Billy Wilder and Some Like It Hot: The Genesis of America's Greatest Screen Comedy

The American Film Institute has ranked Some Like it Hot as the greatest comedy of the 20th century for 25 years. However, no one has ever unlocked the secret of its success. It is true that much has been written about its talented co-writer director Billy Wilder, but the material is soon bogged down in the trainwreck casting of the unstable Marilyn Monroe. Wilder manages to get a performance out of her. However, the real untapped enigma of Hot's greatness is Wilder's career up to its production. He had fully nailed the six comedy subgenres, and his masterful crazy quilt intertwining of parody, dark comedy, romantic comedy, personality comedian, screwball comedy and populism was the trick.

Plus, "Nobody's Perfect" at the close of the film was Wilder's own little LGBTQ+ time bomb waiting to happen. At the end of his screenplay (1959) he wrote that America was just not ready for Joe E. Brown's comment. But just look at the current critical and commercial musical comedy success adaptation of Hot. As most critics suggest, the provocative Wilder would be loving it. This book explores the history, context, and success secrets of this venerated American comedy.