I. A. L. Diamond
A look back at the making of Billy Wilder's 1959 comedy classic 'Some Like It Hot'.
A look back at the impact Billy Wilder's comedy classic 'Some Like It Hot' has left since it's release in 1959.
Legendary filmmaker Billy Wilder becomes the 14th recipient of The American Film Institute Life Achievement Award as clips from a number of his classic films are unreeled: "The Major and the Minor," "Double Indemnity," "The Lost Weekend," "Sunset Blvd.," "Ace in the Hole," "Stalag 17," "Sabrina," "Love in the Afternoon," "Some Like it Hot," "The Apartment," "Irma La Douce," "The Fortune Cookie," and "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes."
French film critic Michel Ciment interviews Billy Wilder about his life and filmmaking.
During a high profile Mafia testimony case, a contract killer checks-in a hotel room near the courthouse while his next door depressed neighbor wants to commit suicide due to marital problems.
A journalist suffering from burn-out wants to finally say goodbye to his office – but his boss doesn’t like the idea one bit.
Director Billy Wilder adds a new and intriguing twist to the personality of intrepid detective Sherlock Holmes. One thing hasn't changed however: Holmes' crime-solving talents. Holmes and Dr. Watson take on the case of a beautiful woman whose husband has vanished. The investigation proves strange indeed, involving six missing midgets, villainous monks, a Scottish castle, the Loch Ness monster, and covert naval experiments. Can the sleuths make sense of all this and solve the mystery
Distraught when her middle-aged lover breaks a date with her, 21-year-old Toni Simmons attempts suicide. Impressed by her action, her lover, dentist Julian Winston reconsiders marrying Toni, but he worries about her insistence on honesty. Having fabricated a wife and three children, Julian readily accepts when his devoted nurse, Stephanie, who has secretly loved Julian for years, offers to act as his wife and demand a divorce.
A cameraman is knocked over during a football game. His brother in law as the king of the ambulance chasing lawyers starts a suit while he's still knocked out. The cameraman is against it until he hears that his ex-wife will be coming to see him. He pretends to be injured to get her back, but also sees what the strain is doing to the football player who injured him.
While traveling home from Vegas, an amorous lounge singer named Dino gets conned by a local mechanic/songwriter into staying in town for the night. The mechanic's songwriting partner, Orville, offers Dino his home for overnight lodging and enlists a local waitress/call girl to pose as his wife in order to placate Dino's urges.
A Parisian policeman gives up everything for the love of a free-living sex worker.
C.R. MacNamara will do anything to get a promotion within the Coca-Cola company, including looking after boss W.P. Hazeltine's rebellious teenage daughter, Scarlett. When Scarlett visits Berlin, where C.R. is stationed, she reveals that she is married to a communist named Otto Piffl -- and C.R. recognizes that Otto's anti-establishment stance will clash with his boss's own political views, possibly jeopardizing his promotion.
Bud Baxter is a minor clerk in a huge New York insurance company, until he discovers a quick way to climb the corporate ladder. He lends out his apartment to the executives as a place to take their mistresses. Although he often has to deal with the aftermath of their visits, one night he's left with a major problem to solve.
Two musicians witness a mob hit and struggle to find a way out of the city before they are found by the gangsters. Their only opportunity is to join an all-girl band as they leave on a tour. To make their getaway they must first disguise themselves as women, then keep their identities secret and deal with the problems this brings - such as an attractive bandmate and a very determined suitor.
Downtrodden but creative English school-teacher (Danny Kaye) on archeological trip discovers joys of love and circus life with acrobat (Pier Angeli).
Lovestruck conservatory student Ariane pretends to be just as much a cosmopolitan lover as the worldly mature Frank Flannagan hoping that l’amour will take hold.
When Larry Larkin's comic strip needs some freshening up, he calls in ghost-writer Francis X. Dignan to help him with the strip. Things get complicated when Francis rekindles his love for his ex-wife, who happens to be Larkin's secretary and soon-to-be wife.
Research chemist Barnaby Fulton works on a fountain of youth pill for a chemical company. One of the labs chimps gets loose in the laboratory and mixes chemicals, but then pours the mix into the water cooler. When trying one of his own samples, washed down with water from the cooler, Fulton begins to act just like a twenty-year-old and believes his potion is working. Soon his wife and boss are also behaving like children.
Jim and Connie's postwar New York building troubles keep Jim from working on his novel. Ex-WAC from Jim's army days Roberta moves in, further upsetting Connie but pleasing Jim's friend Ed. Tenant Charley, who marries tenant Eadie, loans money to Jim to help him keep the building, money which this Casanova obtains from rich widows.
The divorce of Hugh and Miriam Halsworth becomes final at midnight. Hugh wouldn't dream of calling it off, but can't abandon his rose garden. This changes that afternoon when Miriam's old suitor Victor Macfarland checks into the hotel where Hugh is publicity man. With Miriam's daughter Barbara rooting for Hugh and son-in-law Jerry rooting for Victor, things are unlikely to be resolved by midnight.
A waitress at the Warner Brothers commissary is anxious to break into pictures. She thinks her big break may have arrived when actors Jack Carson and Dennis Morgan agree to help her.
Two vaudevillians on the run from crooks try to pass themselves off as cowboys.
Doris Day, in her film debut, plays Georgia Garrett, a singer sent by jealous wife Elvira Kent on an ocean cruise to masquerade as herself while she secretly stays home to catch her husband cheating. Meanwhile equally suspicious husband Michael Kent has sent a private eye on the same cruise to catch his wife cheating. Love and confusion ensues along with plenty of musical numbers.
An old millionaire, who believes he's dying, bequeaths his fortune to a young woman with a fanatical obsession with movie stars. But then the elderly tycoon recovers from his illness and decides he wants his money back. Comedy most notable for its numerous unbilled cameos by Warner Bros. actors.
Phil and Ellen Gayley have been divorced for a year, and their 8-year old daughter, Flip, is very unhappy that her parents are not together. Flip starts a correspondence with a marine, sending a picture of her beautiful mother as the author of Flip's flirtatious letters. When the marine shows up to meet his pen pal, Ellen takes the opportunity to make her ex-husband jealous.
Balkan Prince Henry has two wishes, to meet Lauren Bacall and see the "real" America. He befriends cabbie Buzz Williams and, without knowing the microphone is live, the two stage a debate on democracy versus monarchy broadcast back to the Prince's homeland. A plebiscite there puts Henry out of a job. Flying to MIlwaukee to become a beer salesman, he meets Bacall on the seat next to his, but a tap on his shoulder means he must give up his seat (and dream) to Bogie.
