The Band Wagon
For me, the strangest thing about The Band Wagon is that, after my first viewing, I didn’t love it. It meets or exceeds my standards for an enjoyable movie musical. The songs are fun, the story is thin but not threadbare, and the chemistry among the cast is good, even great at times. Stranger still, while it is easy for me to pin-point the reasons why I don’t like an admittedly decent film such as Spider-Man: Far From Home, it is not obvious to me why I have the same feelings about The Band Wagon.
The Band Wagon has its shortcomings, don’t get me wrong, but they are all things I have forgiven in other movies. Fred Astaire brings a refined presence to the picture that is a little too slick and can sometimes come across as low energy. Yet I don’t mind a similar performance from him in Swing Time. Some of the musical numbers are a bit silly and don’t match the tone of the rest of the movie, like the dancing babies gag in “Triplets.” Yet I’m willing to overlook the similarly out of place “Too Darn Hot” in Kiss Me Kate. There is a dream ballet, a not so serious pastiche of pulp detective novels, that has some really excellent choreography but is also too long and draws attention away from the core plot of the movie. Yet I don’t let a similar number in Singin’ In The Rain stop me from considering it one of my all time favorites.
The movie has a lot of great aspects too. A lot of the pure comedy scenes are extremely funny. All the bits with the director, from how he manipulates situations to get what he wants to the pretension with which he distorts the original idea for the show, had me in stitches. There are also some superb musical numbers as well. In particular, there is a pure dance number, “Dancing in the Dark,” that is sublime. The acting is all pretty good too. The romance between the two leads grows organically and believably. The director’s arc from art elitist to populist entertainer is amusing, if a bit abbreviated. The writers, a married couple, clashing about stupid production issues is both funny and realistic to the life of a vagabond stage professional. So if I laughed at the jokes, was wowed by the dancing, and the acting had me invested in story, why did I come away underwhelmed?
My first theory has to do with sustained quality. Most, if not all, of the best moments in The Band Wagon come in the first half of the film. The funniest scenes were all at the very beginning, before the show within the movie begins touring. The best dance numbers all come before the end of the second act. The plot resolution of all but the primary romance is finished around the midway point of the film. This makes the end of the movie feel like it is limping to the finish line instead of ending strong.
My second theory is that my expectations were simply too high. The Band Wagon is loved by film historians and critics alike. It is considered by many to be the second best product of MGM’s era of great musicals, behind only Singin’ In The Rain. AFI ranked it in the top 25 American movie musicals of all time. It has a stellar cast who I have loved in other projects. Knowing all of that before I started the movie, I was expecting something amazing. The Band Wagon was… OK. However, when you are expecting a Michelin star meal and you get home cooking, even good home cooking won’t seem that good. I suspect, with time, the movie may grow on me. But for now, I am unimpressed.
Would Recommend: If can you ignore the pedigree of the movie and watch it without prejudice.
Would Not Recommend: If you cannot ignore the pedigree of the movie and will spend the entire runtime comparing it with every other movie musical you’ve seen.