On the Town (1949)

good back-story, and good acting

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Hot-Diggity-Dog!!.... "On The Town" is (Indeed) a happy-go-lucky singin', dancin', and romancin' Musical/Comedy from 1949. It's a story about 3 gobs, 3 gals, and a 24-hour shore-leave.If you enjoy watching top-notch musicals from Hollywood's heyday - Then - "On The Town" (filmed in fabulous Technicolour) comes highly recommended from this satisfied viewer.In this high-energy picture everyone really kicks up their heels (especially Ann Miller) - And - As an added bonus - There is some very impressive outdoor location shooting filmed right in busy downtown Manhattan. Super-Duper!

On The Town is a unique beast of movie musical as MGM never followed up on it in one of the most noteworthy uses of location filming in a Hollywood movie up until that point. On the Town captures New York City circa 1949 in beautiful Technicolor as three sailors on leave spend 24 hours tearing up the town. When three men on board a ship without female interaction have leave, then dames become the ultimate aim. On the Town is also another example of Old Hollywood's idealisation of the navy, particularly in musicals. Did movies like this effect recruitment? They sure make the navy look fun and even explicitly state it during the On the Town number, "Travel! Adventure! See the world!". Likewise MGM musicals really aren't given the credit of just how funny they are, especially those penned by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. "It's 9:30 already. The day's gone and we haven't seen a thing yet." - Just right after that montage of you exploring the entire city?Many shots in On the Town, particularly in the opening montage have an un-staged feel to them which give an insight into the world at the time, full of regular people getting on with their lives. The sets here are more on the realistic side and less artificial compared to other MGM musicals, allowing for the transitions between locations and sets to go by largely unnoticed. Vera Ellen couldn't be more girl next door, very pure and innocent (as reflected in the number Main Street). Ann Miller and Betty Garret on the other are the opposite to this, which gives the movie characters of both the innocent and then the sex crazed variety. Betty Garret's nymphomaniac tendencies are on full display as soon as we meet her character of Hidly Esterhazy; she really wants to get Sinatra back up to her place, really badly.Ann Miller however plays by far my favourite character is the film as the most unlikely of scientists, Claire Huddesen; a sex goddess with the personality of a weird girl - ah the best kinds of contradictions. In her own words she states she was running around with too much of all kinds of young men and just couldn't settle down. Her guardian suggested that she take up anthropology and make a scientific study of man thus becoming more objective and getting them out of her system and being able to control herself; I love this character! Yet this has caused her to have a thing for prehistoric males over modern men. I can relate to being attracted to those alive decades ago but Ann Miller takes this further to hundreds of thousands of years. Prehistoric Man is one of the odder musical numbers in the film history both in terms of lyrical content/themes as well as the number itself. As the caveman dancing, bongo bashing, Ann Miller being pulled along the floor by the hair madness proceeds, you have to ask yourself "what the hell am I watching?". The soundtrack of On the Town is one of the finest in the MGM library; you know a musical soundtrack succeeds when you're humming multiple tunes from it for a week after watching. The only track which falls flat for me is You're Awful; with the absence any hook it's not awful but mediocre.The first ballet sequence in On the Town which introduces Vera Ellen's Miss Turnstiles has a similar concept to Leslie Caron's introductory sequence in An American In Paris; full of contradictory statements to describe her character. The two ballet's in On the Town are much more humble that what would come in the MGM musicals over the next few years, nor do they have the eye popping colour and appear more washed out. The A Day In New York ballet for example is bound to only two modest sets but these still serve as nice warm up for the magnificence of what was to come.

Gene Kelly, Vera-Ellen, and Ann Miller again showed that they were super dancers, Frank Sinatra exhibited his unequaled singing ability,and Jules Munshin showed that he was a nut. The storyline was simple: three sailors were on a twenty-four-hour pass in New York, (though most of the movie was filmed in Los Angeles), and each made the best of it by finding a female companion and touring the city. While Betty Comden and Adolph Green let the public know via this classic that they were adept at writing screenplays, the movie lacked good acting, though the music was entertaining. I personally liked the songs "New York, New York", "On the Town", and, my favorite, the dance number "A Day In New York". To reiterate, the acting was bland, the story was passable, but the music was great; in fact, the music made it worth the while.

On the Town (1949)There is so much going right with this movie--from the photography (yes) by Harold Rossen and the music (famously) by Leonard Bernstein, from the leading actors (Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly) to the directors (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly)--it's hard to realize how dated or almost bad some moments have become. This is delightful, fantastic, and inspired stuff, total fun top to bottom. But it also has moments that are cringe inducing.And I like musicals.If you don't like musicals in particular, you should start with specimens with wider appeal, and higher standards: "Singin' in the Rain" and "West Side Story" would work for me, if we're talking classics. Throw in "Swing Time" or "Top Hat" if you want an Astaire classic, too. Or a Garland singing musical.This one is from the amazing run of polished hits by producer Arthur Freed. The choreography varies from excellent to wonderful. If it's choreographed dancing you like, check this out. Some of the format it is from the standard style of the Golden Age, where the characters break into song or dance in the middle of their normal doings--in this case, three sailors racing through Manhattan on 24 hour leave.Other parts have choreography, probably by Gene Kelly, that becomes abstract and cinematic, a Hollywood innovation (also seen, famously, in "Singin' in the Rain" and "An American in Paris"). The scenes, whether stylized or realistic, are fabulous. The standards are high--space, light, and control of color (Technicolor, of course) inside and out.What drags the movie down is some awful writing, both in the dialog and even in some of the songs. I know lots of musical lovers who don't give a hoot if the lyrics make sense or are especially good--they become secondary to the rest of it, and the artifice is part of the game. But I know others who, like me, prefer the clever, the lyric, the original. And there are some real wincing moments.And in fact, the movie as a whole is awkward, a series of vignettes that do eventually string together into a chronology, but they hardly have to. They survive, or struggle, independently. Some of the acting is forced and you may or may not like the sidekicks like the third sailor, who's just too comic and goofy for my taste. Even the lead actresses, Ann Miller and Vera-Ellen, are no match for Debbie Reynolds, let alone Judy Garland.Now, let's finally add--the best of the songs, and the dancing and photography, are top notch. For all musical lovers. The great final pieces at about 1:17 into the movie is amazing stuff.Note: Bernstein's music originated in a ballet, "Fancy Free," which turned into the Broadway play "On the Town" in 1944. But when this film was made, most of Bernstein's music was replaced with new stuff--some of which is the mediocre music that brings the production down a notch.At times the biggest star in the show is New York itself. Love it.