Line #28 Film/TheBandWagon


1	[[quoteright:285:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the-band-wagon-movie-poster-1953-1020273914_5698.jpg]]
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3	''The Band Wagon'' is a 1953 [[Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer MGM]] {{musical}} film starring Creator/FredAstaire, who coincidentally enough had also appeared in the 1931 Broadway revue of the same name, and Creator/CydCharisse.
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5	Astaire plays Tony Hunter, a nearly washed-up hoofer who hopes to revitalize his career by doing a new Broadway musical written by his friends Lester and Lily Martin (Oscar Levant and Nanette Fabray). The going soon gets rough. The director, Jeffrey Cordova (Jack Buchanan), has megalomaniacal ambitions to stage a show based on Goethe's ''Myth/{{Faust}}''; the choreographer, Paul Byrd (James Mitchell), is a ballet snob; and Gabrielle "Gaby" Gerard (Charisse), Paul's girlfriend, barely condescends to dance with Tony. After everything goes to hell--so to speak--Tony and Jeffrey manage to salvage the show by going back to the original concept (onscreen, this means turning it into a series of spectacular, and apparently unconnected, production numbers). "That's Entertainment" ensues, along with romance between Tony and Gaby.
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7	Directed by Creator/VincenteMinnelli, choreographed by Michael Kidd, and written by Creator/ComdenAndGreen. It's generally ranked behind only the previous year's ''Film/SinginInTheRain'' among MGM's musicals.
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9	It was [[RecursiveAdaptation adapted]] as a stage musical, although the result was not a critical success. More famously, the "Girl Hunt" sequence inspired Music/MichaelJackson's "Smooth Criminal" video.
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11	----
12	!!Tropes used:
13	* AffectionateParody: "The Girl Hunt" ballet lovingly parodies tropes from hardboiled and noir fiction and film, from the FemmeFatale to the PrivateEyeMonologue.
14	* AuthorAvatar: The Martons are based on Creator/ComdenAndGreen.
15	* BatmanGambit: Cordova's way of getting Gaby to appear in the show, even though he knows Paul, her choreographer boyfriend, controls her career; he asks Paul to choreograph ''Theatre/{{Faust}}'', and Paul likes the idea enough to accept the job, then describes the leading role as someone only Gaby could play - without ever mentioning her by name - and Paul predictably says he won't do the show unless Gaby plays the lead.
16	* BerserkButton: Tony doesn't take too kindly to the fact his pictures are playing at a museum.
17	* TheCameo:
18	** Creator/AvaGardner.
19	** Also, Douglas Fowley, who played the beleaguered director in ''Film/SinginInTheRain'', plays the auctioneer at the beginning of the film.
20	* TheChessmaster: Cordova, most notably when he maneuvers Paul Byrd into letting Gaby do the musical.
21	-->'''Hal:''' (''Cordova's assistant, speaking to newspaper writer on phone'') Oh, and Mike? If Mr. Cordova says he can get [[Creator/TallulahBankhead Tallulah]], for Little Eva... believe him.
22	* DealWithTheDevil: Figuratively speaking--Cordova is a comical version of Mephistopheles for most of the film, and the other characters uneasily go along with him to further their careers.
23	* DefrostingIceQueen: Gabrielle.
24	* FemmeFatale: Parodied in "The Girl Hunt."
25	* HaveAGayOldTime: "That's Entertainment" includes in its list of plots "A gay divorcee who is after her ex". This is also an ActorAllusion to Astaire's 1934 film ''Film/TheGayDivorcee''.
26	* HopelessAuditionees: We see one during the chorus audition.
27	* InNameOnly: About the only things the film has in common with the original revue are Fred Astaire and a handful of songs.
28	* LargeHam: Jeffrey Cordova. Various people open the door when Jeffrey is acting out the plot of the new show for the money men, only to close the door in horror.
29	* MadonnaWhoreComplex: Parodied in "The Girl Hunt" where the blonde "good woman" in floaty dresses and fabrics turns out to be the killer within the story while the dark-haired femme fatale who was "bad" and "dangerous" turns out to be innocent and ends up as a OfficialCouple with the main character. Also helps that both the feminine roles are played by Gaby.
30	* MayDecemberRomance: Tony and Gaby. (Like Astaire, Tony is supposed to be in his early fifties.)
31	* MindScrew: We don´t ''see'' anything of the "Faustian" production, only a couple of images. This, and the reaction from the audience, implies that the show ended up as a (rather disappointing) work of art, which nobody actually understood.
32	* MovieBonusSong: If the film is considered as an adaptation of the 1931 revue of that name (which also featured Fred Astaire and several songs used in the film), "That's Entertainment" would qualify as this.
33	* MsFanservice: Gaby. Lots of lots of flattering costumes for Cyd Charisse.
34	* TheMusicalMusical: The film is about the staging of a musical.
35	* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: During the "Triplets" musical number, the titular three children complain about the things they hate about being triplets, one of their points of contention being, "We're sick of jokes on what an art it is to tell us apart!"
36	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Jeffrey was based on Creator/JoseFerrer, who at the time was producing four Broadway shows and starring in a fifth. He also has similarities to Creator/OrsonWelles, who in TheForties had tried to direct a musical version of ''Literature/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays'' with songs by Music/ColePorter despite having no musical experience. Welles' show also suffered from over-elaborate effects and sets, and just like the designer in the movie complains, had sets that would not fit in the theater.
37	* {{Oktoberfest}}: The song "I Love Louisa".
38	* PostModernism: The movie makes a point of it, especially in the "That's Entertainment" number.
39	* PrimaDonnaDirector: Cordova, until the musical fails. And Byrd, to a lesser extent.
40	* PrivateEyeMonologue: "The Girl Hunt" is this combined with a ballet. (It should be noted here that the monologue's writer was [[Creator/LernerAndLoewe Alan Jay Lerner]].)
41	* RealityIsUnrealistic: Comden and Green decided to make the Martons a married couple because they didn't think anyone would believe a male-female working partnership could be platonic.
42	* ShoeShineMister: Fred Astaire sings and dances "Shine on your Shoes" with the shoe shiner. He was a real dancing shoe shiner rather than an actor/dancer, and the inspiration for the song "Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy."
43	* ShoutOut:
44	** "That's Entertainment" has shout outs to ''Theatre/OedipusRex'', named in the song, and later to ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''. "Entertainment"? [[{{Irony}} Indeed]].
45	** The final scene of ''Theatre/OedipusRex'' is actually shown, and the next show number of the movie is performed on that production set. Even a brief allusion to ''Theatre/WaitingForGodot'', when Tony and Cordova put on bowler hats and fast tracks a conversation before pulling them off.
46	** Of course, the line "[[Theatre/AsYouLikeIt The world is a stage]]". Shakespeare is also mentioned.
47	* SlapSlapKiss: Tony and Gaby.
48	* SpecialEffectsFailure: In universe with the pyrotechnics for the stage production. The first attempt is a underwhelming flash and a small puff of smoke. The next attempt goes to the other extreme and Cordova ends up with a bit of AshFace. He thinks [[BiggerIsBetter it's perfect]].
49	* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Film/SinginInTheRain''; the movie shares the same writers, and is to Fred Astaire what that movie was to Gene Kelly.
50	* StylisticSuck: The film showcases the rehearsal of a overblown, pretentious dance number that contributes to the show's total failure on opening night.
51	* TinyGuyHugeGirl: In-universe, Tony worries about Gaby's height relative to his.

Context Film / TheBandWagon