On The Town (1949)

The story of three sailors who get 24 hour leave while their ship is docked in New York City. Gabey (Gene Kelly), Chip (Frank Sinatra), and Ozzie (Jules Munshin) are our three sailors. Gabey wants to “pick-up a date”, Ozzie couldn’t agree more, and poor Chip just wants to see all the sights his grandfather recommended. Things quickly get derailed for all of them when Gabey decides that he wants to ask Miss Turnstiles for the month of June: Ivy Smith (a subway poster girl played by Vera-Ellen) out on a date. During the course of their mission they meet taxi driver Brunhilde Esterhazy (Betty Garrett), and Claire Huddesen (Ann Miller).

This film is highlighted as one of the first musicals by MGM to leave studio sets behind and do several shots on location in New York City. The production featured scenes filmed in New York City, including Brooklyn Navy Yard (where Kelly spent a week while serving in the Navy during WWII), the Statue of Liberty, the roof of the RCA Building, under the Third Avenue el train, Columbus Circle, the Brooklyn Bridge, and Rockefeller Center, and atop a double-decker bus on Fifth Avenue. This was the first feature length movie that Gene Kelly helped direct and choreograph. Prior to this Gene Kelly had done specific scene direction and choreography (https://www.jaysclassicmovieblog.com/post/on-the-town-1949 ).

The song “Come up to my Place” with Betty Garrett, and Frank Sinatra is fun and factual as she points out the outdated sights he hoped to see. “Main Street” with Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen is touching and will remind anyone whose ever lived in a small town about home. I do wish Ann Miller had more screen time. Her only solo number is “Prehistoric Man”, which I would definitely have shortened, but I think she could’ve shined in an additional solo number like Betty Garret got with, “You’re Awful”.

The sad part? This story can be told in 7 minutes, and worse, they prove it in the movie with an interlude number (1:17:00-1:24:25). Does the interlude go deep and really explain the plights of our sailors? No. Does it accurately portray the entirety of the movie up to that point? Yes. I do feel this movie is too long, and would’ve benefited from a tighter story. With a run time of 1:37:33 that means that from the interlude to the end of the film is about 13 minutes. The meaty part of the story is only 20 minutes long. Is there always room for a song and dance number? Especially with the fabulous Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Betty Garrett, and Vera-Ellen I give a resounding, YES! Did it make me want to watch every minute of it the way White Christmas does with a run time of 1 hour 55 minutes? No.

Possibly the unsung hero of this movie is the shipyard singer (Bern Hoffman) starts and ends this movie for us with a cute song about wishing he was still in bed. While our sailors bound down the gangplank ready to make the most of their day, he is just starting another workday. As they return from their day, he is again starting his work day, and three new sailors are ready to hit the town. Honestly one of the hardest things with this movie is that after enduring this film, I don’t even know if there are any couples. I don’t know if they lived happily ever after, and for a film so focused on romance it drives me crazy!

On the Town is a favorite of my mother. I am likely to watch it again. I do not feel that this movie needed to be as long as it is. It gets two stars from me, for being entertaining, and being a musical I grew up with (the nostalgia factor).