Some Like It Hot (1959)

Ranked #38 in Sight & Sound Greatest Movies Poll.

One of the most beloved movies of all time, this sizzling masterpiece by Billy Wilder set a new standard for Hollywood comedy. After witnessing a mob hit, Chicago musicians Joe and Jerry (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, in landmark performances) skip town by donning drag and joining an all-female band en route to Miami. The charm of the group’s singer, Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe, at the height of her bombshell powers) leads them ever further into extravagant lies, as Joe assumes the persona of a millionaire to woo her and Jerry’s female alter ego winds up engaged to a tycoon.

With a whip-smart script by Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond, and sparking chemistry among its finely tuned cast, Some Like It Hot is as deliriously funny and fresh today as it was when it first knocked audiences out six decades ago.

Nobody’s perfect, as the film’s immortal closing line has it, but some comedies are.

Times

Some Like It Hot was released in 1959 but its effervescence and sparkle are timeless. I guarantee that it will make you laugh out loud.

Film Companion