’re going to be next.

Despite having no money or prospects, Joe and Jerry decide to pretend to be two women: Josephine and Daphne. They show up at the train and pretend to be a part of the all-female band that’s going down to Miami to perform. It’s with this group they meet Sugar Kane, a woman that’s as sweet as her name sounds and the vocalist.

The more they talk to Sugar, the more obsessed both men become with her. They both want to marry her, but there’s a huge problem: she thinks they are women. It’s to Joe that Sugar also clarifies that she doesn’t want to date men who play the saxophone specifically, as she’s been burned hard by them.

So for the meantime the two men just become friends with her, becoming closer after a party. But in Miami, Joe decides to pose as an oil heir (without the wig and costume on, by the way), and he falls in her love with her. At the same time, a rich millionaire becomes smitten with Jerry’s Daphne, and he wants her to come to dinner with him.

Joe tells Jerry to keep the guy occupied, and then they use the yacht so Joe can convince Sugar that it’s actually his. They have a good and spicy night on the yacht, but when Joe comes back to the hotel, he discovers Jerry has accepted a marriage proposal from the millionaire. They think he’s going to give a lot of cash when he discovers the truth, but Joe tells Jerry he can’t do this.

The hotel is having an event at the same time for Italians, which, in reality, is a mafia meeting. Their old boss comes into town and sees Joe and Jerry, leading to chaos as his crew tries to get to them. The duo realize they need to quit the band and flee as quickly as possible, and Joe calls Sugar and tells her that his father has married him off and he needs to go to Latin America.

Sugar is very upset by this for obvious reasons, but the men must move on. Their old boss is killed though in the chase by another mafia head, and the guys are able to get away dressed as their female counterparts. However, Joe spots Sugar singing about a love that’s gone, and he runs onto the stage and kisses her in costume.

She realizes the truth by this. Jerry then asks his fiance to take them away on the yacht, and Sugar joins them. Sugar doesn’t care when Joe confesses, and says it’s fine because he is the only man who cared for her. The millionaire and Jerry go back and forth, and he reveals his identity to get out of the marriage, but the guy doesn’t seem to care.

Overall Thoughts

This was a delight to watch, although I could imagine some of my older and more conservative relatives being scandalized by this movie when it came out at the time. I think my parents would even be scandalized by this in the modern day.

Anyways, this was an interesting movie to me because of the fact it defies a lot of the Hays Code, which was still technically in place when this was released. The Hays Code wouldn’t last a decade longer than this, but this was such a fun time for a fifties movie.

It’s not high art, but the dialogue lands well and it’s entertaining to watch. The romance also had me shaking my head,, but what can we do? It’s like the modern soap opera in some ways and full of tropes we know well.

Go watch this one if you like the synopsis or classic films! I found it to be worth the watch, and will probably revisit it in the future.

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