On the Town
Directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly
Written by Adolph Green and Betty Comden from their Broadway musical
1949/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#233 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
[box] Gabey, Chip, Ozzie: [singing] New York, New York, a wonderful town / The Bronx is up and the Battery down / The people ride in a hole in the ground / New York, New York, it’s a wonderful town![/box]
The cast is great and so are a lot of the musical numbers. I feel like I can tolerate a lot of silliness but somehow this one manages to be a little too corny for me to love it.
Three sailors are on 24-hour leave in New York City, where none has ever been. Gabey (Gene Kelly) and Ozzie (Jules Munchen) are looking for a little female attention but Chip (Frank Sinatra) is determined to see all the sights. Gabey falls in love with the photo of MissTurnstiles Ivy Smith (Vera-Ellen), who he is convinced is a big celebrity. He talks the other men into searching for her.
Early on, Chip is picked up by randy taxi cab driver Hildie (Betty Garrett) and she hauls them around town while plotting how to lure Chip to her apartment. They look every place mentioned in Ivy’s high-toned biography. One of the first stops is the Museum of Natural History. There they meet up with Claire (Ann Miller) who has been advised by her psychiatrist to study prehistoric man so she can get over her boy-craziness. She thinks Ozzie looks exactly like a cave man statue at the museum and is off to the races. Before they leave, the boys manage to topple a dinosaur statue and are chased by the museum director and cops throughout the rest of the film.
Gabey finally catches up with Ivy at her dance class. She pretends to be exactly as described in her bio. In reality, she has been forced to work as a hooch dancer at Coney Island to pay for her lessons. The romance has its ups and downs until love conquers all.
I love the opening “New York, New York” number, Ann Miller’s dancing, and of course Gene Kelly. But the story, revolving on the adventures of sex-hungry girls and their counterparts, leaves me cold. The dialogue strikes me as totally banal. I may have been having a bad day.
Clip – Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen sing and dance
I agree – I love the opening and the cast, and some of the musical numbers are great, but there isn’t enough of a story, and I hate all the stuff about the room-mate having a cold and looking plain. I find I enjoy revisiting ‘Anchors Aweigh’ more because it has a better story, and Sinatra gets a better solo number in that one too.
A shame they cut out nearly all of Bernstein’s songs from the stage show – I see the original show has been revived on Broadway, so I wonder if there will be a DVD or showing at the cinema when the run ends? It would be great to compare it with the film!
I can only imagine that the Bernstein show was much better. I would love to see it as well. I found this youtube video of Bernadette Peters singing a medley from the stage show. The songs really are better.
The funny thing is that I disliked On the Town when I saw, but in hindsight it does not seem so bad. Maybe it is because the good parts were more memorable than the poor element. Or maybe I am now more attuned to Gene Kelly. Silly as it is I much prefer it to An American in Paris.
I’m afraid I’m vice versa with you on that one. I’d rate both the music and the plot better in An American in Paris and that’s not my favorite either.