27 Days With Billy Wilder And Me

Every Movie He Directed…From Mauvaise Graine to Buddy Buddy

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Day Seventeen: Some Like It Hot

July 16th, 2011 · No Comments · 1959, IAL Diamond, Inciting Incident, Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe, Mid Point, Plot Point I, Plot Point II, Some Like It Hot, Tony Curis

Some Like It HotBilly Wilder’s seventeenth movie, Some Like It Hot, the irrepressible comedy starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Marilyn Monroe, was released in 1959. Billy was 53 years old.

This is what movie-making is all about!

Some Like It Hot is my second favorite movie, following closely on the heels of Casablanca.

This is note perfect, from the jazz-era setting in gangster-ridden Chicago, 1929, to the mouth-watering performance by Marylin Monroe, to the antics of Curtis and Lemmon in drag, to the last line of the movie, arguably one of the best ever penned and spoken (again, second only to Rick’s famous line, “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship” in the final scene of Casablanca).

The story, written by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond (based on the story by Robert Thoeren and Michael Logan) is about two penniless male musicians who witness a gangland hit (the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre). To hide from the thugs, they pose as two women to land a gig in an all-girls band bound for Florida for a run of shows. One of the men — Curtis (posing as Josephine) — falls for a shapely female musician (Marilyn Monroe, who plays Sugar Kane Kowalczyk). Knowing he can’t reveal his true identity, he pretends to be a rich playboy with a Cary Grant accent to woo Sugar.

The Inciting Incident of a movie usually occurs within the first 10-15 minutes and literally “incites” the action, or starts the movie in motion. It happens to, or is caused by, the protagonist(s).

In Some Like It Hot, the Inciting Incident occurs at the 8:45 mark when the speakeasy in which the two musicians are playing is raided by the cops. At that moment, Jack Lemmon’s character, Jerry, spots a cop (Pat O’Brien) putting on his badge. Knowing a raid is about to occur, the two hurriedly pack up their instruments to leave just as the door is kicked in and the cops enter.

Plot Point I is the point in the movie at which the action is turned in another direction. Shortly after Plot Point I, the movie enters Act II. So Plot Point I is that which spins the movie into Act II.

Plot Point I in Some Like It Hot occurs at the 20:45 mark. That’s when the two musicians (in a parking garage to borrow a friend’s car) witness the gangland hit, and are seen by the mobsters. Before they can be shot, they flee for their lives. Knowing the hoods will find them if they stay in Chicago, they dress as women, land the gig with the all-girls band, and leave town.

The entrance of Marilyn Monroe (at the 25:05 mark) signals a new twist is about to occur and certainly does in Act II.

Great line spoken by Sugar Kane to Josephine and Daphne: “I always get the fuzzy end of the lollipop.”

Plot Point II occurs toward the end of Act Ii and spins the movie into the shortest Act, Act III.

In Some Like It Hot, Plot Point II occurs at 1:34 into the film (just about perfectly timed, by the way!) when Spats and his mobsters from Chicago walk into the Seminole-Ritz Hotel where Josephine and Daphne are staying with their all-girls band. The mobsters are in Florida ostensibly for the Friends of Italian Opera convention, although it’s actually a national meeting of mobsters. Hot on their heals is Detective Mulligan, also in Florida to keep an eye on Spats. Daphne and Josephine see Spats and make quick plans to leave the hotel.

So begins Act III.

This is an amazing movie. It should be seen by everyone — if only to see the dress Marilyn Monroe wears for most of it. Yowee!

Principle Cast:
Sugar Kane Kowalczyk……………………..Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962)

Joe…………………………………………………Tony Curtis (1925–2010)

Jerry……………………………………………….Jack Lemmon (1925–2001)

Spats Colombo…………………………………..George Raft (1901–1980)

Det. Mulligan……………………………………Pat O’Brien (1899–1983)

Osgood Fielding III…………………………….Joe E. Brown (1892–1973)

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