Wednesday, September 14, 2016

The Band Wagon

An aging, has-been dancer (Fred Astaire) signs on to star in a career reviving musical revue but must contend with an intimidating, leggy costar (Cyd Charisse), a pair of neurotic writers, and an overambitious director (Jack Buchanan) who sees their production as the ultimate staging of Faust. By reutilizing old Broadway songs in the same manner of Singin' in the Rain, Vincente Minnelli’s lively musical doesn’t achieve quite the same heights, but is light and funny with great dance numbers. The songs, which include a few standards, are nothing to write home about and the film settles for being routine about halfway through. Astaire is amiable, and Charisse is both incredibly talented and beautiful, while Buchanan is a riot.
*** out of ****