The Band Wagon

The ratio of smiling faces to non-smiling faces is much higher in older movies. In The Band Wagon, everyone seems to be having a grand old time; just look at the extras in the early dance number, “Shine On Your Shoes.” The best, most important smile in such a wall-to-wall smilefest is Fred Astaire’s. Though this legendary dancer’s choreography is a little slow and somewhat quaint by today’s standards, he brings a rare enthusiasm to each step – his face, as well as his feet, help make his talent so infectious.

“Shine On Your Shoes,” in which Astaire pairs with real-life dancing shoeshiner Leroy Daniels, is my favorite musical number from The Band Wagon. Soon after comes “That’s Entertainment,” the movie’s most famous song; unfortunately, the music rapidly goes downhill from there. There is a sort of quantity over quality approach here, and many songs are transparently crowbarred into the plot (having been drawn from the hodge podge of tunes MGM owned the rights to).

Astaire’s character, Tony Hunter, is trying to get back into stardom with a new musical, called “The Band Wagon.” Apparently the fictional “Band Wagon” is a bizarre succession of numbers, going from a typical Broadway opener about it being “a new day” to a song about hayrides to a song about dancing babies – keep in mind, all this for a musical supposedly about a mystery novelist. My bewilderment and general dissatisfaction with the film culminated in an extended sequence in which Astaire plays a private eye. While this is truer to the previously proposed plot, it is also drawn-out and derivative, and does not at all jive with hayrides and dancing babies.

The Band Wagon tries to be a great film in fits and starts. Astaire has charm and plays a winning role. The writing is sometimes good in a way that seems unique to older movies, rising to theater-like philosophy (one Astaire line: “here we are, the only animals given the greatest means of communication, human speech. And all we do is snarl at each other.”)

Style: 6
Astaire uses his talent to its fullest in the quality opening numbers, and his charm helps keep the rest of the film afloat. At the same time there are a great many musical numbers that simply do not fly as entertainment today, most notably the slightly disturbing “Triplets.”

Substance: 5
I started off liking the central premise to Band Wagon, but the quality of the plot devolves as it goes on, and leads to a confused and insubstantial ending.

Overall: 5
I just don’t know what to make of this film. It’s not a great musical, as even the best song is rather mediocre. I kinda like the movie’s premise, as well as the chemistry between Astaire and leading lady Cyd Charrise, but there isn’t enough pull to the ending. Even adjusting for the time period, I have a hard time giving Band Wagon an above-average score.