Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey, and Michael Kidd are army buddies in "It's Always Fair Weather," a 1955 musical film directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly. The film also stars Cyd Charisse and Delores Gray.
At the end of World War II, Ted Riley (Kelly), Doug Hallerton (Dailey), and Angie Valentine (Kidd) return to the states and make a bet with a bartender that they will be friends for life. They agree to meet on October 11, 1955, which is in ten years, at the same bar. When that day comes, they all show up, and have absolutely nothing to say to one another. Riley is a playboy and gambler who won a prize fighter in a game, Hallerton is an ulcer-ridden advertising man on the verge of divorce, and Angie is the happily married owner of a diner in upstate New York. Thanks to a talk show host (Delores Gray) who refuses to do her show as planned, and the show's beautiful consultant (Charisse), the three are destined to be reunited again - on network television.
This is a nice movie with some great dancing and singing, but given the cast, directors, writers and composer, one expects a little more than "nice" and "pleasant." The music by Andre Previn is uninspired. The choreography fares better, with a delightful roller skating sequence by Gene Kelly, and a fun sequence in a boxing gym by Cyd Charisse. The glamorous Delores Gray sings the heck out of her numbers, but her acting, unlike in "Designing Woman," is way over the top, more of a stage performance.
Despite the spoofing of advertising and early television shows and the singing and dancing, the film has a strange edginess; when it's dark, it's almost too dark, and the light moments aren't light enough. There's just something unhappy about it, which you don't find in the fabulous "Singin' in the Rain." But I suppose you can't ask lightning to strike twice.
Dan Dailey has the strongest role and is more than up to it, giving the film's best performance. And of the three, he's the only one who bothered to age ten years.
Disappointing, given the talent involved.
At the end of World War II, Ted Riley (Kelly), Doug Hallerton (Dailey), and Angie Valentine (Kidd) return to the states and make a bet with a bartender that they will be friends for life. They agree to meet on October 11, 1955, which is in ten years, at the same bar. When that day comes, they all show up, and have absolutely nothing to say to one another. Riley is a playboy and gambler who won a prize fighter in a game, Hallerton is an ulcer-ridden advertising man on the verge of divorce, and Angie is the happily married owner of a diner in upstate New York. Thanks to a talk show host (Delores Gray) who refuses to do her show as planned, and the show's beautiful consultant (Charisse), the three are destined to be reunited again - on network television.
This is a nice movie with some great dancing and singing, but given the cast, directors, writers and composer, one expects a little more than "nice" and "pleasant." The music by Andre Previn is uninspired. The choreography fares better, with a delightful roller skating sequence by Gene Kelly, and a fun sequence in a boxing gym by Cyd Charisse. The glamorous Delores Gray sings the heck out of her numbers, but her acting, unlike in "Designing Woman," is way over the top, more of a stage performance.
Despite the spoofing of advertising and early television shows and the singing and dancing, the film has a strange edginess; when it's dark, it's almost too dark, and the light moments aren't light enough. There's just something unhappy about it, which you don't find in the fabulous "Singin' in the Rain." But I suppose you can't ask lightning to strike twice.
Dan Dailey has the strongest role and is more than up to it, giving the film's best performance. And of the three, he's the only one who bothered to age ten years.
Disappointing, given the talent involved.