Day 71: Some Like It Hot (1959)

One of my friends, Mal, suggested I watch this one. I don't always agree with Mal's movie taste (she has an odd fixation with 17 Again), but as I've never seen a Marilyn Monroe film before, I figured it was about time.

Two male musicians witness a mob hit, so in order to escape they join an all-female band headed for Florida disguised as women. On the way they meet Sugar Kane (Monroe). The film descends into a farce from there, that, as can be guessed, relies heavily on the fact that the two men are dressed as women. It's films like these that make me wonder what happened to classic comedies? Why can't we see more films like this - where the humour is not based on crass childish humour, but rather it relied on wit, timing, inventiveness and suggestion - not shock or gross-out value. Not that I'm against the former, I just find a lot of value, and comedy, in the later, and it seems these films are bygones.

I was amazed at some of the themes in this screwball comedy - mainly that a millionaire is pursuing one of the "women" and they become engaged. When the "woman" comes clean that she is in fact a man, the millionaire simply shrugs and says "Well, nobody's perfect!" That's the 1959 reaction to gay marriage? I can't imagine the same reaction used in a film today.