Some Like It Hot

Some Like It Hot is a 1959 comedy film by Billy Wilder. It stars Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft, Pat O'Brien, Joe E. Brown and Nehemiah Persoff. The movie was adapted by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond from the story by Robert Thoeren and Michael Logan. Logan had already written the story (but without the gangsters) for a German movie, Fanfaren der Liebe (directed by Kurt Hoffmann, 1951), so that Wilder's film is seen by some as a remake.

Trivia

On the set, Wilder grew exasperated by Monroe's inability to remember her lines. He had several of them written in inconspicuous spots on the set, so she could read them. In particular, you can see Monroe's eyes move back and forth during the scene where she talks to Curtis' character on the phone in her hotel room - she was reading from a chalkboard held behind the camera.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It has been reported that Monroe was pregnant during the filming of this movie.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tony Curtis was famously quoted as saying that kissing Marilyn Monroe during the love scene in this movie was like "kissing Hitler," but he later denied saying it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wilder paid tribute to three great gangster movies of the 1930s with subtle gags in the movie's script. The crimelord "Little Bonaparte" stems from Little Caesar, while Spats Columbo threatens to smash a grapefruit in the face of one of his henchmen (James Cagney's famous scene from The Public Enemy). He then grabs a coin from the air as it is being flipped by another gangster, a cliche that originated with Howard Hawks' Scarface.

Related Topics:
1930s - Little Caesar - James Cagney's - The Public Enemy - Howard Hawks' - Scarface

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The film was originally planned to be filmed in full colour, but after several screen tests it had to be changed to black-and-white. The reason for this was a very obvious 'green tint' around the heavy make-up of Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon when in role as Josephine and Daphne.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~