Marilyn Monroe was already an icon at the time this movie was released, but the way she was portrayed in the film quickly turned her into something closer to the mythic sex goddess figure she would always be from then on, and the role itself couldn't help but seem made for her image. Tom Ewell is the dopey middle-aged man whose wife takes their kid out of the city for the summer, leaving him alone to fantasize over Marilyn, the bombshell who lives in the apartment above him. Marilyn herself is hardly a character here, more the embodiment of a living sex fantasy- the ditzy, sexy, childlike blonde that every man wants for himself. It's how she would always be seen in the eyes of men particularly, and the movie's worth seeing just for that, as a lot of it's very dated with the humor of the era. It's the last movie of our summer series this week, so have fun with it and happy movie watching!
Original 1955 Trailer:
