Some Like It Hot · reception & legacy

1959 · Billy Wilder

How Some Like It Hot has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

A smash hit in 1959 despite being condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency and released without Production Code approval — Kansas even banned it. Now it routinely tops greatest-comedy-ever lists, including the #1 spot on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs.

What's debated

The perennial fan debate: does it actually deserve the 'greatest comedy of all time' crown, and how does its cross-dressing farce read now — dated gag or surprisingly ahead of its time?

Its footprint

'Well, nobody's perfect' is one of the most quoted closing lines in movie history, and Marilyn Monroe singing 'I Wanna Be Loved by You' remains an endlessly reproduced image of Hollywood glamour.

Where it stands

Absolute canon — the rare 65-year-old studio comedy that's still a Letterboxd crowd-pleaser and a standard 'you must have seen this' entry point to classic Hollywood.

★ Did you know? Wilder shot it in black and white — over Monroe's contractual preference for color — because color tests made Curtis and Lemmon's drag makeup look green and grotesque on camera.

Named by the director

Influences Billy Wilder has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

Fanfaren der Liebe (Fanfares of Love) (1951) — Wilder openly credited this German comedy as the source of the premise, keeping the musicians-in-drag setup while discarding nearly everything else.