If there was any justice in the world, Jerry would be the star of the film, because Jack Lemmon is hilarious. But it's Tony Curtis as Joe who takes on the traditional leading man role, the one who's always getting them in and out of messes and ends up canoodling with Marilyn Monroe. Whereas Jerry is the goofy best friend, who can't believe his bad judgment in letting Joe talk him into the kind of scrapes they inevitably find themselves in. Interestingly, in Some Like It Hot, Jerry is by far a more morally upright character than Joe, who let's face it, is a bit of a cad. Jerry's the guy in background saying, "We're doing WHAT?" But he's also the creator of some of the funniest moments in the film, particularly his scene where he tells Joe that he's engaged to Osgood Fielding III. Test audiences found it so hilarious that they actually had to go back and re-film the scene with the now legendary maracas so that there would be short breaks for viewers to laugh uproariously and not miss any of the following lines.
Audrey Fox is an ex-film student, which means that she prefers to spend her days in the dark, watching movies and pondering the director's use of diegetic sound. She currently works as an entertainment writer, joyfully rambling about all things film and television related. Add her on Twitter at @audonamission and check out her film blog at 1001moviesandbeyond.com.
