(Billy Wilder, US 1959, 120 min.)

Often considered the pinnacle of Wilder’s career for its subversively sexual cleverness and outrageous slapstick, this delightful transvestite romp features the inexorable blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe as a love-seeking alcoholic singer. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon also provide memorable performances as a duo of jazz musicians who, after witnessing a gangland murder, eagerly seek shelter by dressing in drag and joining an all-girl band. “A film of inspiration and craft, a movie that’s about nothing but sex and yet pretends it’s about crime and greed”—Roger Ebert.