The Band Wagon (1953)
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The Band Wagon Movie Review
The Band Wagon is a 1953 musical comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. It’s a thematically rich and fun, but flawed movie.
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“We’re not quarreling!
We’re in complete agreement!
We hate each other!“
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A pretentiously artistic director is hired for a new Broadway musical and changes it beyond recognition. This storyline is eerily similar to the previous year’s ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ in its narrative and that classic movie is in my opinion infinitely better in its themes and humor, but especially storytelling, which is here muddled.
The movie has its great moments, but its impact and energy quickly dissipate in that very forgettable second half. The romance worked for me as it was charming and moving while some of the best and most charming moments were romantic in nature. It was also interesting seeing the theme of art versus entertainment dealt with so heavily.
It was so well realized with excellent dialogue and some superb discussions that I wish more of the film focused on this theme, but unfortunately the second half resorted just to the filming of this play with many repetitive sequences of staging and development that got tiresome quickly.
The Band Wagon is a musical with a pretty good soundtrack. The songs don’t have that much to do with the plot itself, but are mostly solid and the majority are highly catchy and fun. Shine on Your Shoes, That’s Entertainment and By Myself are so much fun and breezy in their energy while Dancing in the Dark is clearly the highlight of the entire picture.
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This is where the movie reached its climax in terms of quality. The dancing of the two main players was beautiful and the night city scenery was gorgeous. The movie is very well shot and strong in sets, but only in this scene did it reach magical cinematic heights of the best musicals out there. The direction and pacing are otherwise weak. As for the performers, Cyd Charisse is actually more memorable here than Astaire himself, but both are wonderful, especially together.
