Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9964 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-04-01
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French, Spanish
• Subtitled in: French, Spanish
• Running time: 120 minutes

Amazon.com Essential Video
Maybe "nobody's perfect," as one character in this masterpiece suggests. But some movies are perfect, and Some Like It Hot is one of them. In Chicago, during the Prohibition era, two skirt-chasing musicians, Joe and Jerry (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon), inadvertently witness the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. In order to escape the wrath of gangland chief Spats Colombo (George Raft), the boys, in drag, join an all-woman band headed for Florida. They vie for the attention of the lead singer, Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe), a much-disappointed songbird who warbles "I'm Through with Love" but remains vulnerable to yet another unreliable saxophone player. (When Curtis courts her without his dress, he adopts the voice of Cary Grant--a spot-on impersonation.) The script by director Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is beautifully measured; everything works, like a flawless clock. Aspiring screenwriters would be well advised to throw away the how-to books and simply study this film. The bulk of the slapstick is handled by an unhinged Lemmon and the razor-sharp Joe E. Brown, who plays a horny retiree smitten by Jerry's feminine charms. For all the gags, the film is also wonderfully romantic, as Wilder indulges in just the right amounts of moonlight and the lilting melody of "Park Avenue Fantasy." Some Like It Hot is so delightfully fizzy, it's hard to believe the shooting of the film was a headache, with an unhappy Monroe on her worst behavior. The results, however, are sublime. --Robert Horton

Review
Possibly the best cross-dressing film of all time, Some Like It Hot is a testament to both the humor of hairy men in heels and Billy Wilder's ability to stretch a one-joke premise into a two-hour film. Still hilarious after all these years, Some Like It Hot was remarkably ahead of its time, providing both timeless laughs and sly gender commentary. The film also stands out as a classic example of the heights to which all-out farce can aspire, achieving an uncontrived giddiness through both plot manipulation and the finely tuned work of its performers. As the film's reluctantly dragged-up musicians, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis give almost flawless fish-out-of-water performances. Their frustrated befuddlement when confronted with the terrors of walking in heels or adjusting fake breasts still feels fresh and unforced, unlike the self-conscious posturing of other actors in subsequent drag films. As the aptly named Sugar Kane, Marilyn Monroe is at her bubble-headed, sexy best, her voluptuous sensuality providing a perfect foil for Lemmon and Curtis. One of Wilder's best films, Some Like It Hot retains its intergenerational appeal, proving that under the frothy icing of 1950s sex comedies lurked some very dense cake. Some Like It Hot remains one of the few films that can still make drag seem a novel and innovative subject. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

On the DVD
"Nostalgic Look Back" with Tony Curtis, hosted by Leonard Maltin
"Memories From the Sweet Sues" all-girl band featurette
"Virtual Hall of Memories" with five vignettes featuring never-before-seen photos of Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Billy Wilder, and behind-the-scene images
Original pressbook gallery
Original theatrical trailer
Billy Wilder film trailer
English: digitally enhanced 5.1 Surround & mono
French: mono
Spanish: mono
French & Spanish subtitles

Customer Reviews

No pastry, no butter and no sugar

Director: Billy Wilder
Format: Black & White
Studio: Mgm/Ua Studios
Video Release Date: May 1, 2001

Cast:

Marilyn Monroe ... Sugar Kane Kowalczyk
Tony Curtis ... Joe (Josephine)/Junior
Jack Lemmon ... Jerry (Daphne)
George Raft ... Spats Colombo
Pat O'Brien ... Mulligan
Joe E. Brown ... Osgood Fielding III
Nehemiah Persoff ... Little Bonaparte
Joan Shawlee ... Sweet Sue
Billy Gray ... Sig Poliakoff
George E. Stone ... Toothpick Charlie
Dave Barry ... Beinstock
Mike Mazurki ... Spats' Henchman
Harry Wilson ... Spats' Henchman
Beverly Wills ... Dolores
Barbara Drew ... Nellie
Edward G. Robinson Jr. ... Johnny Paradise
Paul Frees ... Funeral Director/Josephine
Joe Gray ... Mobster at banquet
Harold 'Tommy' Hart ... Second Official
Ted Hook
John Indrisano ... Waiter
Tom Kennedy ... Bouncer
Fred Sherman ... Drunk
Tito Vuolo ... Mozzarella
Al Breneman ... Bellhop
Pat Comiskey ... Spats' henchman
Penny McGuiggan ... Band Member
Laurie Mitchell ... Mary Lou, Trumpet Player
Helen Perry ... Rosella
Sandra Warner ... Emily, Band Member
Grace Lee Whitney ... Band Member
Marian Collier ... Olga, Clarinet Player
Joan Fields ... Band Member
Mary Foley ... Band Member

The cops bust a "funeral" with a casket full of booze--and nothing else. Joe/Josephine (Tony Curtis) and Jerry/Daphne (Jack Lemmon), desperate for work as a bass fiddle player and saxophonist, take a spot as members of an all-girl band, in drag, for a Florida tour, and to get away from gangsters who know that they witnessed a gang war murder by Spats Colombo's (George Raft) gang. There they meet Sugar Kane Kowalczyk (Marilyn Monroe) who has a drinking problem.

The pair are attracting the notice not only of the mob, but also of suitors, including millionaire Osgood Fielding III (Joe E. Brown) and others, and Joe/Josephine falls for Sugar. This is a wacky movie which provides a lot of laughs, and brings out hidden a talent for comedy from Curtis. Billy Wilder did a great job.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre

Hot Comedy, Hot Action, Hot Actress, Hot Jazz, Hot Movie
too Hot to be true, Marilyn Monroe,Tony Curtis,Jack Lemmon star in one of the greatest and funniest comedy classics of all time. The 1959 farse about the two musicians Joe and Jerry, who disquise themselves as women under the names Josephine and Daphne to land jobs as the sax and bow fidle in an all girls jazz band.Where they meet gorgeous songbird Sugar Kane. Also where Daphne meets womanizer Osgood Fielding III.When Daphne is stuck with that "dirty old man" Joe(Curtis) borrows a cup of that sugar(Monroe)as the millionare of Sugar's dreams "Shell Oil Junior". If Your looking for a classic comedy this is a good one. It's AFI's number 1 laugh, or if you want more marilyn, you love her in this one and if your looking for more Curtis and Lemmon they're hysterical in this one. See this classic comedy and you'll get "the sweet end of the lolly pop". As Osgood said at the end "nobody's perfect" well thats true ,but Some like it Hot may be a perfect comedy and as Sugar sang "I'm through with love, well she's not through for long ,but We are not through with this movie, because we love this film so much and we all want to "borrow a cup of that sugar" every time we watch it, "ZOWIE" "Yeah real hot"

A True Classic
Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe are hilarious in this classic Billy Wilder film. Two musicians, Jerry and Joe, whitness a shooting and flee to an all-girl band and disguise themselves as Josephine and Daphne. Their job is three weeks in Florida. However, when millionaire Osgood Fielding develops a crush on Daphne and the gang catches up to them in Florida, they're in for trouble, big trouble. This DVD is great; extras are plentiful, the movie is presented in widescreen. Any fan of Jack Lemmon or Billy Wilder won't want to be without this great movie.