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Why was Some Like It Hot set during Prohibition?

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Billy Wilder poses in a suit and hat, leaning against a streetlamp with a sign reading Sunset Blvd. in a promotional photo for the film Sunset Boulevard. — Billy Wilder Billy Wilder in a promotional photograph for *Sunset Boulevard* (1950), which he directed.

The film Some Like It Hot (1959) is set during the Prohibition era because the plot is driven by the protagonists witnessing the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, a real-life gangland killing that occurred in 1929.12

By placing the story in this historical period, director Billy Wilder established a credible reason for the two main characters—musicians played by Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis—to be on the run from mobsters. Their need to escape the gangsters forces them to disguise themselves as women and join an all-female band, which serves as the central premise for the film's comedy.12