The movie has Marilyn Monroe. What more do you want? She was under drugs during the shooting of this film. Barbiturates. The end was death and yes, she died three years later, at the tender age of 36. But look at her perform. You won’t believe she was a compulsive drug addict. Had lost her memory. She couldn’t even remember her lines. Director Billy Wilder pasted her lines any which way she could read to say the words. She was at her worst but still gave the best performance and became a Hollywood icon. The film has Miss Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon in it. When this is the trio, It has to become one helluva cocktail which has a power to intoxicate you all through the film and still keep you alert. Can you doubt about their histrionic talents? No way..!
The plot is a classic screwball comedy. The opening scene will make you believe it is a gangster movie. It is Chicago 1929 and a wagon of bootleggers is chased by Chicago police. Finally, it stops at a hotel named funeral parlour run by the mafia, where Curtis and Lemmon play Chicago musicians. It is a police raid and Curtis and Lemmon escape the arrest. After witnessing St. Valentine day massacre they disguise themselves as women to avoid being shot by Mafioso and hop on a train to Florida with an all-girl orchestra. Tony is Josephine and Lemmon is Geraldine.
Their first encounter with Monroe is in the rest room of the train where Tony takes Jack to fix his bra. Monroe is taking a swag from the pitcher. Well, you guessed it. Monroe is the orchestra singer, and wishes to marry a millionaire but despairs, “I always get the fuzzy end of the lollipop.” Curtis disguises himself as a millionaire to win her. Monroe wants money and so she gives him love lessons Their relationship shapes in a comical way as Lemmon disguised as a woman gets engaged to a real millionaire! Whether Monroe comes to know that this fake millionaire is disguised as a girl in her orchestra? And whether that real millionaire knows Jack is not a woman?
The movie is classic slapstick with gangsters chase and its musical numbers. Yes… Monroe sings. Did she have a great voice? No, but she lends an originality to the story.
Listen to her solo “I Wanna Be Loved by You.” Pretty basic situation – a lovely girl performing a song. But Monroe and Wilder shoot it into one of the most enchanting scenes. The spotlight is focussed on her, illuminating her from the waist up, but it moves with her as Monroe moves higher and lower. The timing is pretty much accurate. Monroe shows that she is unaware of the light and sings innocently while Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon play instruments clad as women. Watch that scene and understand why Monroe has a sensual chemistry with the camera and why she was Hollywood venus.
The movie title concerns the story of Lemmon and Curtis characters. It is they who are telling about who likes it hot. Yes.. but as always and innumerable times it happens in every Monroe movie, Monroe steals the show. You require a sheer willpower not to watch anyone else when Miss Monroe is on the screen.
One must admire Tony Curtis’ performance and patience because of the number of takes and retakes Monroe needed. Tony did it staying fresh and alive at every retake. Monroe first meets him on the beach, where he introduces himself as the Shell Oil heir and millionaire while imitating Cary Grant. Next is the scene of seduction in the yacht. Watch Tony’s timings! Sheer magic and the way Tony plays with her naivete.
“Water polo? Isn’t that terribly dangerous?” asks Monroe. Curtis: “I’ll say! I had two ponies drown under me.”
Jack Lemmon is awesome. He is iconic comedian in every sense of the role and carries the movie in his usual self and with aplomb. Jack is accurate choice for the character he portrays and no one could make a chemistry with Tony the way he has done. Billy Wilder needs accolades for his conviction of the choice of Jack.
Welcome Dr. Satish Bendigiri adultsmart expert! With a rich academic and corporate background, he passionately explores love, marriage, and growth in his articles.
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