High Society

High Society (1956)

Starring Fred Astaire, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Celeste Holm, John Lund, and Louis Armstrong

Directed by Charles Walters

Written by John Patrick

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Top Hat

Top Hat (1935)

Starring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers,Edward Everett Horton, Erik Rhodes, Eric Blore, and Helen Broderick

Directed by Mark Sandrich

Written by Dwight Taylor and Allan Scott

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: C-

Movie Review - Ghost Story

Ghost Story (1981)

Starring Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., John Houseman, Craig Wasson, and Alice Krige

Directed by John Irvin

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

Who wouldn't want to watch an R-rated horror movie starring Fred Astaire?  I saw this while perusing new additions to Netflix's instant stream and I immediately added it to my list for the sheer absurdity of it to me.  In the final film of actors Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., the trio, along with fellow veteran actor John Houseman, make up the Chowder Club, an exclusive four-member group who have gotten together over the years to tell each other eerie ghost stories.  However, a criminal moment from their past over fifty years ago is rearing its ugly head in the form of a scary ghost (Alice Krige) and said apparition is affecting both them and their children.

I don't know what I was expecting from this.  I mean, it's a horror movie starring song-and-dance man Fred Astaire.  Was I thinking it would be good?  In the end, it's an okay horror flick that goes more for "eeriness" than sheer spooks...and that's not a bad thing except that it lingers a bit too long and the ending doesn't end up being completely satisfying.  The biggest issue is that about halfway through the movie, the tone shifts from a straight narrative to that of an "anthology" of horror stories that relate to the four main elderly actors.  I don't particularly have a problem with the shorter stories (and, in fact, they were actually quite good), but it's a tonal shift that the director didn't quite nail.  Overall, the acting from both the elderly cast and the younger folks is perfectly fine, but the reason you've never heard of this movie before is simply because it's just average.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - The Towering Inferno

The Towering Inferno (1974)

Starring Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Richard Chamberlain, Robert Wagner, Fred Astaire, and O.J. Simpson

Directed by John Guillermin

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

The Towering Inferno, a frivolous action film about a burning skyscraper, is a flick that couldn't be made in a post-9/11 world.  Nor should it be.  There's an oddly prescient line at the end uttered by Steve McQueen's Fire Chief O'Hallorhan that nowadays could send shivers up a viewer's spine...

"You know we were pretty lucky tonight.  Body count's less than 200.  You know, one of these days, you're gonna kill 10,000 in one of these firetraps."

Eerie.

From the same producing team that brought us The Poseidon Adventure (a guilty pleasure of mine), Inferno is a generic disaster flick filled with characters that are placed within the plot simply to allow more deaths to occur by the film's conclusion.  The underlying plot is that architect Doug Roberts (Paul Newman) has built a 140-something-floor tall skyscraper and it's having its unveiling to the bigwigs in San Francisco.  However, on the night of the party, it's discovered that there is some faulty wiring in the building and, sure enough, things go haywire.

That plot is fine...but the paper-thin quality of it can't sustain itself for the film's ridiculously long running time of over 165 minutes.  The film is much too long and considering the "stars" ranging from Fred Astaire to O.J. Simpson, there aren't nearly enough celebrity deaths to whet this viewer's appetite.

Still, I have to say that despite the fact the film isn't all that good, I enjoyed it.  While not quite reaching the guilty pleasure level of The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno is an enjoyable (long) diversion if you're ever bored one afternoon.  Paul Newman, Faye Dunaway, and William Holden throw in better performances than a film of this caliber deserve and they manage to make the film much more watchable in the process.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Classic Movie Review - Easter Parade (1948)

starring Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, Peter Lawford, and Anne Murray
screenplay by Sidney Sheldon, Frances Goodrich, and Albert Hackett

directed by Charles Waters"In your Easter bonnet with all the frills upon it,

You'll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade.
Oh, I could write a sonnet about your Easter bonnet
And of the girl I'm taking to the Easter parade."

Easter Parade is a stereotypical 1940s musical if there ever was one. It's got your dance sequences that are only there to show that Fred Astaire can dance. It's got your typical scene where they showcase "elegant fashion" simply for no other reason than to showcase "elegant fashion" (Lord knows, it has nothing to do with the plot and all and brings the movie to a dead halt). It's got a final 40 minutes that are simply there to "put on a stage show" and not advance the plot in the slightest.

Sure, these things are laughable nowadays, but for the most part, Easter Parade works as a film and that certainly has a lot to do with Judy Garland and Fred Astaire. Right at the very beginning, Astaire is seen walking down the street singing "Happy Easter" to people, and I couldn't help but smile. Sure, it's corny as hell, but Astaire sells it. And Judy Garland is definitely a stunning presence onscreen. I admittedly have not seen many of her films, but she certainly delivered in this one.

The plot is super simple. Astaire is Don who has been working with Nadine (Ann Miller) for years as part of a dancing/singing duo. Nadine, however, wants to go solo and she leaves Don. A sullen and angry Don finds young dancer Hannah (Garland) at a bar/club and hires her on the spot to join him onstage. Will Don be able to mold Hannah into the dancer she needs to be in order to succeed on Broadway? Only time will tell (although, let's be honest, it's Judy Garland...she's the star...there's not much tension here...you know she's gonna "make it on Broadway").

Now, it's not a perfect movie...There are the faults that I mentioned in the first paragraph that definitely bring the film to a near stop an hour in. But the first hour is genuinely entertaining and lovely to look at. Director Waters allows his camera to linger on certain scenes which seemed to me to be unusual for 1940s musicals...there are whole verses and choruses that he allows the actors to sing without making cuts and it made for some interesting shots.

Overall, it was certainly a fitting movie to watch today (thanks, Turner Classic Movies), and it definitely made me interested to see some of Judy Garland's other work.

The RyMickey Rating: B