Review of choice: Some Like It Hot

Before birth control and hot off the heels of the Red Scare, the late ’50s was a bizarre time to put out such a film as “Some Like It Hot,” which raises the stakes through cross-dressing and gender-bending exploration in a late ’20s setting. Yet, this film and its jokes are deliciously ironic in the ’20s Zeitgeist (e.g., “Suppose the stock market crashes,” “Suppose the Dodgers leave Brooklyn”).

Considered one of the best comedy films of all time, and deservedly so, Billy Wilder’s “Some Like It Hot” spits jokes of all types and delivers wicked humor in a prohibition-era setting; starring the late Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, and recently deceased Tony Curtis. The Curtis is the reckless chauvinist, Joe, with Lemmon as his timid wingman, Jerry. After the two Chicago musicians witness what appears to be the St. Valentine’s Day massacre, they flee to Florida disguised as well-studied female sax and bass players with a blonde, all-girls jazz band.

Though the focus of the show is Joe’s trysts with Sugar “Kane” Kowaczyck while disguised as a phony heir to Shell Oil, Lemmon steals the show under the fake breasts and ill-fitted wig. As the boisterous Daphne, Lemmon’s character Jerry channels his giddy paranoia through incessant giggling, suggestive jokes and constantly calling his friend out on his intentions with Sugar while Joe flip-flops between aliases Josephine, the aloof saxophonist, and Junior, the unlovable, nerdy Shell heir. To hide is masculine qualities and get a laugh from the audience, Lemmon constantly prances around the Florida resort with a gait all too girly and voice hitting his higher registers—not to mention the affair “Daphne” has with millionaire, Osgood Fielding III.

Certain aesthetic aspects of “Some Like It Hot” fall behind in accurately portraying 1929, particularly in women’s hair and makeup. For example, Monroe’s hair is the same in this flick as in “The Seven Year Itch,” which was released in 1955 and set in present day New York City. And, the makeup of the blondes in Sweet Sue’s Society Syncopators are oddly juxtaposed to Lemmon’s and Curtis’; when under pseudonyms Daphne and Josephine, the latter adheres to jazz age minimal-but-bold style while the former conforms to ’50s vogue.

Regardless, this film captures the wit of the ’20s and gives a hat tip to noir film with a black and white touch, while Hollywood was turning to color for high budget films.