by Andrew Bisson

Billy Wilder was a man of many talents, with a career spanning almost sixty years he has clearly earned his place as a master film maker. With many skills in writing, directing, and producing, every film he has created shines with his touch. He was a master of comedy and used his humor to convey many strong and important messages such as ideas of self-identity and sexism. We can see some of these concepts repeated through dissecting arguably two of his most important works, The Major and The Minor (1942) and Some Like It Hot (1959), these films fully capture the major elements that Wilder had kept constant throughout his career.

At first glance of these films, it is clear to see how Wilder’s humor pours from these two works. The simple but effective joke of dress up is one of many things that relate these films.  Yet before we explore the deeper commentary that Wilder made with having his characters dress out of social norms lets first look at the comedy of it. Wilder was very good at making an audience laugh, it seems he knew that something ridiculous and over the top can be funny. Things like cross-dressing and adults acting like children, conventional ideas flipped on their head for comedic purposes is something even today’s audiences still enjoy. We can look at the situation the main character in The Major and The Minor faces the beginning of the film. Susan Applegate (Ginger Rogers) dresses as a child to afford the train fare out of New York City, our character is places in a regular situation and solves her issue with a ridiculous solution. And the same can be said for our protagonists in Some Like It Hot, Jerry (Jack Lemmon) and Joe (Tony Curtis). Though not involved in the average everyday situation that Susan encounters the two characters still find a ridiculous solution to their problem, by dressing as women to escape gangsters. Something that also made Wilder a master of comedy was his set ups and payoffs. Though a small example let’s look at the first few scenes in The Major and The Minor. We see Susan enter her client’s apartment building and she meets an overly friendly elevator attendant who claims that he would love a scalp massage, our set up. We watch as she meets her client in a humorous interaction and we learn she uses eggs in her treatment, still setting up. Then leaving the apartments and reentering the elevator the man again claims he would enjoy a massage and we watch Susan then slam an egg on his head saying, “why wait”. Though a very simple joke we can still see the craft of Wilder and his ability to weave scenes together with comedy.  Set up and payoff is a very prominent technique uses in Some Like It Hot as well. The idea for Joe and Jerry to cross dress was given to them by Sig Poliakoff (Billy Gray) in an early scene in the film. And only about ten minutes later do we see Joe and Jerry dresses as women attempting to board the train. The story sets up the idea of cross dressing and pays it off shortly after in a promising way. We clearly understand how they came up with this plan and why they must commit, and all of this is done in a comedic light. Even the relationship between Jack Lemmon’s characters, Jerry, and Marilyn Monroe’s character, Sugar. The film establishes early on that Jerry is a tenor sax player, and later in the film we learn that Sugar has a thing for men that play tenor sax. The film perfectly sets up that they could be together and later we get that pay off when they kiss. The humorous cliché of women being attracted to musicians is used to further develop the story. Taking the social norms of his time and flipping them on their head through use of comedy, he truly captured the idea that comedy can be used not just as entertainment but also a commentary.

Wilder knew how to subvert audience expectations and not just through the use of comedy but with his portrayal of self-identity. These two films perfectly capture Wilders ideas of self-identity and how we view ourselves. Both these films center around the idea of our protagonist changing their appearance, Some like It Hot Joe and Jerry dress as the opposite gender and Susan in The Major and The Minor dresses as a child. It is interesting to think about what Wilder was attempting to achieve through these stories. Many films during his time centered around escapism and it seems that Wilder takes the idea of classical escapism and flips it on its head. Instead of romanticizing the idea of living as someone else he explored the negative aspects of it.  Both films feature a love story where two characters cannot be together because they are lying of their identity. It’s very interesting to see how Wilder plays with the idea of being honest about one’s true self. Looking at The Major and The Minor we see how Susan and Major Philip Kirby (Ray Milland) wish to be together but cannot because of the facade that Susan puts up. Even at the end of the film when Philip goes to Susan’s house, she pretends to be her mother, further separating them. Only when Susan is honest about her identity can they fully connect and be with each other, and the same idea stands true when viewing Some Like It Hot. Jerry lust for Sugar but cannot be with her until he admits that he’s actually a man. Jerry is scared that she won’t like him when she learns the truth but tells her anyways and she still kisses him. Joe even experiences this when revealing to Osgood Fielding (Joe E. Brown) his true identity and Osgood replies “Well, nobody’s perfect”. Wilder’s characters seem to welcome honesty especially when pertaining to identity.

Wilder also had a lot to say about sexism at the time and explores the many issues that woman faced during the time of his career. Watching The Major and The Minor we can see how women were treated unfairly. From the very beginning it seems every man surrounding Susan is obsessed with her, or at least obsessed with looking at her. The film even makes it a big point that no matter how old she presents she will always get unwanted attention from men. We see this at the beginning the film with the workers of the apartment all stare and flirt with her and also with her client who insist she stay the night. Again, later in the film when she is staying at the military school all the young boys swoon over her, she cannot escape the male gaze. And Some Like It Hot does not stray from this portrayal of sexism either. Looking at the scene where Joe and Jerry are in their hotel room, they begin to relate over the unwanted attention they received from men. We see many instances of both Jerry and Joe getting pinched and grabbed by men throughout the film as well. Wilder was a very progressive man it seems, taking these ideas and throwing it into audiences faces allowing these prejudice acts to be brough up in a new light.

Billy Wilder was an incredible filmmaker, making countess classics that not only entertained but made audiences think about their lives. His contagious humor and his ability to tell meaningful stories with comedy shines bright in each and every work of his. The concepts he’s portrayed from sexism to self-identity, he was a man that had a lot to say about the world. Though his legacy can be shadowed by other great film makers of his time I think it is important we remember the man who mastered comedy.

Works Cited

Billy Wilder. (n.d.). Retrieved from TMDB: https://www.themoviedb.org/person/3146-billy-wilder?language=en-US

Wilder, B. (Director). (1942). The Major and The Minor [Motion Picture].

Wilder, B. (Director). (1959). Some Like It Hot [Motion Picture].