Director: Billy Wilder
Original Release: 1959
Choice: My Wife's
My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5
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| via Wikipedia |
In desperate need of work - and even more desperate need to leave Chicago after witnessing the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Jerry (Jack Lemmon) and Joe (Tony Curtis) join an all-female band on its way to a gig in Florida. Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe), the band's singer and ukelele player, draws predictable interest from both gentlemen, though their need to maintain their secret female identities prevents them from pursuing her directly. As with all Wilder movies, the witty dialogue distracts one from whatever holes might exist in the plot, like how did the two gents manage to find women's clothing on short notice and no money?
In 2000, the American Film Institute named Some Like It Hot the greatest American comedy movie in history. Interestingly, their #2 film on the list, Tootsie, is also about a struggling artist resorting to drag to get a job.
I am a child of the '80s. So obviously, I've had this song going through my head all week in anticipation of the movie:
How many music videos feature a woman shaving her armpits?
I haven't pressed play on the vid but I still can't stop hearing the song in my mind's ear.
ReplyDeleteTerrible song, really - definitely of its era. Now for my earwig cure...
DeleteYou can get anything you want
At Alice's Restaurant...
For earwig cures, hard to beat, 'I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay ...'
DeleteAh, but then you get "The Lumberjack Song" stuck in your head. The beauty of "Alice's Restaurant" is that it's just catchy enough to drive out whatever else you've got going, but too complicated to take its place. Try it sometime - just a couple times through the chorus should do the trick.
DeleteI liked it. I love Jack Lemmon.
ReplyDeleteMe, too. Kevin Spacey's impression of him is fantastic.
DeleteI'll have to look that up.
DeleteI can't remember what movie it was that I watched, but it had an interview with Lemmon's son as part of the special features, and he told this story about how he thought his dad had been killed on a fishing trip they took. He said this thing about his dad being killed by a trout that I went around saying for weeks. Something like, "My God! Jack Lemmon was just killed by a trout!"
Tricky fish, those trout!
DeleteExcellent movie. I like Tony Curtis, but love almost everything Jack Lemmon. The Apartment with Shirley MacLaine was a Wilder and Lemmon also.
ReplyDeleteYes, that one is in the DVD cabinet, waiting to be shared. I expect we'll get to it before long.
DeleteI haven't though of that song for a long time.
ReplyDeleteAnother one of my sidetracks... in the video they show a saguaro the mainstay of many Hollywood Westerns. But they are only found in the Sonoran Desert where I live. Even though they have been in lots of Westerns. Ha ha something you really (not) needed to know.
cheers, parsnip
I could do with some desert-like conditions at the moment!
DeleteGreat old movie, Armchair. Great actors too. Crackups all. One of the all-time greats.
ReplyDeleteWithout a doubt, one for the ages.
DeleteSorry about the flooding Man. I've been there back in New York. The worst part are all the water damaged items. It's funny that those two movies are one and two. I wonder why?
ReplyDeleteWhere in New York? Upstate, I'm assuming.
DeleteSounds like an awesome movie, I need to make time for other things in life!
ReplyDeleteOne should always make time for great films!
Delete