Three service men, Ted Riley (Gene Kelly), Doug Hallerton (Dan Dailey), and Angie Valentine (Michael Kidd), discharged from the army in 1945, pledge to meet in ten years to prove that they will still be friends. In the intervening years, Riley ends up mixing into the seedier side of New York and manages a crooked boxer, Hallerton gives up his plans to be an artist and becomes a successful advertising executive with a failing marriage, and Valentine runs a hamburger restaurant with his wife and has a bunch of kids. When they do meet in 1955, they dislike each other. Before they can separate, Jackie Leighton (Cyd Charisse), an “idea man” in Hallerton’s company, decides it would be advantageous to put them on an ambush TV show, so they are tricked into sticking around for the day.
It’s Always Fair Weather was pitched as a follow up to On the Town, but the studio wasn’t interested in dealing with Frank Sinatra, and Jules Munshin was no longer a draw, so they adjusted the story substantially. I can see the connection, but this film has a very different tone. While it isn’t “dark,” it doesn’t have the happy effervescence of On the Town. Riley, Hallerton, and Valentine are generally depressed, with anger being their second most common emotion. They have ego problems and two of them are lonely. Still it is more comedy than drama and more fun than not. Problems still get solved easily and in unlikely ways, and love blossoms in an evening.
Michael Kidd (better known as a top choreographer) and Dan Dailey are better sidekicks than Kelly normally had, each a strong dancer. The best number has the three of them dancing and drinking their way through the city at night. Perhaps because of this, Cyd Charisse isn’t used well. She lacks the screen time to make the romance work (she doesn’t appear till 30 min in), and has a single dance number, one that hardly shows off her skills. She could have been replaced by any actress in a tight sweater.
The music is pleasant, but forgettable, which limits how good this musical can be. But actually having a plot, and one that isn’t embarrassing (Kelly was not always that lucky) buoys things up a bit, leaving us with an enjoyable, if unremarkable Kelly vehicle.
My other reviews of Gene Kelly films: Cover Girl (1944), Anchor’s Aweigh (1945), Ziegfeld Follies (1946), The Pirate (1948), Words and Music (1948), On the Town (1949), An American in Paris (1951), Brigadoon (1954), It’s Always Fair Weather (1955), Les Girls (1957), The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967).