Some Like It Hot

Plot:

Some Like It Hot, is a black and white comedy released in 1959. The film is set in 1929, beginning on February 14th, the St. Valentines Day Massacre. Jerry and Joe, two musicians who are desperate to flee the town, and out of work, go to all lengths to obtain places in a band who are about to leave for Florida. The one problem they face, is that the band they desperately want to play in, is female only. Once the two are informed of this, they then become Josephine and Daphne. 

On the train the two meet Sugar Kane, a beautiful young woman. Joe (Josephine) falls in love with Sugar, but she has no idea that she is actually a he!

Osgood Fielding, an old millionaire, attempts to impress Daphne (Jerry) and tries to get her (him) to take his hand in marriage. 

Spats, and other gangsters from Chicago arrive at the same accommodation Jerry and Joe are staying, so not only are they trying to keep their secrets of cross dressing from the girls, they are endeavouring to be unnoticed by Spats. 

Joe and Jerry attempt to make an escape for the final time, realising the the only route of escape is using Osgood’s boat. Joe finds Sugar, kissing her whilst she realises who he really is, they make their way avoiding the gangsters to the boat, both Jerry and Joe try to explain their doings to Osgood and Sugar. Jerry finally admits to Osgood he is a man, and Osgood simply says, “Well, nobody’s perfect.” 

Characters:

Jerry is employed by a music agency in Chicago which helps him to get jobs as a bass player in bands. A man with bizarre ideas in tricky situations, he is quite confident with women however becomes very distressed and uncomfortable when put under vast amounts of pressure (such as when Joe and him are walking in the train station to meet their new band for the first time dressed as women) Instantly falling in love with Sugar Kane, a woman who is also in the band of women it is clear he falls for her but he is unhappy that Joe manages to steal Sugar’s heart before he can. Somehow Jerry somewhat leads on his new admirer Osgood Fielding, an old billionaire. He does not admit until the very end that he is actually a man, as Jerry was almost influenced to the extreme by money so much to marry Osgood only for his earnings. 

Joe is the more confident one between himself and Jerry, as well as this he is even more confident with women, especially Sugar. As soon as he finds out she adores male Saxophone players, he instantly does whatever he can to encourage her to fall for him, even though throughout the film, she believes he is a woman. Joe seems to have, “the gift of the gab” He is very good at talking his way out of things, for example, he convinces Nellie, a girl for whom his boss employs, to allow him to use her car. 

Sugar is a young, blonde woman, who both Jerry and Joe fall for within seconds of meeting her. She joined the all female band to get away from working with males, who seem to just use her for borrowing money and treat her with no respect. Early on in the film, Joe learns she takes a liking to male saxophone players. Which is enough to make him go head over heals for her. 

As the film is a comedy, there is a great amount of action occurring in scenes as well as a lot of slapstick. however, cuts tend to be slower, with the exception of the car chase etc, allowing you to focus on the goings on, rather than every single detail of the scene from different angles creating a dramatic scene. The slow cuts help you to concentrate on what is being said and the general plot, rather than many occurrences which do not allow you to take every single detail in. This is good because when jokes and funny comments are made, it is easier to think about them and know everything that is happening. 

The sounds used are mostly diegetic, however sound effects and non diegetic sound has been put in, it was used during the car chase in Chicago, emphasising the noises of crashes and screeching of the cars. Background music is heard throughout the film.