Saturday, April 11, 2009

Movie Spotlight: Guys and Dolls


Before we get started it's important to point out that Guys and Dolls is one big, floppy musical, but it starred Frank Sinatra so I had to check it out. If sudden attacks of song and dance aren't your thing then this is a flick you should definitely avoid. I found it to be highly entertaining, both the musical numbers and the non-musical bits of the movie. Admittedly a good deal of my enjoyment for Guys and Dolls is probably due to my general affinity for that particular era in time, the clothes, the slang, I find it all very fascinating. I've never been fond of Marlon Brando but he is tolerable in this movie, and even delivers a handful of very good scenes with co-star Jean Simmons. The price of admission for this pic is paid for by Frankie and his character Nathan Detroit. At the time Sinatra himself was pretty much the epitome of cool so playing a character who is supposed to reflect that really wasn't much of a stretch for him, but he is highly entertaining nonetheless. Bottom line is you will probably only enjoy this movie if either you like musicals, or you are a fan of Sinatra. I think for the time being I am done spotlighting Sinatra movies, and I'm feeling like branching out to other obscure film offerings to offer up small bits of insight on, so keep an eye on this spot in the future for movie spotlights that don't center around Frank Sinatra.
On a side note I'm currently listening to It's Blitz by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and it's a great album. I highly recommend it.

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