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The Film List Project #7: Some Like It Hot

Fun Fact: I love fun facts. I love to include what I can in these posts. So, in an effort to keep you informed (and to entertain myself), I look up a few each week. While I was looking up fun facts this week on IMDb, I came across what may be one of my favorites ever: Some Like It Hot was not shown in Kansas upon its release because cross-dressing was dubbed, "too disturbing for Kansans".

Boy, am I glad I am not in Kansas ca. 1959.

I have to admit, I'm a little late to the Marilyn Monroe game. I saw Gentlemen Prefer Blondes when I was 15 and I loved it, but didn't really pursue her movies further.

It was a few months ago when I saw All About Eve (one of my very favorite movies now) that I said to myself, "People like Marilyn Monroe. Should I?"

So, in the last few months, I've watched a few of her films, a documentary about the last years of her life, and My Week With Marilyn, a 2011 film starring Michelle Williams as Marilyn during the making of The Prince and the Showgirl.

I get it now. Sometimes, an enigmatic star is worth nothing more than their legend, but Marilyn fascinates me. I think there's a huge reason why everyone feels so comfortable just calling her "Marilyn".

I didn't just watch this movie because of Marilyn Monroe, however. I had seen little clips from it here and there and was definitely intrigued, but I didn't have a way to watch it until this week.

This film is in a league of its own: brilliant and entertaining, hilarious and suspenseful. I firmly believe that it could be released today, and no one would bat an eye (that does NOT mean it should be remade. Please don't. Please.)

To me, this film is a really cool combination of the older Hollywood films and the new ones we'd see in the 1960s. The cast is irreplaceable. They bring glamor and humor and give the film its universal, timeless charm. It's very rare to be able to do that, though so many try. It definitely made me curious to see more Jack Lemmon films.

I'll end with this: Marilyn Monroe's contract stated that she'd only make pictures in color, and she disputed this film's being shot in black and white. The reason she finally agreed? The makeup they put on Lemmon and Tony Curtis tinted their skin green. Maybe, if the had made the movie in color, it would have been called Some Like It Wicked. See you next week.

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