Saturday, October 15, 2011

How About the Shape of That Liquor Cabinet?

Looks like I'm going to kick off this blog with my favorite movie ever.  I don't even need to watch it first because I can quote most of it from memory.

Seriously, this movie has everything:  drag queens, gangsters, The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, madcap comedy, mistaken identity, bootleggers, a sick jazz soundtrack and Marilyn Motherfucking Monroe.  What else could it possibly need?  Gay marriage?  Oh wait, it has that too.





Quick synopsis:  Jerry and Joe are out of work musicians from Chicago who have the bad fortune to witness the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, after which, the mob puts a hit out on them.  So to save their necks, they dress up in drag and hop a train to join an all-girl band in Florida, Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopaters.  I'll give you three guesses who the lead singer is.  Give up?

                                                 this chick....just some nobody

So of course the boys are sprung.  How could they not be?  While checking into the hotel, Sugar Kane (Monroe) expresses her desire to marry a millionaire (like she does in pretty much every movie she's in.)  Joe, being exactly the sort of scumbag she usually goes out with, uses this information to his advantage, puts his pants back on and poses as Mr. Shell Oil Jr.  So he puts the moves on her and they get sexy on a boat with the help of Jerry (now Daphne) and his boyfriend, Osgood Fielding III.  (I told you.  Pure madcap shit.)  So just as everyone is getting into their gender-bending routines, who shows up at the hotel in Florida (actually the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego), but the Mob from Chicago.  Jerry and Joe are all, "FML!" and from there they plot their escape....hilarity ensues.

I won't spoil the rest for you, but suffice to say, if you aren't ordering this on Netflix right now, you're a lost cause.


Fun fact about this film:  SLIH was a big-budget film.  They had big names in the cast, the Brilliant Billy Wilder and they were filming on-location, not a cheap thing to do in 1958.  This was meant to be shot in color, but in screen tests, Curtis and Lemmon's drag makeup looked SO ugly, they scrapped that idea and shot it in black and white, which is much more forgiving.  There is a bunch of trivia surrounding this movie, like that Tony Curtis described kissing Monroe as being "just like kissing Hitler."  But all of that is readily available on imdb.com.  I just think that this photograph illustrates JUST how awful they looked in color.  So enjoy.

One Final Interesting Fact:  In 1975, Bollywood did a re-make.  I haven't seen it yet but (omg omg) I want to.


Vital Statistics
Some Like it Hot 1959
Director:  Billy Wilder
Starring:  Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe, George Raft, Joe E. Brown
Running Time:  122 minutes

[Thank you Dr. Macro for approving the use of these amazing photos.  There are tons more, so be sure to check them out.]

3 comments:

  1. Some Like it Hot has one of the most hilarious ending line in movie history :

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWS2NVX6VP0

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  2. It really is, isn't it?

    Thanks for stopping by.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wonderful Review
    I love this movie.
    Me loves a lot of oldies. But mostly comedy my favorite oldies dramas were from Mexico golden age of cinema. Really if you know a bit of Spanish you should totally get some they are timeless.
    Good work! :)
    Anacaona

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