The Band Wagon (1953)

The Band Wagon

I had heard this old musical was very good.
It certainly is! So glad I can get these classic movies
thru Amazon. September 5, 2008

Absolutely Amazing!!!

I have a huge collection of Musicals, but this one is quickly becoming one of my favorites!! What's not to like about Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse!!! The supporting cast is wonderful and it's truly a timeless classic!! The scene with "The Triplets" is not to be missed...it leaves you scratching your head and wondering HOW they did it!! The answer is revealed in the comentary by Lisa Minelli whose father directed this fantastic musical. The dancing is superb and there's so many marvelous dance routines and songs that you really get a lot of entertainment for your money with this one!! I also really enjoyed the theatrical trailers that come with the C.D. I hope that parents get these musicals for their families to watch together and teach their children to love them so they won't be lost to future generations! All I can say is "That's Entertainment"!!! June 4, 2008

The Band Wagon

The dancing by Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse, and the show biz contributions by Nanette Fabray and Oscar Levant make this an excellent DVD. May 24, 2008

fine MGM musical with love, a stageshow epiphany and a victorious opening just waiting to pop out at you

The Band Wagon is one of those excellent MGM musicals with enough song and dance musical numbers to make your eyes bug out! The color is excellent and the sound is good. The plot moves along at a good pace; and there was never a dull moment. The cinematography and the choreography work very well, especially in scenes where the actors are performing a play within a movie.

The action begins when Tony Hunter (Fred Astaire), a washed up actor and dancer, comes to New York to try his luck on Broadway as well as meet his old friends Lily and Lester Martin (Nanette Fabray and Oscar Levant, respectively). Lily and Lester are not just married--they're also a writing team! They hatch a plan to revive Tony's career with a great artistic vehicle for him. Tony agrees but soon there's a great deal of uneasiness for Tony when he discovers that Lily and Lester want the great star Jeffrey Cordova (Jack Buchanan), who also directs and produces, to plan out the show.

Things become even more uneasy when Tony doesn't exactly hit it off with the female leading lady, Gabrielle Gerard (Cyd Charisse). Tony worries that Gabrielle might be taller than he is; and Tony and Gabrielle just don't get along. Worse yet, Jeffrey Cordova insists that the vehicle for Tony's comeback be transformed into a type of Faustian play that Tony comes to loathe.

Of course, from here the plot could go just about anywhere. Will Tony and Gabrielle ever see eye-to-eye? What about Gabrielle's boyfriend who is the choreographer for the show--how will he fit into the picture? Will the changing of the show to a Faustian theme really work? How will Lily and Lester react to the changes being made to the show? No spoilers here, folks--you'll just have to watch the movie to find out!

Of course, you buy this for the movie; but the extras are extensive and very impressive. There's a great commentary by Liza Minnelli and you get a great documentary about Vincente Minnelli, the director of The Band Wagon. The Fred Astaire trailer gallery is nice but you'll probably be more amazed at a rare Vitaphone short featuring Jack Buchanan way before The Band Wagon was ever filmed!

The Band Wagon is clearly one of the great MGM musicals. There are many timeless moments including the "That's Entertainment" number; and the sequence of musical numbers that wind up the film is wonderful to behold. I highly recommend this film for people who love classic movie musicals; and fans of the stars of this picture will almost surely want to get this for their collections.
February 5, 2008

Poised ,stylish and elegant musical

Outstanding direction by that master stylist Vincente Minnelli helps make this among the greatest ever musical movies.It deftly manages to both celebrate and gently satirise the genre and its conventions.and in the process delivers superb entertainment .

Astaire plays Tony Hunter a fading Hollywood song and dance man in danger of being forgotten .When we first meet him he is travelling by train to New York to discuss appearing in a musical on Broadway,one written by his friends Lester and Lily Marton .Oscar Levant and Nanette Fabray play these roles with style and skill and the characters are pretty obviously based on the actual songwriters Adolph Green and Betty Comden .He suffers the humiliation of being ignored by the press on arrival and they make a beeline for Ava Gardner,cameoing as herself and looking stunning it must be said.
The musical mintended as genial lightweight entertainment is hijacked by its producer and co-star' English actor manager Jeffrey Cordova(Jack Buchanan) who sees it as a modern day Faust and signs rising ballerina Gaby Gerrard(Cyd Charisse )and ballet choreographer Paul Byrd(James Mitchell)to work on the show.Gaby and Tony clash personally and professionally and the play flops dismally on try out on the road.So the cast re-invent the show as a musical revue anmd the rest as they say is history
The story is slight but musical highlights are plentiful-the Astaire/Buchanan duet on I Giess I'll Have to Change My Plans ;Astaire twinkling through There's A Shine On My Shoes in a New York penny arcade,the sensual pas de deux between Astaire and Charisse to Dancing in the Dark;the legendary Triplets routine in which superb trick photography enables Astaire ,Buchanan and Fabray to perform as toddlers and above all the That's Entertainment number.For my money the showpiece ballet sequence Girl Hunt ,a homage to dance and film noir,is overextended but many will see it as a higlight.
Astaire was never better and projects an endearaing vulnerability as well as unparalleled terpsichorean skills;Charisse is a better dancer than actress but her performance is perectly adequate;Levant and Fabray give well judged performances but the show is stolen for me by the elegant insouciance of Jack Buchanan as a sligtly pretentius "act-or" but who is still a pretty nice guy

Superb design ,outstanding colour and a movie shot through with love for its subjects-movies and theatre .Whats not to love? January 25, 2008

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