Some Like It Hot: The Official 50th Anniversary Companion
Some Like It Hot: The Official 50th Anniversary Companion
By Laurence Maslon
Foreword by Walter Mirisch
Pavilion, 21 September 2009
ISBN-13: 978-1862058644
Laurence Maslon has written a companion volume to Wilder’s classic comedy that is breezy, engaging, erudite (though the author wears his learning lightly) and chockfull of good stuff.
There are script excerpts. There are feature chapters on drag (it will be remembered that Lemmon and Curtis famously don female attire), jazz (the two are musicians) and the gangsters of Depression-era Chicago (for the duo flee the Windy City in fear for their lives after witnessing a major whacking). Naturally enough also, for a book about film, there are loads of pictures.
Most of the assembled images are stills from the film, photos taken during the making of it and publicity shots. But there are also several examples of posters used to advertise the film, taken from different countries. And there’s an LP cover (for the songs and passages of music from the film were released on record) amongst other goodies.
The author tells a comprehensive tale. He speaks about the source of the story and touches on the casting, where Joe E. Brown was an inspired choice as Osgood: he has an extraordinarily expressive face. Maslon outlines as well the film’s legacy and influence; it prompted many stage versions and adaptations.
Wilder’s sparkling film will live as long as people love cinema. It is wonderfully paced, it has comedy and songs – and, not least, it has Marilyn Monroe. Though it could be argued that Sandra Warner (Emily in the movie) has the better figure (discuss); and anyway, how would you tell? Warner was used as a body double for Monroe in many publicity photos.
Joe E. Brown’s closing line (‘Nobody’s perfect.’) is not only a killer payoff; it is also genuinely transgressive. While Lemmon’s single word reply (‘Security.’) is even better, in my view: the best one-liner in movie history. You have to understand it in context, mind, as a response to the question, ‘Why would a guy want to marry a guy?’ And you have to see Lemmon’s angry, exasperated face as he delivers it: the whole history of feminism, the humiliation wrought by the economic dependence of women, is writ in his features.
This is an amiable and knowledgeable companion to a great film. It is the next best thing to having Billy Wilder by your side.
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