The Band Wagon

This article is about the 1953 film. For the musical play, seeThe Band Wagon (musical). For other uses, seeBandwagon (disambiguation).

The Band Wagon is a 1953 Americanmusical romantic comedy film directed byVincente Minnelli, starringFred Astaire andCyd Charisse. It tells the story of an aging musical star who hopes aBroadway show will revive his career. However, the play's director wants to make it a pretentious retelling of theFaust legend and brings in aprima ballerina who clashes with the star. Along withAn American in Paris (1951) andSingin' in the Rain (1952), it is regarded as one of the finestMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals, although it was a box-office disappointment on first release.

The Band Wagon
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Vincente Minnelli
Written by	Betty Comden Adolph Green
Produced by	Arthur Freed
Starring	Fred Astaire Cyd Charisse Oscar Levant Nanette Fabray Jack Buchanan James Mitchell
Cinematography	Harry Jackson
Edited by	Albert Akst
Music by	Howard Dietz Arthur Schwartz
Color process	Technicolor
Production company	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Distributed by	Loew's, Inc
Release date	July 9, 1953 (1953-07-09) (New York City)
Running time	111 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$2.9 million^[1]
Box office	$3.5 million^[1]

Cyd Charisse andFred Astaire in one of the film's highlights, "Dancing in the Dark"

The songs were written by the team of composerArthur Schwartz and lyricistHoward Dietz. Schwartz was a prolific Hollywood composer who teamed with numerous lyricists over the years, while Dietz, a studio publicist, generally collaborated with Schwartz. Some of the songs in the film had been created for the original 1931 Broadway musical by Schwartz and Dietz, also titledThe Band Wagon, with a book byGeorge S. Kaufman and starringFred Astaire and his sisterAdele. The movie's dances and musical numbers were staged byMichael Kidd.

The song "That's Entertainment!", which Schwartz and Dietz wrote specifically for the film, was a hit and has become a standard in popular music. Another song orchestrated byConrad Salinger, "Dancing in the Dark", is considered part of theGreat American Songbook and was from the original Broadway production. Astaire's early number in the film, "A Shine on Your Shoes", was written for a 1932 Broadway revue with music and lyrics by Dietz and Schwartz titledFlying Colors. (It was originally performed by the dancing team ofBuddy andVilma Ebsen). In the film version ofThe Band Wagon, the song was reworked as a specialty number by jazz arrangerSkip Martin to showcase all of Astaire's musical talents.^[2]

The musical director wasAdolph Deutsch and the production was designed byOliver Smith working for the first time in motion pictures. The film was nominated forAcademy Awards forBest Costume Design, Color,Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture andBest Writing, Story and Screenplay.

ScreenwritersBetty Comden andAdolph Green, who received the nomination for the screenplay, patterned the film's characters Lester and Lily Marton after themselves; however, the fictional characters were a married couple, and Comden and Green were not romantically involved. The character of an overachieving impresario was developed with the successful producer-director-actorJosé Ferrer in mind.^[3]

In 1995,The Band Wagon was selected for preservation in the United StatesNational Film Registry by theLibrary of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".^[4] In 2006, this film ranked number 17 on theAmerican Film Institute'slist of best musicals.

Plot

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Tony Hunter, once a famous star of musical comedies on stage and later on screen, is largely forgotten after three years without appearing in a film. He returns from Hollywood to New York. AtGrand Central Terminal, he is recognized but almost ignored by reporters who are there by chance asAva Gardner is on the same train. However, he is greeted enthusiastically by his good friends Lester and Lily Marton, and they tell him they have written a stage show, a light musical comedy, that will be a perfect comeback for Tony. They will also act in it, and they already have caught the interest of Jeffrey Cordova, who they say can do anything: Currently he is starring in, as well as directing, a new adaptation ofOedipus Rex that he wrote based on the original Greek story.

As soon as Jeffrey hears Lily outline the play, he declares it to be a brilliant reinterpretation of theFaust legend, which should star Tony and himself as the characters corresponding to Faust and the Devil. The Martons are delighted that he will be acting as well as directing, but Tony is dubious about theFaust idea. Jeffrey declares that the boundaries between genres in the theater are artificial, and "Bill Shakespeare" andBill Robinson are all parts of the same whole. Tony agrees, and Jeffrey has the Martons rewrite the play as a dark, pretentious musical drama (when Lester also becomes dubious, Lily insists that one person must be in charge and Jeffrey can succeed at anything).

Jeffrey does succeed in arranging for the beautiful and talented ballerina Gabrielle "Gaby" Gerard to join the production, along with Paul Byrd, who is her boyfriend, choreographer, and manager—even though he always insisted that a musical play would be beneath her. When Tony and Gaby meet, they become sarcastic and hostile to each other, but this is actually because they are insecure: Each of them feels much less talented than the other.

Eventually, it all proves too much for Tony, and he walks out. Gaby follows to meet him privately. In his hotel room, she comments that the paintings by famous artists on the wall are better reproductions than usual in a hotel; he says they are his own property, and are originals. She recognizes a painting of ballerinas as an earlyDegas. Tony and Gaby put their troubles aside, go for a horse-drawn carriage ride, dance together, and realize they can work together after all. They also begin to fall in love.

When the first out-of-town tryout in New Haven proves disastrous, Tony demands that Jeffrey convert the production back into the light comedy that the Martons had envisioned. Jeffrey says that while they will have to find new backers because the original ones have walked out, he will be happy to appear in that show—if Tony is in charge of it. Tony accepts, using his art collection to finance the production. Paul says the show is no longer suitable for Gaby and walks out, expecting her to follow, but she is pleased to stay and work with Tony.

After some weeks on tour to perfect the new lighthearted musical numbers, the revised show proves to be a hit on its Broadway opening. Gaby professes her love to Tony.

Cast

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Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse in the "Girl Hunt Ballet"

Finale, "That's Entertainment" (reprise). L–R:Oscar Levant,Cyd Charisse,Jack Buchanan,Fred Astaire, andNanette Fabray

Fred Astaire as Tony Hunter
Cyd Charisse as Gabrielle Gerard
Oscar Levant as Lester Marton
Nanette Fabray as Lily Marton
Jack Buchanan as Jeffrey Cordova
James Mitchell as Paul Byrd
Robert Gist as Hal Benton

Uncredited

India Adams as the singing voice of Cyd Charisse
Ava Gardner as herself (cameo)
Thurston Hall as Colonel Tripp
Douglas Fowley as auctioneer
Madge Blake as investor
Judy Landon as dancer in troupe
Bobby Watson as Bobby
Sue Casey as tall girl in arcade
Leroy Daniels as shoeshine man in arcade in "Shine on Your Shoes"
Henry Corden as orchestra leader
Julie Newmar as model / chorine in "Girl Hunt Ballet"
Fred Aldrich as hot dog vendor
Richard Alexander as stagehand
Jimmy Thompson as Jimmy
Roy Engel as reporter
Emory Parnell as man on train
Herb Vigran as man on train
Dee Turnell as Barbara
Dee Hartford as model in "Girl Hunt Ballet"

Musical numbers

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Release

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In seven weeks atRadio City Music Hall in New York City, the film grossed $1,044,000, one of the higher grossing films at the theater.^[11] According to MGM records, the film earned distributor rentals of $2.3 million in the U.S. and Canada and $1,202,000 in other countries, resulting in a loss of $1,185,000.^[1]

Reception

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In a 1999Guardian article about the importance of the film, Derek Desmond wrote: "But the whole point about The Band Wagon, and one which sometimes makes people underrate it, was the way everything seems to mesh so seamlessly—almost effortlessly, in fact. That was due to Minnelli, whose flair and imagination, admittedly aided by the huge array of MGM talent both behind and in front of the cameras, was matched by his almost perfect control."^[12]

Martin Scorsese listedThe Band Wagon as his favorite musical.^[13]

Stage adaptation

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Poster from 2014 production at the New York City Center

A musical stage adaptation, titledDancing in the Dark, ran at theOld Globe Theatre in San Diego from March 4 to April 20, 2008, with plans to bring the show to Broadway.Gary Griffin directed, with a book byDouglas Carter Beane and choreography by Warren Carlyle. The cast includedPatrick Page as the "deliciously pretentious" director-actor-producer Jeffrey Cordova,Mara Davi playing Gabrielle Gerard, andScott Bakula as "song-and-dance man" Tony Hunter.^[14]^[15]^[16]^[17]

In theVariety review of the musical, Bob Verini wrote: "There's no reason this reconstitutedBand Wagon can't soar once it jettisons its extraneous and self-contradictory elements."^[18]

A revised version of the stage adaptation under the nameThe Band Wagon was presented in a staged concert in November 2014 as part of aNew York City Center Encores! special event. The cast starredBrian Stokes Mitchell,Tracey Ullman,Michael McKean,Tony Sheldon, andLaura Osnes, with direction and choreography byKathleen Marshall.^[19]