Billy Wilder
Some Like It Hot – That’s how I like it: Big and saucy!
by Parker Mott on Mar.02, 2011, under "Classics", Billy Wilder, Biopics, Comedy, Great Directors
4 Stars out of 4
(122 minutes)
The hilarious trio in Some Like It Hot.
When it released in 1959, Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot did not have much going for it. Its story springs from a real-life mass murder, the script was unfinished upon shooting, it was too damn long, and men were dressing as girls. Those just weren’t the rules. Fortunately, Some Like It Hot defies generic comedy and inspired the risqué sexuality and dark humour that 1950s America would frown upon. But the film was beloved then, maybe as an anomaly, and is appreciated today as a screwball emblem.
The Galacian-American Wilder was fresh off the wild success of his adaptation of Agatha Christie’s play Witness For The Prosecution. Since he was a writer in Berlin for the tabloids, Wilder had the dexterity to embellish classic stories. It was no surprise his penmanship elevated his modestly shot films to great heights. Wilder was hailed as a writing virtuoso and his audiences and critics expected nothing less. (continue reading…)
