Roger Ebert said once of Marilyn Monroe that "it is an act of the will to watch anyone else while she is on the screen." In Some Like it Hot she practically overrides the energetic performances of Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon to steal the show. Barsam says some movie actors become rich and famous "without having much art or craft in what they do" and notes that while these personas are essentially allowed to "walk through their movies", there are "fortunately... many more talented actors who take their work seriously." The trouble I have with Barsam's statement is that Marilyn Monroe's constant stream of sexy characters means she really embodies the typecast star, and while she definately did not take her work "seriously" there's no denying that what the directors got back from her was pure magic on screen. Given that so many times a star's influence is a direct result of a cultural circumstance or fad, Marilyn Monroe's appeal seems almost completely independent of what decade it's being shown. As a matter of fact, both her sexual chemistry with the camera and the sheer comedic impact of Some Like it Hot in particular haven't really diminished in effect at all, even after almost fifty years.

It is a sign of versatility that Billy Wilder, who directed film-noir masterpieces Double Indemnity and Sunset Boulevard, should go on and make The Seven Year Itch and Some Like it Hot. Although he jumps around from subject to subject it can be said that there are similarly admirable qualities in all four of these movies, not least of which is the careful precision with which each scene is executed, and the cumulative details (which may or may not be consciously noted by the audience) help add to the hilarity of the general impression. I never noticed it until it was pointed out to me, but there's an ingenius little touch in the scene where Monroe kisses Curtis in the yacht: as the false millionaire is 'cured' of his ailment there's a shot where his shoe rises phallically in the background. Curtis then confesses he feels like his toes were being barbequed, to which Monroe replies, "let's throw another log on the fire."