The Band Wagon [G]

Has-been movie star and showbiz ‘hoofer’ Tony Hunter gets off the train in New York to meet two writer friends who have the perfect musical script for him. Eager to resurrect the days of theatre song and dance, Hunter signs on instantly, but a massive spanner is thrown in the works when an esteemed and visionary director signs on and completely perverts the original story, turning it into an epic Faustian nightmare. After three weeks of contending with the outrageous modernization of theatre at his director’s hands, the constant rewritings and reedits to all his best scenes, and the continual cynicism of his young ballerina costar, Hunter comes to blows. And he’s not the only one suffering. 

The world is a stage, the stage is a world of entertainment! 

A lot like Singin’ In the Rain, which came out the previous year, The Band Wagon is a beautiful littler back-stager about the world of entertainment and showbiz, this time exploring that of the theatre. It’s a great film that delivers the romance and spectacle of a Golden Age musical whilst at the same time conveying a lot of humour and social commentary on the state of the world ‘today’. There is a lot that director Vincente Minnelli manages to cram into a hundred minutes and some form of enjoyment is to be taken from every minute of it. 

First, let’s talk about the screenplay. On the surface this is a clever little back-stager depicting the creative integrity, passion, planning, and resourcefulness that goes into making a production: all done with a comedic grain of salt. Underneath however, it explores some poignant themes, the most pronounced of which is the evolution of an industry and some peoples’ inability to adapt. Tony Hunter’s story is quite similar to that of Don Lockwood at the beginning of Singin’ In the Rain, which of course gets overcome with the classics proving to never grow stale. 

We also have a bit of a subtler battle of the sexes and commentary on the nature of romance and marriage happening in the mix, as well as the two worlds of high-brow and low-brow culture butting heads, which makes for juicy drama as well as a fresh aside from the deeper themes of the film. It’s all balanced incredibly well and culminates in this wonderful production that blends a number of genres together into one shiny and colourful package. 

We’ve got blends of ballet as well as contemporary dance and jazz, as well as classical theatre melded with the shows-stopper numbers of a stage musical and kooky almost vaudevillian novelty numbers, melded again with some gritty noir at the end, which just makes the whole thing so diverse and inventive. The movie pulls out all the stops and definitely brings across the point of not fighting the times, but jumping on the bandwagon instead. 

The central cast is great with their characters perfectly contrasting and bouncing off each other. We have the charismatic but stale and slightly cynical has-been contending with an overbearing Orson Welles-esque visionary director and a reluctant, snide, and slightly spoilt leading lady. The conflicts between them all are very funny and helps to further convey the themes and the commentary that the script provides. 

Like any Golden Age musical, the song and dance sequences are highly memorable, especially the film’s central refrain ‘That’s Entertainment’ and the achievements in makeup and costumes are so vibrant that you can see them from space. 

Starring Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabray, Jack Buchanan, James Mitchell, and Robert Gist, The Band Wagon is a wonderful film that delivers all the entertainment of the Golden Age of musicals as well as a few deeper messages and social commentaries. 

Filled with drama, romance, conflict, and memorable song and dance numbers, it’s definitely a classic!