Some Like it Hot

There are few comedies that have stood the test of time as well as Some Like it Hot.  With Billy Wilder’s writing and direction, the pacing is as snappy as the gags. With Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis as a pair on the run resorting to disguising themselves as women, the laughs come frequently and easily.  And with the unforgettable Marilyn Monroe steaming up the screen and complicating the duo’s plan, we are in for a wild and delightfully screwy ride.

Joe and Jerry (Curtis and Lemmon) are two musicians who had just found work in Chicago, but when the police bust a speakeasy run by the notorious mobster Spats Colombo (George Raft), they are out looking for work again.  They hear of a band heading to warm sunny Florida looking for a bass and a saxophone, perfect!  Only problem is they are looking for women.  Then Joe and Jerry witness Spats and his boys whack a few guys off.  Desperate to get far from Chicago, they disguise themselves as a couple of chicks and take jobs in the all girl band, where Sugar Kane Kowalczyk (Marilyn Monroe) is the lead singer/ukulele player.

Watching Curtis and Lemmon try to be girls is a hoot.  Just the image of their man-shaped calves trying to stay afloat in heels puts me in stitches.  When Lemmon realizes he is a disguised rooster in the hen house, the temptation is almost too much.  The slumber party side of these girls suddenly coms out, and suddenly he is not too happy about having a dozen pretty ladies in his bunk.  Down in Florida, the shoe goes on the other foot and the boys have to deal with men pursuing them.  Lemmon on his tango date with the short millionaire Osgood (Joe E. Brown) are some of the funniest moments in the film.  And the bellboy who hits on Curtis is wonderfully outrageous, “That’s the way I like ‘em, big and sassy!”

But the greatest treat in Some Like it Hot is Marilyn Monroe.  She is the perfect woman, complete with a flask strapped to her thigh, a weakness for saxophone players and can lob back one liners with natural ease.  Her presence on the train makes our boy’s disguises much more difficult and inspires further identity deception when Curtis disguises as a young millionaire to lure her in.  Isn’t it funny how a girl can seem so innocent to sex, yet the very icon of it.  That is the hook of Monroe’s charm, especially in the scene where she sings, “I want to be loved by you.”  Her dress is practically see through, just barely covers and the spotlight hovers just above her neckline, tantalizing those trying to get a better look.  She is what boys dream of and acts like she doesn’t even know it.

Really, the film is all about sex, but Wilder could not just come out and say in in 1959, so it is disguised with this tale of men in hiding.  Whatever, Spats and his gang are only really interesting if they kill our heroes or bring in new girls.  Joe lusts for Sugar.  Jerry is being lusted over by Osgood.  And sweet Sugar seems to think she only wants money, oh silly girl.

When it came down to the Academy Awards, Some Like it Hot came up with six nominations (Best Writing, Cinematography, Director, Art Direction and Lemmon for Best Actor), winning one award (Costume Design).  But for the Best Picture category, things were kept to a more serious crowd.  That has not effected this film’s fame or love, however.  AFI ranks Some Like it Hot at the top of their 100 Laughs list.  Today, all generations are still busting their guts over this glorious gem of classic comedy.

“Story of my life.  I always get the fuzzy end of the lollipop.”

Missing

In an unnamed South American country (Chile), American couple Charlie (John Shea) and Beth Horman (Sissy Spacek) have been living, writing and soaking up the culture.  When civil war breaks out, the streets are filled with danger, night and day.  Charlie takes notes on everything that happens around him, especially how the American officials react to the violence.  The last words we see him say as he heads back to his house are, “They can’t hurt us, we’re Americans!”

After Charlie disappears, his father, Ed (Jack Lemmon), travels down to find him.  Ed has this idea that he’s just down there to clean up the mess his irresponsible, day dreaming son made.  He also has complete faith that the American government will help them find Charlie.  Ed is also a man of religious faith, a Christian-scientist.  To some that may sound like an oxymoron, so is believing in the American officials in Chile.

A good portion of this film is watching Ed lose this faith.  Through the random acts of senseless violence he witnesses and the bravery he sees within Beth, he starts to understand the situation from his son’s point of view.  Every time he meets with the American officials, it’s just more frustration.  They make empty promises, shuffle through red-tape and lie right through their teeth.  At first, Ed can’t understand how Beth can be so rude to the only people that can help them.  It isn’t too long before Ed starts to see things clearly and thinks that Charlie’s disappearance and probably murder, was ordered by these same men.

What’s most disturbing and infuriating is the complete lack of valuing life in this place.  In one scene where Beth and Ed are allowed to check a morgue to see if they find Charlie, they are brought into a narrow hallway filled with bodies.  It’s a shocking moment, just terrible and disgusting.  Then it’s elevated when they’re brought to a room, also filled with corpses, then another and another.  We think this has to be as bad as it gets, then Beth looks up and sees the silhouettes of more corpses on the glass ceiling above.

There was only one main problem in this film.  It felt like we had barely met Charlie when he goes missing.  Sure, I saw his wife and father upset, but I was lacking that connection to Charlie and was left slightly apathetic.  Then later in the film, we see Charlie in some home movies, learn about some dreams, half finished projects he left and the real danger of his snooping around.  These things came a little late.  If the film really wanted me to feel the same loss and anguish that Spacek and Lemmon were understanding, director Costa-Gavras needed to put the horse before the cart.

“You Americans, you always assume you must do something before you can be arrested.”

The Apartment

C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) has found the quickest way to rise from a nobody-clerk to an executive in hisNew Yorkinsurance company.  He lets the other executives use his apartment as a safe place to take their mistresses.  Though Baxter is often waiting outside in the cold when a date is running late, they drink all his liquor and eat all his cheese crackers, he keeps putting up with the pile of annoyances in hopes of the men acting on their promises to make him an executive.

Because of all the comings, going, loud music and empty bottles of liquor in his trash, Baxter’s neighbors assume he’s a real swinging bachelor.  His neighbor, Dr. Dreyfus (Jack Kruschen) says he can hear everything from next door and advises the young man to either slow down or donate his body to science.  With Baxter not always able to explain all the noise, the land lord starts becoming suspicious.

At work, Baxter has eyes for the pretty elevator operator, Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine).  They flirt in the elevator on his way to see Mr. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray) about a promotion.  Part of this promotion includes letting Sheldrake use the apartment as well, but at least he has theater tickets to exchange so Baxter has somewhere to go, so Baxter asks Fran to go with him.  What Baxter doesn’t know is that Fran is Sheldrake’s mistress in a long line of mistresses.  Later, after drama ensues and Fran finds out the ugly truth about her relationship with Sheldrake, she tries something drastic in Baxter’s apartment.  Baxter becomes the only person who cares enough about Fran to help her.

Baxter is the sort of nice guy we can’t help but love, even though it’s obvious he’s a huge pushover.  He is constantly being taken advantage of by the executives just for a fast-track promotion.  Though we realize this isn’t the most honest path to rise in the company, we don’t chastise Baxter for loaning out his apartment.  Of all the scandalous ways to get ahead at this insurance firm, Baxter is keeping pretty tame and classy.  And for those of us who tsk-tsk-ed him at any point are turned completely in his favor when he unselfishly helps Fran.

Out of context, this plot may sound a little heavy.  In the film, it’s anything but.  From the start, a wonderfully light tone is set and stays consistent throughout the film.  We’ve got Jack Lemmon with all his quirky, charming comedic genius being pulled different ways.  His scene in Sheldrakes office with the nasal spray had me in stitches.  The jokes are quick, charismatic and naturally off the cuff.  And when the plot becomes heavier, that light feeling is not lost.  It becomes a wonderful charm to help ease the tension, get Fran back on her feet and moves Baxter to new levels of confidence.

You rarely find a film with this high level of comedy and an engaging plot with so much at stake.  Between the wonderful acting, which can range from slapstick comedy to life and death dramatics, and the zany yet calculable plot, The Apartment does not let up or let you down.  It was a two hour film, yet I sat back, laughed and became so engrossed it felt like it was over too quick.  I highly recommend The Apartment to all people who just want to enjoy a classic film.  Other than the horrible injustice done to Psycho (I cannot forgive the Academy on that one), Billy Wilder’s The Apartment is the best picture of 1960.

“When you’re in love with a married man, you shouldn’t wear mascara.”

Mister Roberts

Directed by John Ford, Mister Roberts is a military comedy-drama set aboard a US cargo ship in the Pacific during the later part of WWII.  Captain Morton (James Cagney) is a tyrant regularly disciplining his crew over the tiniest infractions, including putting cigarette butts in his beloved potted palm tree.  As one sailor puts it, the palm tree is a reward “for delivering more toothpaste and toilet paper than any other ship.”  Life aboard “the Bucket” is less than glamorous, and Lt. Doug Roberts (Henry Fonda) wants to transfer to a battleship before it’s too late to fight.  He constantly writes letters requesting his transfer and describing the disharmony aboard the ship.  But with the Captain won’t let his letters go through.  He knows he has a good cargo officer and refuses to sign Mister Roberts’ transfer papers.

The sailors haven’t been off the ship in nearly a year and are getting anxious.  There are fun scenes where the sailors are using binoculars to spy into the nurses shower room on the nearby island.  When Ensign Pulver (Jack Lemmon) invites one of the nurses to the ship, the lengths he and Doc (William Powell) go to to find liquor for his hot date are hilarious and when it all goes south, the crew has one less thing to look forward to.

To help out his overworked crew, Mister Roberts strikes a deal the the Captain to not undermine his authority or send any more letters in order to give the men liberty off the ship.  The men start to think that Mister Robers has lost his backbone.  It’s only when the men realize the sacrifice Mister Roberts made for them, they thank him in their own way.

The majority of the film is a comedy.  The crew is full of fun and zany mishaps, from trying to get a date with the nurses to concocting pranks to pull on the Captain.  When they come back to the ship after their liberty, some bring their good time back with them.  They dance aboard the ship, wearing floral leis and some are so full of liquor they had to be carried aboard the ship in a net.  One man even brings a goat back with him, claiming it to be his new sweetheart.

Fonda portrays Mister Roberts as that person we all hope to have aboard our ship.  He’s caring, smart, always looking out for his crew and not afraid to stand up to unfair authority.  These people will get the credit they deserve eventually, and that’s something to smile about.

If you enjoy military comedies, a lighthearted drama or Henry Fonda, I completely recommend Mister Roberts.

“I forgot my motorcycle.”