Written by: George Axelrod & Billy Wilder
Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Tom Ewell, Evelyn Keyes, Sonny Tufts, Robert Strauss
Rating: [3/5]
Part of the fun of watching classic films comes from viewing the material through more progressive and modern eyes where you can see where some filmmakers operated beyond their time. Time after time Bill Wilder falls into this bucket as one of those filmmakers who can make a raucously fun film and also poke fun at the pervasive men of that time. The Seven Year Itch may stand as one of his weaker films but it certainly still proves to be an entertaining experience.
With his wife and kid off to Maine for the summer, Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell) stays behind in their New York apartment. There he begins to experience what his psychologist describes as the feeling some men get when they reach the seventh year of marriage to indulge in an extra-marital affair. He gets this supposed itch when he begins to spend some time with a young woman (Marilyn Monroe).
Nobody has a larger delusion of grandeur than men when it comes to the way they view women and how they can attract them. These fantastical and illogical view does not exist through reason but through this testosterone-fueled ideal that they can always attract a woman. This unending confidence serves as the main source of comedy in this feature and its precision in doing so makes up for the failings in making something more cinematically dynamic in comparison to its adaptation of a stage play.
For the majority of the film we follow Richard as he struggles with the idea of cheating on his wife through his fantasies as if any of them carry any truth, but he certainly believes it in his mind. This makes for some decent humor if not one where the audience may fail to care for his supposed plight but when this film ratchets up comes from the appearance of the elegant and hilarious Marilyn Monroe. Much has been written about her trials and tribulations as well as her iconic status outside of the film world but for some reason her sheer brilliance as a comedic actor gets forgotten.
Pairing someone like Billy Wilder and Marilyn Monroe together proved to be a match made in heaven in the way they can create some electric and gut-busting scenes. It makes sense they would reconnect with Some Like it Hot because of what they do in their collaboration with this feature. Monroe does a spectacular job of playing a wily woman who plays off being this “dumb blonde” by actually subverting the whole idea of her. This appears in other films like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and she mastered everything these types of roles demand. Here she navigates a similar type of character if not a bit more naive but plays up the innocence of these more perverted men seeking to sexualize her. She heavily lifts up this material and brings a distinct energy to every scene she appears in that does not exist in scenes where Tom Ewell appears alone.
Where the feature may lose some appears in how it approaches the inherent misogyny of the story and how it looks a the dynamic between men and women of this time. Certainly dated in its approach and ideas while also subverting some of them even if unknowingly, several scenes give those “yikes” moments where you just know it has not aged well, which comes part and parcel when watching a film from the 1950s. The film, after all, does get told through the perspective of a man who does not necessarily respect women but rather as something to scratch this proverbial itch he feels he needs to satisfy
If anything, many will recognize this film as the one where you get the iconic Marilyn Monroe scene where she stands above a subway grate and needs to keep her dress down. However, this movie has so much more and it makes for something very entertaining to watch even if dated in moments. Monroe operates at her typical best in portraying this type of character which allows us to see how this film likes to poke fun at the misogyny running rampant throughout the plot and the time period as well. It also shows, even Billy Wilder’s weaker films still carry plenty of value and entertainment.
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