I have only in the past year or so taken a more direct interest in classic films. Billy Wilder has a very high batting average when it comes to the quality of his films, and I simply haven't seen enough of them.
This is also the first film I've ever seen featuring Marilyn Monroe. She may not have been the greatest actress, nor the greatest singer, but her presence on the screen is simply undeniable. Rome could be burning, but if she's anywhere in the frame, chances are, that's where your eye is.
I've read the stories about the difficulties with Monroe during filming: that it would require 50 takes for her to get a simple three-word line out; Tony Curtis described kissing her as "like kissing Hitler", which, from where I'm sitting, is inconceivable.
The movie is certainly a comedy and the trope of men disguising themselves as women has been the basis for comedies going back centuries. I have also found that comedies, more than many other genres of film, simply don't hold up as well as time goes on as the sense of "what is funny?" seems to change fairly rapidly. Classic sitcoms from even as recently as the '70s and '80s don't have the same sting they did in 2020 as they did when they were released. However, it is a real tribute to this film that notwithstanding the passage of 60 years and a trope that could be considered tired - the film still holds up fairly well as a comedy. But I feel that this is because the comedy unveils the complexity of real human emotion beneath the surface.
In this film, two men - both seemingly heterosexual - dress as women in order to evade gangsters who are trying to knock them off because they were witnesses to a mass murder. Comedy abounds when they join an all-female band.
However, something deeper happens to both characters.
Tony Curtis's character, Joe, deceives Marilyn Monroe's character, Sugar Kane, in two different ways: first as "Josephine" the "female" sax player who gains her confidence as a friend and then, a second deception - as "Junior", the rich son of an oil magnate, who seduces her through reverse psychology.
The implication is that Sugar and "Junior" have sex the night they spend on the yacht (a yacht which belongs to yet another character I haven't mentioned yet). When the time comes for the two men to flee their situation, Joe/Josephine/Junior has few qualms about telling Sugar yet another lie over the phone, leaving a quick goodbye gift at her hotel door, and skipping town.
What happens to Jack Lemmon's character, Jerry/"Daphne", is far more interesting.
"Daphne" is being courted by the wealthy Osgood Fielding (Joe E. Brown), and goes along with it so that his friend Joe can use his yacht as his cover for being wealthy and a private place to work his magic with Sugar. He is in for what we expect to be an incredibly awkward and uncomfortable night, all in service as the ultimate wingman for his friend.
But, when "Daphne" and "Josephine" meet up again at their hotel room, "Daphne" has an entirely different reaction to the reality that it is now time for them to flee their situation. Whereas Joe/Josephine is ready to leave at the drop of a hat, Jerry/Daphne has a much more difficult time - he, in fact, had an incredible time on his "date" and is, in fact, engaged! It is not as simple a matter for him emotionally to simply skip town. He genuinely enjoyed his time with Osgood and seems thrilled about the engagement.
In the final famous scene in which our four characters mount their getaway, Joe quickly comes clean as to BOTH of his deceptions upon Sugar, and is forgiven without consequence. We assume Joe & Sugar live happily ever after.
Jerry/"Daphne" however is not as quick to come clean to Osgood. He makes a variety of excuses: "I'm not a natural blonde", "I've been living with a saxophone player", "I can never have children". He finally comes clean that "I'm a man!!"....and even this excuse is forgiven by Osgood Fielding in what is the most famous line of the entire movie and one I won't be responsible for spoiling to anyone who hasn't seen this film.
Not one of Jerry's excuses is based around his own lack of interest or attraction in this man - but merely the reasons why this man shouldn't be attracted to him.
The final scene & final line is played for comedy - and it's great & brilliant comedy even by today's standards....but I can't help but wonder what happens after the final curtain goes down.
The two men went out on a date that was a tremendous amount of fun for both of them, even though the night was obviously never consummated - to the point where a marriage proposal was given...AND ACCEPTED.
When the final curtain goes down, is the implication that now that the final barrier has been removed - that these two men who we took to be heterosexual in the beginning of the film, will actually be elevated beyond their own perceived sexuality and continue this relationship? It seems like neither was quick to find a reason not to be with each other beyond reasons defined by the rules of their society. In Osgood's case, those rules weren't even considered - and freed from the shackles of his own deception, it seems to me that Jerry is quite happy with his situation.
I'm not sure if Billy Wilder actually thought past the clever ending of his own film to what lay beyond for these two men, but that final line - for all its comedy gold - can't help but leave me to wonder.....does Jerry & Osgood live happily ever after as well?
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