January 12 1999

Announcements:  There is a TA for this class which is not noted on the syllabus.  His office hours are Monday 2-4 Wednesday 2-4 in 308 James.  His e-mail is coe100@psu.edu.

Lecture Notes:

I.  Cultural Significance of the Movies

• Movies started out in the form of nickelodeons which were silent pictures
• They usually were of sensationalistic sights such as the execution of an elephant
• Immigrants would go watch them to see how Americans dressed acted etc.
• They offered an immediate sense of fulfillment and distraction from everyday life
• However a newer audience the American middle class demanded more sophistication from movies

II.  Classical Hollywood Cinema:  Narration

• This style arose from the discovery of movies by the middle class
• It represents individual characters trying to achieve goals
• Movie begins in state of equilibrium
• Disrupted by characters in conflict
• There is a resolution of conflict at the end

III.  It Happened One Night:  Class Difference

• Movie set in the depression era
• A reporter needs a good story to salvage his career
• He meets a debutante who is running away from her father
• He teaches her that working class people are respectable
• She teaches him that upper class people are okay
• They see each other as human beings fall in love and get married at the end
• People who saw the movie were reassured in their belief that America was a classless society

MOVIE:  SOME LIKE IT HOT

    Starring:    Marilyn Monroe..................................Sugar Cane
                    Tony Curtis..........................................Joe/Josephine
                    Jack Lemmon......................................Jerry/Daphne

    Chicago 1929

1.    A car full of gangsters are involved in a police chase.  They get away arrive at a funeral parlor (carrying a casket full of liquor) which is a cover for a mob party.  Spats Colombo is the head of the mob.  A man named Toothpick Charlie tips off a cop about the "funeral" and he goes in undercover.  Two musicians in the band Joe and Jerry see the cop first and escape before the place is raided.  Spats is arrested for bootlegging alcohol.  He finds out Charlie was the informer.

2.    Joe and Jerry go to the music publishing houses in search of work.  They hear about a job in a girls band where they could go to Miami for 3 weeks.  Jerry thinks they should do it Joe doesn't.  Joe's girlfriend Nellie allows them to borrow her car for a gig later that night.  When they get to the garage Charlie and his friends are there.  Spats and his gang bust in and kill Charlie and the others the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.  Joe and Jerry witness the whole thing.  Once Spats sees that the two were witnesses he tries to kill them.  They narrowly escape.  They decide to take the job in Florida to flee the gangsters.

3.    Joe becomes Josephine and Jerry becomes Daphne.  Once on the train they meet the other girls in the band.  In the bathroom they meet Sugar Cane who is drinking.  Both "men" are instantly attracted to her especially Jerry.  During a rehearsal on the train Sugar accidentally drops her flask in front of the band manager.  In order to save Sugar from being fired Daphne takes the blame.

4.    In the middle of the night Sugar sneaks into Daphne's bed to thank her for covering for her.  They start doing shots of whiskey.  Pretty soon all the girls in the band are in Daphne's bed for the "party."  Daphne gets mad that the girls are interrupting her private party with Sugar.  Sugar and Josephine go to the bathroom for ice.  She confides to Josephine that she likes saxophone players(which he is) millionaires and men with glasses.  Now Joe really likes Sugar too.

5.    Once in Florida at the hotel a very persistent millionaire Osgood Fielding falls for Daphne.  She is obviously repulsed.  Later Daphne and Sugar go to the beach and Josephine says she is going to take a bath.  Joe actually dresses up as a millionaire and heads out to the beach in hopes of attracting Sugar's attention.  He does bump into her and proceeds to tell her that he is staying on a yacht he owns Shell Oil Co. etc.  Daphne runs over and realizes the millionaire is actually Joe.  He doesn't let Sugar know that though.  Daphne and Sugar run off the beach and up to the room.  Somehow Joe had transformed into Josephine and hopped in the bathtub before they got back.

6.    Osgood calls Daphne to invite her for supper on his yacht after the show.  Joe convinces Jerry to have supper ashore with Osgood so Joe can take Sugar out on Osgood's yacht.  During the show that night Osgood delivers flowers to Daphne on stage.  Josephine takes a few flowers to save for future use.  She gives Sugar the rest of the flowers saying they're from Joe with a note to meet him on the pier.

7.    Joe and Sugar meet and he takes her to Osgood's yacht.  They go to a room for drinks.  He makes up a story and tells her he doesn't feel anything when he's "with" a woman.  She feels bad for him and puts the moves on him.  They kiss etc.  She "cures" him of his problem.  Meanwhile Osgood and Daphne are out dancing having a grand old time.

8.    The next morning in the hotel Jerry tells Joe that he is engaged to Osgood.  Joe is furious with Jerry for being so ridiculous.  Jerry shows Joe the diamond bracelet Osgood gave her.

9.    That day Spats and his crew show up at their hotel for a mob convention.  The cop is there too to question Spats about Valentine's Day and Charlie.  Of course Spats denies it all.  In the lobby Josephine and Daphne see the mob and run up to their rooms to get their stuff and leave.  Spats ends up in the elevator with them but doesn't really recognize them.  Joe (as the millionaire) calls Sugar from the room and tells her he's going to Venezuela.  He puts the flowers that he had saved along with the bracelet outside her door.  They say good-bye.

10.    Joe and Jerry still dressed as women climb over their balcony to get out of the hotel.  Spats sees them out the window and notices Jerry's instrument with the bullet holes in it.  They chase them throughout the hotel.  Joe and Jerry hide under a table in the convention room where the mob and Spats happen to be meeting.  The head of the mob announces Spats and his men are going to be killed for their carelessness on St. Valentine's Day.  A big cake with a gunman inside rolls into the room.  The man jumps out and shoots Spats and his men dead.  Joe and Jerry run out of the room.  They come back to the lobby as women.

11.    Daphne goes to call Osgood to have him meet them at the pier.  Josephine goes up to Sugar and kisses her.  Sugar realizes it's Joe but he runs off once the mob finds him.  Joe and Jerry run off to the pier where Osgood is waiting for them in a little boat.  Sugar comes running and jumps in the boat.  She still wants Joe even though he's not a millionaire.  Jerry tells Osgood all these reasons why he can't marry him but Osgood doesn't care.  He finally tells Osgood that he's a man.  Osgood replies Well, nobody's perfect.