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MON
JUL 12, 2010


'Singin' in the Rain' FILM / DELIGHT
'Singin' in the Rain'
Central Cinema

You haven't seen a movie musical until you've seen Singin' in the Rain; it's so full of huge production numbers, catchy songs, and fancy dance steps that it makes Chicago look like Lady in the Water. Ostensibly about the troubled times when Hollywood changed from silent movies to talkies, Singin' in the Rain is a chance for Gene Kelly, probably the Most Talented Human Being on Earth at the time, to show off. It's physically impossible to watch the slapstick dance number "Make 'Em Laugh" without dropping your jaw in awe. (Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave, www.central-cinema.com. 9:30 pm, $5 adv/$7 DOS, 21+.) by Paul Constant

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gloomy gus 1
Thanks to a terrific ensemble, and a great plot, this is the only Gene Kelly movie in which his "look how not gay I am" dance mannerisms don't sink it for me.
Posted by gloomy gus on July 12, 2010 at 11:16 AM · Report
merry 2
Donald O'Connor!
Posted by merry on July 12, 2010 at 11:41 AM · Report
Fnarf 3
No offense, gus, but you're off your trolley. Gene Kelly doesn't have any "look how not gay I am" mannerisms; he brought mannerisms of midcentury power and strength to the art of dance. It's the balletic elements that rankle to a modern eye, not the manly-man ones; but he was unquestionably brilliant, and when he just cut loose, he was as good as anyone ever got. And he was very charming. He could even make movies that were pretty much trash, like "Brigadoon" or "The Pirate", into riveting spectacles. But when he had a vehicle as great as he was -- this one, or "An American in Paris", or "On the Town", or "It's Always Fair Weather" -- he was as great a movie star as you could possibly imagine.

For me, the only thing I find hard to stomach today is the way he wore his pants so high. Gene Kelly FTW.

Though the star of "Singin' in the Rain" is of course Donald O'Connor.
Posted by Fnarf http://www.facebook.com/fnarf on July 12, 2010 at 11:51 AM · Report
gloomy gus 4
Haven't seen my trolley in years. You're right about O'Connor, for sure.

Kelly said he wanted to dance the way a truckdriver would dance, or a bricklayer, or a clerk, or a postman. He succeeded. And I'm happy for those who like the result.
Posted by gloomy gus on July 12, 2010 at 12:03 PM · Report
gloomy gus 5
p.s. on the other hand, Astaire never put a foot or a note wrong, and I'll thumb-wrestle to the death anyone not blind and deaf who says different.
Posted by gloomy gus on July 12, 2010 at 12:14 PM · Report
Fnarf 6
@4, context, Gus, context. These are MOVIES. Nureyev was in a different line of work. And there's nothing wrong with bricklaying. Or Gene Kelly. Who never said "dance the way a truckdriver would dance"; he said "dance the character". He might have brought the natural grace of an American working man, and his clothes, and his music, into dancing, but no truck driver ever moved like that.
Posted by Fnarf http://www.facebook.com/fnarf on July 12, 2010 at 12:15 PM · Report
Fnarf 7
@5, you'll get no argument from me.

Though if I had one ten-minute loop of men dancing to take with me to a desert island it would have the Nicholas Brothers on it. Or possibly Sammy Davis, Jr.
Posted by Fnarf http://www.facebook.com/fnarf on July 12, 2010 at 12:17 PM · Report
Roscoe 8
People at least as talented as Gene Kelly who were on the planet when that idiotic SINGIN' IN THE RAIN was made:

Charles Chaplin
Buster Keaton
William Faulkner
Laurence Olivier
Greta Garbo
Alfred Hitchcock
Federico Fellini
Akira Kurosawa
Thomas Pynchon
Eudora Welty

And that doesn't even include Fred Astaire. Kelly's pretty pathetic in comparison with any of them.
Posted by Roscoe on July 12, 2010 at 12:37 PM · Report
gloomy gus 9
@8, even I would certainly have cast Gene Kelly in the role ahead of Eudora Welty.
Posted by gloomy gus on July 12, 2010 at 12:39 PM · Report
Matt from Denver 10
@ 8, not with Faulkner. The worst writer to ever be called a genius.

Everyone else on that list is a real artist, but not in the medium Gene Kelly ruled. You can dislike him all you want, but despite your post, there is no highfalutin reason for it, only personal taste.
Posted by Matt from Denver on July 12, 2010 at 12:54 PM · Report
11
It was also made by one of my favorite directors, Stanley Donen, who was mainly responsible for fluff (On the Town and Charade being prime examples), but what fluff!
Posted by keshmeshi on July 12, 2010 at 1:04 PM · Report
12
@8: Nobody invites you to their parties, do they?
Posted by Gloria on July 12, 2010 at 1:32 PM · Report
Roscoe 13
@12: use that comeback often?

@10: All anybody expresses on Gene Kelly is taste. The assertion that Kelly was probably the most Talented Person Etc. is itself an opinion, nowhere near anything even remotely like a fact.

Kelly's over-rated. SINGIN" IN THE RAIN is one of the worst movies ever to get mysterious acclaim as a classic. Opinions, of course.
Posted by Roscoe on July 12, 2010 at 2:02 PM · Report
tdalec 14
Find a youtube of Gene Kelley and Judy Garland doing Cole Porter's "Be a Clown" from the 1948 movie "The Pirate" and you will immediately understand why Arthur Freed later admitted that he and Herb Nacio Brown had stolen the melody of "Make 'Em Laugh" from Cole.

Cole never sued because he was already fucking rich enough.
Posted by tdalec on July 12, 2010 at 2:08 PM · Report
tdalec 15
@13 I, also, have always been mystified by Singin' In The Rain"'s rep. I think it sucks.
Posted by tdalec on July 12, 2010 at 2:11 PM · Report
Fnarf 16
@11, you say "fluff" like it's a bad thing. Fluff is what makes this kind of movie worth watching. Musicals of the Gene Kelly variety are very, very close to the pinnacle of American culture.
Posted by Fnarf http://www.facebook.com/fnarf on July 12, 2010 at 2:28 PM · Report
17
@16,

I don't think it's a bad thing. That's why Donen is one of my favorite directors. I'd rather watch Charade on endless repeat than anything Lars von Trier has to offer.
Posted by keshmeshi on July 12, 2010 at 3:08 PM · Report
Keister Button 18
#13: Truly, I would rather watch Fred Astaire dance. And Marilyn Monroe was too kind when she said she could eat O'Connor for lunch -- I'd have thought she'd use him to pick her teeth with.

Addressing the general audience, I would say one hasn't seen a musical until one's seen "42nd Street", "Glorifying the American Girl," "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" or "The Terror of Tiny Town."
Posted by Keister Button on July 12, 2010 at 4:07 PM · Report
Paul Constant 19
This is the best comment thread in the history of comment threads. I love you all. Even you, Roscoe.
Posted by Paul Constant http://https://twitter.com/paulconstant on July 12, 2010 at 5:48 PM · Report

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