Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon play two best friends who play sax and bull fiddle for small gigs in 1920's Chicago. After accidentally witnessing the Valentine's Day Massacre in a parking garage, they have to hide from the mob and join an all female band going to Florida as Josephine and Geraldine - er, Daphne (Jerry changes his mind at the last minute). They meet Sugar Cane (played by Marilyn Monroe) who sings for the band, and hilarity ensues. I took a first date to this movie. It is one of my favorite movies of all time and he had never seen it before and absolutely loved it. The only thing that no longer holds up is the "men can't get married", but if you remember it being a period piece, if you remember that these are straight guys, the gender bending is refreshing and sweet. And that last line is a zinger.

You really do not need AFI to list it as #1. All you have to do is watch it for yourself - whether it be the first time or - as in my case - more like the 50th! Those naughty boys Billy Wilder and his chief conspirator I.A.L Diamond have constructed a flawless pece of movie-making as well as mirth-inducing cinema as Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis play two msucians who escape the Chicago mob after a gangland slaying by dressing in drag and joining an all-girl band headed to Florida. Sounds ridiculous? Well it is! All the puns, double entendres, wildly manic pace set pieces and gags get a astoundingly fresh revamping as the entire cast including a randy Joe E. Brown and the giddily gorgeous Marilyn Monroe go for broke in the unadulterated slapstick pace Wilder sets right out of the gate! It's truly a perplexing situation to be asked what the funniest scene is - guess you will have to decide for yourself! For me the can-we-get-anymore-people-into-this-upper-train-berth? is a comic gem!