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    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1950s
    Movies - 1950s Movies - B 2 Mins Read

    Band Wagon, The (1953)

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    Fred Astaire and Michael Kidd choreographed this gem of a Hollywood musical produced by MGM.

    The Band Wagon began as a revue which opened in 1931 on Broadway starring Astaire and his sister Adele.

    bandwagon

    In the film version, Astaire plays Tony Hunter, a has-been Hollywood song and dance man, who heads to New York to try and revive his career.

    His old friends, Lester and Lily Marton (Oscar Levant and Nanette Fabray) have an idea for a light-hearted pop musical and have asked Tony to star in it.

    They ask Jeffrey Cordova (Buchanan) to direct it because his Broadway successes will attract backers. However, Jeffrey decides to turn the show into ‘meaningful’ theatre and hires top ballerina Gaby Gerard (Cyd Charisse) as Tony’s co-star.

    This is a disastrous move: She thinks he’s too old, he thinks she’s too tall, their styles don’t blend and, at the off-Broadway try-out, the backers withdraw. However, washed-up Tony takes the helm and things start to come right.

    bandwagon_010A spoof of the ‘Hey kids, let’s put on a show’ musical, The Band Wagon includes some of the best of the great songs by Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz, such as Triplets and Dancing In The Dark.

    The unforgettable That’s Entertainment was specially written for the finale.

    Tony Hunter
    Fred Astaire
    Gaby Berard
    Cyd Charisse
    Jeffrey Cordova
    Jack Buchanan
    Lester Marton
    Oscar Levant
    Lily Marton
    Nanette Fabray
    Paul Byrd
    James Mitchell
    Hal Benton
    Robert Gist
    Colonel Tripp
    Thurston Hall
    Movie star
    Ava Gardner
    Shoeshine boy
    LeRoy Daniels

    Director
    Vincente Minnelli

    Video

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