“Some Like it Hot,” named the greatest comedy by the American Film Institute, breaks every unwritten rule in the comedy genre in a brilliant farce and gender study. It’s a timeless classic about murder, greed, success and most of all, sex.

The film combines comedy with the musical, film noir and romance genres, yielding a laugh-a-minute piece of art.

Two desperate jazz musicians, Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon), are looking for work when they unexpectedly witness the famous Valentine’s Day massacre. From there, they are forced to hop into dresses and flee Chicago with an all-girl band. From that moment on, Joe and Jerry become Josephine and Daphne.

Loosely based on the German comedy “Fanfares of Love,” the incomparable director Billy Wilder creates a wildly charismatic sexcapade with no stops. When Josephine and Daphne join the band, they are wildly greeted by the boozing Sugar Kane Kowalczyk (Marilyn Monroe). Their sex drives have to be temporarily tossed aside throughout their trip as their lives literally depend on it.

In the film, Joe and Jerry grow to learn what it means to be women the hard way. As Lemmon says, “I tell you, it’s a whole different sex.”

Joe, who morphed into Josephine, is determined to woo Monroe and decides to pose as the heir to the Shell Oil fortune. In these stints of attempting to win Monroe over, Curtis becomes a fast-talking clone of Cary Grant.

Meanwhile, Daphne has been doing some wooing of his own. Osgood Fielding III, played by Joe E. Brown, is a millionaire looking for a future ex-wife. Daphne eventually finds that being the object of affection for Fielding is everything he’s ever wanted.

In one scene, Fielding has proposed to Daphne after a long night of dancing. In response, Curtis exclaims, “You’re a guy! Why would a guy want to marry another guy?”

Laying on the bed in a love-bitten daze and shaking maracas, Lemmon says, “Security.”

Meanwhile, Monroe and Curtis exchange one-liners with unmatchable timing like verbal ping-pong. The film has been compared to the Marx Brothers, and rightfully so, with instances of slapstick, quick comebacks and double entendres.

In one scene, Monroe inquires to Joe, “Water polo, isn’t that terribly dangerous?” To which Joe responds, “I’ll say, I had two ponies drown under me just last year.”

With all of the codes and feudal attempts at censorship in the era of “Some like it Hot,” it’s amazing Wilder got away with half of the blatant sexual references in this film. To whoever decided to overlook them, we are infinitely grateful.

In one of the best closing lines of a film, the couples are driving away in a small boat toward the sunset. Finally seeing that they cannot possibly work, Daphne turns to Fielding with different excuses why they can’t get married – all of which he shoots down. Finally, Daphne says, “I’m a man!” to which Fielding nonchalantly says, “Nobody’s perfect.”

In terms of timeless comedies, however, “Some Like it Hot” might be just that – perfect.