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Should Have Won an Oscar: Some Like It Hot (1959)
At times, good taste and restraint have come close to ruining the movies. Director Fred Zinnemann’s Oscar-nominated The Nun’s Story is a fine example of both, and justly should be applauded on its genteel merits. Now move that worthy story aside, and let the real reels roll!
Billy Wilder’s timeless, borderline-tasteless classic Some Like It Hot is a riotous spoof on gangster movies that features Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis as cross-dressing musicians who hide out in an all-girl orchestra after witnessing the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Surviving a gangland slaying turns out to be the easy part. They haven’t a prayer against sexpot band member Marilyn Monroe.
Wilder’s Oscar-nominated script bristles with giddy wit; the movie features peak performances from Lemmon (nominated), Curtis and Monroe; and Wilder’s fine hand behind the camera got a knowing nod from the Academy. But no Best Picture nom for one of the greatest comedies of all time.
Some may like it hot, but the Academy rarely likes comedies. This time, the joke’s on them.
Nominees: Anatomy of a Murder, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Nun’s Story, Room at the Top
Winner: Ben-Hur