| A favorite scene sequence is when Sugar
Kane has a spontaneous party with Daphne and the girls in the band
on Daphne's train bunk. (Jerry has to remind Daphne that he is a
girl, to not blow their cover.)
Monroe gives a great comic / dramatic performance
as Sugar Kane, as well as treating the audience to three songs;
"Running Wild," "I'm Through With Love," and
her signature "boop-boop-a-doop song, "I Wanna Be Loved
by You."
Another favorite scene is when Daphne and Osgood
(Lemmon and Joe E. Brown) go calypso dancing until dawn at a local
dance club, so his buddy, Jerry and Sugar Kane can spend some
time on Osgood's yacht. How they kept a straight face through
it all is amazing to this reviewer. Afterwards Joe (Curtis) has
to remind Jerry (Lemmon) that he isn't a girl, and can't marry
this guy, when Jerry (Daphne) comes home on cloud nine, because
Osgood had proposed and given him a diamond.
Joe E. Brown was a very talented comedian, and
shines in this small but important role. Another favorite scene
is when Joe E. Brown,who has been courting Jack Lemmon's drag
persona for much of the film, finds out something remarkable about
this new love of his life, Daphne, toward the end of the film.
His reaction, when he find's out Lemmon is a man, is priceless.
Joe has the one great memorable line... "Nobody's Perfect!"
said with perfect comedic timing and delivery.
To interrupt these budding romances, reality checks
into the hotel, when Spatz and his gang, along with other mobsters
arrive for their mob banquet and meeting. Spatz and his thugs
of course run into Joe and Jerry when they panic after seeing
these gangsters in the lobby. A great cat and mouse game ensues,
as mobsters discover them and chase them about, with Jerry and
Joe just barely escaping. Then, Jerry and Joe find themselves
getting a little too close for comfort to Spatz, and then have
another unperceived problem, after the bullets fly. Decisions
must be made as Jerry and Joe find themselves once more real close
to "sleeping with the fishes." The action is suspenseful
and hilarious at the same time.
George Raft is convincing as mobster Spatz Columbo.
Raft made a successful career playing hard-boiled gangsters /detectives
in many films, such as "Scarface," "Johnny Allgero,"
"Johnny Angel," and "A Dangerous Profession."
Pat O'Brian gives a fine performance as Detective
Mulligan, who comes along as well, hoping to get the goods on
these mobsters, and of course would love to get a hold of these
two witnesses, Jerry and Joe. O'Brian, known as Hollywood's "Irishman
in Residence," often played priests and cops in various dramatic
productions, such as "Angels With Dirty Faces." He enjoys
himself in this role of detective Mulligan, which pokes fun at
the serious cop roles he had through the years.
The producers couldn't have picked a better place that the Hotel
Del Coronado to provide such a terrific scenic back drop and location
site for this fine, hilarious screenplay, by Robert Thoeren, I.A.L.
Diamond & Billy Wilder, who got the idea from a German farce,
called "Fanfares of Love." "Some Like It Hot"
makes great use of its Hotel Del Coronado location. The Hotel
Del, near San Diego, has provided lush lodging for politicians,
movie stars, and others for many decades, and has an impressive
lobby, a grand exterior, a lovely interior, and a glorious beach.
Oscar winning costumes, that really gave the film
the flapper- mobster feel of the era, were by Orgy-Kelly
"Some Like It Hot" later served as the
basis for the Broadway musical, "Sugar," which had a
long run on Broadway.
Original film casting... it was Bob Hope and Danny
Kaye with Mitzy Gaynor for Monroe's part.
If you enjoyed SOME LIKE IT HOT you many like "Tootsie,"
"Sister Act," and/or "Mrs.
Doubtfire." |
SOME
LIKE IT HOT ... THE ROMANCE REVIEW 
