Movie Monday: The Band Wagon

This week's movie is the MGM musical The Band Wagon!

I wanted to try something as different from last week's The Last Exorcism as possible, so a MGM Technicolor musical extravaganza starring Fred Astaire seemed to fit the bill!

The film opens with an auction of movie memorabilia belonging to former star Tony Hunter (Fred Astaire), whose popularity is clearly on the decline. We can see that when the first item offered garners no bids, despite the rock-bottom price.

Luckily for Tony, his two good friends Lester and Lily Morton (Oscar Levant and Nannette Fabrey) have written what they believe is the perfect comeback vehicle for him: a classic Broadway musical, filled with thrills, drama, and comedy. Tony heads to New York to see them (on the way, he runs into Ava Gardner--playing herself--whom attracts all the press attention, allowing Tony to get of the train unnoticed).

In New York, the Mortons tell Tony about their show:

They plan to meet with a big-time Broadway director/producer the next day, which lifts Tony's spirits. He breaks into a music number, where his joy is so infectious its like a burst of energy. Heck, at an amusement park, a pyramid of tin cans topple before he even has to throw a ball!

The Mortons and Tony got to a theater where they are to meet the legendary Jeffrey Cordova (Jack Buchanan), who knows a thing or two about promotion:

Cordova likes the idea he's pitched, except he decides to inflate it with all kinds of high-falutin' ideas, and thinks the show should be a musical version of Faust. The Mortons and Tony are a little taken aback, but decide to go along with Cordova. Tony meets his would-be co-star, the ballerina Gaby Gerard (Cyd Charisse), and he is intimidated by her youth, talent, and looks. Little does Tony know, but she is equally intimidated by him, because he's a legend.

(We get to see a glimpse of Cordova's Oedipus Rex, and its gorgeous in all its Technicolor glory)

Despite their initial awkward moments, Tony and Gaby start to fall in love. They walk through Central Park (or a Hollywood set version of), and they silently break into a number called "Dancing in the Dark", which is quite lovely:

Tony, despite his misgivings, goes along with Cordova's idea for the show, and they have their first try-out in New Haven. It doesn't go well, and the crowd leaving the theater is like the walking dead, except even quieter:

Tony convinces Cardova to let him take over the production, and turn it back into the kind of show his friends has envisioned. They take the show on the road to test it, financially backed by Tony himself, since the original backers have pulled out.

Even though big Broadway music is not really my cup of tea, I could appreciate the skill and grace with which the songs are performed (and of course Fred Astaire dancing is about as good as it gets). Nevertheless, the movie does feature one of those types of numbers that, with the benefit(?) of hindsight, looks so friggin' goofy that you can sorta see why these movies fell out of favor:

...yep, three grown people dressed as babies. They sing like babies, walk on their knees, the whole thing. Somebody get me an Avid.

Anyway, the show is tweaked and improved, and is ready for Broadway. The main set-piece is called "Girl Hunt", and is nothing less than a pulp detective novel come to life.

This sequence was shown (in part) in the documentary Martin Scorsese: A Personal Journey Through American Movies, and the sheer look of it made me want to see this movie. It is, simply, breathtaking:

Tony and Gaby dance a torrid number together, and it finishes the show. The crowd loves it, proving that show--as Tony and his friends saw it--is going to be a huge hit. After the show, the whole cast gets together to congratulate Tony and tell him they always believed in him.

Gaby lets Tony know how she feels, and everyone breaks into the now-classic "That's Entertainment" to wrap it all up:

Like I mentioned above, I mostly wanted to see The Band Wagon for that one number, and it is a doozy. Its funny to think how 1960s TV would appropriate the pop art look of numbers like this, with their bold colors, crazy angles, and deep shadows (Batman, I'm looking in your direction). In a similar vein, Saturday Night Live would parody the "Dancing in the Dark" number, with Gilda Radner and Steve Martin filling in for Charisse and Astaire (and it was this sketch that was re-run in 1989 when host Steve Martin payed tribute to Radner, who had died earlier that day).

Old school movie musicals are weird going for me--I don't find them particularly funny, and the music, for the most part, just doesn't appeal to me. But I simply love the Technicolor look, and enjoy the subtlety and grace with which the musical numbers are employed. I enjoyed the "Girl Hunt" piece so much I feel like I could have seen a whole movie of just that!

I don't need to tell you that The Band Wagon is a good movie--it starts Fred Astaire, for Pete's sake, was directed by the master of the musical movie Vincent Minnelli, and is personally vouched for by Martin Scorsese himself! But I will say that if you, like me, don't particularly go in for this type of movie, I'd say give it a shot--you'll enjoy it.