Shirley Maclaine was an accomplished dancer LONG before she made this movie. Gene Kelly didn't teach her how to dance, but their performance in this scene is superb!!!!
"Sing and dance?" "Take a chance." A marvelous dance sequence- made even more remarkable because Shirley MacLaine was an accomplished dancer at the start of her career, and dancing on film at the moment film musicals were dying. Plus, a wicked spoof of so many at once: 'Anything Goes,' the Eddy-MacDonald operas, a bit of 'Hit The Deck' and most of all, the Kelly-Charisse 'Broadway' ballet-- although let's be fair: Ms. MacLaine had wickedly hot legs herself!!
I definitely remember this fun movie! Gene Kelly's character is named Pinky, and I had a friend in New Jersey whose nickname was Pinky!! I think the character meets his demise when a crowd of crazy fans mob him to get autographs?
It's kind of nice how they "quote" dances from other movies, like when Kelly is doing a bit of Cagney as Cohan, and of course the biggest quote is the Kelly/Charisse sequence in Singin' in the Rain. Ah, Cyd Charisse--still no one to touch her.
Just caught the lyrics, "Far from City Streets and Hills of Heather." Very clever. And aren't we all glad that Gene Kelly did not sound like Nelson Eddy?
You've got that rite! did you know that she played weezer in steele magnolias?hell of an actress!!and she was taught by the king of dance gene kelly, great movie.
Easily the highlight of a very silly movie. Wish she'd done more dance films back then instead of wasting everybody's time w/ stuff like "My Geisha" & "John Goldfarb, Please Come Home".
