Watch The Band Wagon Movie Online
February 8th, 2010 by anahi7252455![]() |
Watch The Band Wagon Movie Online.
Movie Title: The Band Wagon The Band Wagon is available for streaming or downloading. |
This movie begins with a phenomenal if misleading shot. It shows a top hat and cane belonging to former dancing legend Tony Hunter being auctioned, with no takers. Of course, if you see a top hat and cane, you think “Fred Astaire.” But despite the implication and reference, Fred Astaire was, at the time this film was being made, still very much the greatest dancer in the movies (with apologies to Gene Kelly). Unlike Tony Hunter, he had never ceased to make “A” pictures. But no one could have played this role with more authority than Astaire.
The plot is simple: washed-out and used-up former dance legend Tony Hunter is returning to Broadway in an attempt to revive his sagging career. That provides the pretext that is needed for a nearly perfect musical. THE BAND WAGON is a magnificent blend of great songs, great music, great dancer numbers, great actors, and great comedy. The cast is perfect. You get not only the greatest song and dance man in movie history but also a magnificent partner in the elegant and leggy Cyd Charise. You get great comic relief with Oscar Levant and Nanette Fabray. And you get one of the few musical comedy performers who could rival Fred Astaire for elegance and charm in Jack Buchanan.
The musical numbers are both marvelous and apparently never ending. The film begins with Fred performing “By Myself” and then soon shifts to a thoroughly rousing version of “Shine on My Shoes.” Later in the film, two enormously debonair song and dance men (Fred and Jack) perform “I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plan’s.” And that doesn’t even come close to exhausting the list.
Perhaps the highpoint of the film, however, comes when Tony and Gabrielle, the ballet performer the producers want to partner him with, uncertain that they will be able to dance with each other at all, take a carriage ride through Central Park to try to get to know each other. As they drive, they come upon an outdoor dance floor, with an orchestra playing the haunting Dietz and Schwartz classic “Dancing in the Dark” (which lyricist Dietz intended to be a meditation about the nature of human existence; Schwartz’s music matched the mood of the lyrics perfectly). Tony and Gabrielle get out and begin to walk together in rhythm, gradually and tentatively attempting a few dance steps. Eventually, they discover each other’s rhythm, and they begin to dance together marvelously and magnificently, matching the mood of the music precisely. It is one of the greatest moments in either Astaire or Charisse’s career.
This is a must see film for any fan of the movie musical. I have to confess that I am not, by and large, a big fan of the MGM musical. I prefer the kookiness of the older RKO musicals, or even the stylized musicals of Warners or even Fox. MGM musicals were, to me, too often overproduced and dominated by the art directors. This film, however, is a magnificent exception.
I’m not prepared to be objective about “The Band Wagon.” To me it has the artistry of “An American in Paris” and the rollicking fun of “Singing in the Rain.” Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse have never danced better before or since and this backstage musical with plenty of tunes by Dietz and Schwartz gives them plenty of opportunity to strut their stuff. To me the “Dancing in the Dark” sequence is the most sublime dance number ever recorded on film.
“The Band Wagon” is not just a musical, but a musical about musicals. Fred Astaire plays a slightly down-and-out version of himself, “Tony Hunter,” who was “in all those singing and dancing pictures ten or twelve years ago, but the critics say he’s washed up.” Against his better judgment Tony gets teamed up with Cyd in an arty version of “Faust” that has disaster written all over it. But you know show people . . . and musicals . . .
This movie really gets a split response. Nobody hates it but for some it’s “just okay” and then there are the ones like me who LOOVE it. It’s my favorite musical and one of my favorite movies, period. I’m very glad Amazon is stocking it again. If you’re a fan of Astaire, director Vincente Minnelli, or the MGM films of the early fifties, I doubt you’ll be disappointed if you take a chance on “The Band Wagon.”
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