The Band Wagon

a goofy pastiche of the musical. i don't mean goofy in a bad way; its self-aware silliness is fun to watch. its cynicism in relation to meaningful art isn't all that meaningful, but its celebration of entertainment is entertaining. the racism near the beginning was shit.

It definitely had similarities to Singin' in the Rain (1952), but just paled in comparison. The plot wasn't all that interesting and I didn't think the songs were very memorable. Bar one, that is. There was one sequence which featured a film-noir style song and stage performance and it was brilliant. I was really impressed. Otherwise, I wasn't too crazy about the film.

I was ready to write this off almost completely, and then the noir pastiche came up. Amazing. My favorite sequence of a musical, or, really, just about any movie.

The plot is good but it does leave a sour taste in your mouth as the film seems to have a very nasty opinion of plays, musicals (and by extension probably films as well) that are made for any reason other than straight-forward entertainment.

A marvellous film, even though the songs are not as strong as in some other musicals. Stanley Cavell discusses the film in a very interesting way in "Fred Astaire Asserts the Right to Praise", in PHILOSOPHY THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW. See also my review of Cavell's book here: https://www.academia.edu/12685406/Review_of_Stanley_Cavell_Philosophy_the_Day_after_Tomorrow_2006_

It seems to be saying that any kind of artistic or intellectual ambition is silly, and shows should never try to do anything but entertain. And if you are going to have this outlook, then what you produce had better be REALLY entertaining. And Band Wagon isn't. The "Shine On My Shoes" bit is spectacular, the detective ballet is very good, and Astaire and Charisse light up the screen. But many of the routines are forgettable little nothings. Except for a few good moments, it's thoroughly average.

5500! The film has likeable leads and some nice meta references, but the final part of the show, a jazzy and intoxicating noir pastiche, is the reason to see it.

Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse scarcely touch, yet they have the lovelist unison you ever saw. Michael Kidd did the coreography, and you'd better see it before you die. This isn't An American in Paris; it's everyday work, and maybe more appealing because of that. Not even Freed said the Arthur Freed films were going to save the world or qualify for a Nobel Prize. No one said they were important. But did Hollywood ever do anything so odd so well?

There's nothing really wrong with this, the musical numbers aren't too painfully corny, Astaire and Charisse are good leads. But it all kind of feels like "Singin' in the Rain" - lite - though the films have different plots, they share a number of similar elements (commentary on celebrity, absurdly bad production receiving an organic transformation from the lead and thus converting it to something good, etc) and Singin' is just overall a much more impressive feature.

It's nice even for those who doesn't care much about musicals, like me. But, as usual with classic Hollywood, it has some bad stereotypes, like the black actors always playing the roles of the servants of the white men, shining their shoes, and happy with that.

Couldn't escape the corny-ness of a musical, but still managed to cast a clever satyrical veil on the showbiz industry in general. Draggy and kind of boring first half (we get the picture in less than half of the total time it takes).Awesome coreography in the latter part, where Charisse and Astaire really kill it. Thumbs up for Nanette Fabray, on how she portrays the "standard" 50s american female performer (restrained but wide-eyed, devoted but a fun gal too, who's smart but knows her place

Has its fair share of weak moments but makes up for every one of them and caps it all off with a fantastic final 20 minutes. The spin on musical conventions is interesting and, while I was a bit disappointed with how the production part of the story went, the backstage dynamics were well done and Astaire and Charisse have great presence.

This one just pops from start to finish. It looks fantastic. The Girl Hunt is this film's equivalent of the American in Paris ballet, but much cooler, because it's a noir ballet instead of a regular ballet. I mean, come on! Fred Astaire is fantastic in this. His performance is especially touching because of the way it mirrors his own life. Cyd Charisse is great, too.

# 159

Without any prior knowledge to Minelli's style and themes in cinema, I can say that he harshly criticizes the mass culture and the genre of musical in particular: he claims that Hollywood pretends to be "intellectual" without compromising on the show business. Underlining that only in a realistic and all too human way we can grasp some sort of "truth" in arts, Minelli stamps the out of fashion state of musicals and declares the superiority of neorealism.

some great musical numbers that are only loosely held together by the weak plot. this is a good reprise for astaire, too bad all the songs are so different it feels like a combination of about ten different movies.

This musical may not have the most engaging storyline or many charismatic characters (in fact most of them are displeasing and arrogant, Astaire's Hunter being the worst of all). However it makes up for this with a handful of gloriously lurid and stylish dance spectacles from Charisse, Astaire et al. The sets, dresses and cast all look amazing and of course the dancing is top notch. It's a good example of the genre but best watched purely for the big scenes or for Cyd or Fred completists.

If you can't see singing in the rain then go for the lite version of Band Wagon. It does have the bonus of being darkly cynical about the Hollywood musical sausage machine (and therefore itself). You wonder if the Studio execs got the irony. . what am I saying of course they didn't Some good numbers, great cast and solid routines but by this stage the musicals were becoming samey and pretentious which is sort of the point.

157

A wonderfully cynical musical. We rarely get a decent musical these days, and we sure as HELL are never going to get another Fred Astaire

Simple but sophisticated musical with the bare minimum of plot, told mostly in jokes, and the maximum of music and song. Level of technical accomplishment very high.

One of the best musicals, The Band Wagon meshes autobiographical elements into its struggle between pop art and high art. It works both as drama and as a musical.

that's fucking entertainment!

Star Rating: ★★★★1/2

Astaire and the girls are fine, but the two supporting guys are so so unlikable, i just wanted to constantly punch them. it's a decent enough lighthearted effort, until you stop to think that rock'n'roll and Rebel for a Cause were just a couple years away from making all this schmaltzy, wide-eyed "entertainment" look instantly outdated.

87.50

Has the cast to be a great movie, but its script is just a poor reason for the next musical number.

I don't really like any of the songs here, but this is basically *THE* ancestor of the modern action film. Cyd Charisse is the best.

Up through most of the film, I thought the only interesting performance was the dance in the park, a nice mix of softshoe and ballet. The noir dance at the end was pretty amazing, but not quite enough to make me want to watch the whole movie ever again (and especially not have to sit through the terrifying Triplets number).

watched: 2013, 2016

Great MGM musical from their golden era. Terrific musical numbers and very funny book. If you love Singin' in the Rain, you'll love this one too.

ujuj, har finns inte mycket till story! men nagra av dansnumren ar lackra: den i (kulissversionen av) central park och gangsterscenen t.ex. men ocksa for mycket stomatol och klicheartad kanslosamhet emellanat.

This film was a joy to watch.Fred Astaire gives a command performance with his singing and dancing, especial the shoeshine number.The story is good enough to keep the movie interesting between the musical numbers and isn't as weak as other musical's I've seen.

A candy-colored Inside Show Biz musical. The private jokes, the campy parody, and the cheerful cynicism give the movie its air of knowingness; but the disruptively dazzling musical numbers are never brought together into a stable framework or consistent style. With Astaire as an aging hoofer on the comeback trail, Charisse as his newfound dancing partner, Fabray and Levant as a Betty Comden-Adolph Green songwriting team.

If the Girl Hunt ballet sequence was the entire movie i would probably rate this a lot higher, but even then that sequence is basically a rehash of the Broadway Melody sequence from Singin' in the Rain (one could argue that the entire film is more or less a pale shadow of the latter). Minnelli seems great at small sequences like this, but sort of inept at directing an entire coherent film.

156

What's Entertainment? Views differ.

Maybe this just caught me in the right mood, but I liked this a lot more than some here. It's infectious, I loved the Jack Buchanan performance, and the noir-sendup setpiece was aesthetically great--I would have watched a full movie based on that 16 minutes. As opposed to some other musicals, I think the stuff surrounding the music is stronger, though That's Entertainment has certainly stood the test of time and is catchy. Light fun.

What I liked most about this was the strand of melancholy that weaves its way through the film, not just in the story, but in the contents of the stage designs and the occasional song. This feeling is likely wrapped up in the insecurity typical to performers, and as such provides a uniquely musical look at the process of staging a show. This is a really strong film from Minnelli, one of my favorites of his.

#150

So blissfully alert to its genre, like the Broadway equivalent of the sending up of Hollywood in Singin' in the Rain

Choreography is ok but rest is not. too many cliches. "Triplets" sequence a little funny and mostly original. Nanette Fabray shines. Ava Gardner and Julie Newmar made a cameo. "Girl Hunt Ballet" scene inspired Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal.