Some Like It Hot
1959 · Billy Wilder · 121 min · Comedy / Crime
Billy Wilder made a film about two musicians hiding from the mob in drag, cast it with three of the most charismatic performers of the era, and let the comedy build until its perfect final line. Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis commit fully to the absurdity, Marilyn Monroe brings a warmth and comic instinct that elevates every scene she's in, and the screenplay by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond fires on all cylinders from the opening massacre to that legendary closing exchange. It runs a touch long and the premise stretches thin in spots, but those are small marks against a comedy that's been making audiences laugh for more than six decades without losing a step.