Episode 80: GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES v SOME LIKE IT HOT

[Susan* 135]

I'm a huge old movie fan, but I'm not a Marilyn fan. I prefer all the fast-talking dames in old movies.

 

For anyone who might be interested, How To Marry a Millionaire is streaming on netflix. For me, it's a solid movie, with some of the odd characteristics of its era. I dislike most of Marilyn's movies, it's one of the few I like at all. She's playing someone similar to the character in Gentlemen but it's Bacall's movie. (It's also fun/odd to see William Powell later in his career.)

[ManishMathur 33]

Voting for GPB because a) it's hilarious and very charming, Monroe and Russell kill, and c) I know Some Like It Hot will win so I just want to show some love

[Head Spin 112]

X_X I missed last week's discussion. I liked reading it, though! There's no need for anyone to read this, but I wanted to say my piece anyways.

 

I wish I felt the way Amy felt about Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. I came out of the episode with a greater appreciation for Hawks' direction and Marilyn's performance, but Gentlemen, to me, is a tiring journey. I agree with Amy that this film's fun is in the details. The costumes, the choreography, the small Marilyn affectations, and the brilliant Jane Russell deadpan here and there. But this film was like a walk in the desert to me. It's a rough trek, and although I enjoyed many beautiful little oases along the way, it was painful to leave each one and return to the march.

 

It just drags. A film like this doesn't need a tight plot; Some Like It Hot runs loose for the majority of its run. The latter, however, has (some) stakes, subplots and diversions, and - most of all - a fun and interesting supporting cast. So much of the film rests on the narrative thrusts around Piggy, Malone, and Esmond - and none of that really worked for me. Gentlemen has a few quality gags and musical numbers, but everything else that wasn't Russell and Monroe interacting was just a grind. With distance I can appreciate all the good moments on their own, but it didn't add up to an enjoyable watch for me.

 

I found Some Like It Hot to be something of a "way homer" on this watch. It's fantastic: the weird plotting, the performances, the chemistry between the leads, the colorful supporting cast, the fun camerawork, and most of all the frenetic Wilder-comedy pacing. Everything was working for me except the comedy itself.

 

I didn't find it all that funny. It was the one thing I had against it, but it was a major consideration for a comedy flick. And then, as if thawing, I started cracking up in the middle of my commute to that amazing reveal shot of Joe rising out of the bathtub in his full "Junior" suit. Two days later it had all hit me. It's great from concept to delivery.

 

Stacked against Gentlemen, Some Like It Hot really shows off the sprinting quality of Wilder's comedies. Lots of comedies have a density of jokes, but Wilder has a density of comedic premises. It's as though he began with the concept and tries to stack together as many ides and incidences as he could, and then shove them all in. We don't just get Joe and Jerry chasing after Sugar – in fact there was so much comedic work to be done Jerry just stops trying pretty early on. We get Sugar trying to dupe Joe-as-Junior into dating her, with Sugar roping Jerry-as-Daphne into it while using lies that the duo used to dupe the girls (“I spent three years at the Sheboygan Conservatory of Music!”). And when that scene isn't firing off a new premise or joke, Wilder stuffs physical comedy into the cracks, such as when Joe hastily flips his upside down Wall Street Journal back around that he's been using as a prop.

 

That's Wilder comedy. It's cinema modeled after a tidal wave. I hope Devin and Amy can eventually do One, Two, Three – a Wilder comedy tsunami so strong it washed James Cagney right into retirement. You just can't beat the momentous energy and quality Wilder crams into his comedies, and neither can Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.