Anchors Aweigh is a musical-comedy from 1945 directed by George Sidney.
Two sailors, Joe (Gene Kelly) and Clarence (Frank Sinatra), meet a girl, Susan, on shore leave, after her nephew, Donald, tries to run away to join the Navy. Susan wants to be a singer, and Joe tries to help her career, but he's falling for her. Problem is Clarence has already fallen for her.
This film was the first to pair Sinatra and Kelly, and notable for a musical number with Jerry of the Tom and Jerry cartoons.
Also look for a young Dean Stockwell as Donald.
See also On the Town.
Provides Examples Of:
- As Himself: José Iturbi
- Book Ends: Joe Iturbi leading a group in "Anchors Aweigh" at the beginning (on the Navy ship) and at the end (at the Hollywood Bowl).
- The Cameo: Tom the Cat only appears for about five seconds as Jerry's butler.
- Company Cameo: At one point, Susan goes for a screen test at the MGM Studios in Culver City.
- Gilligan Cut: Joe's enraged "I'm not going back to that house!" is immediately followed by a shot of him and Clarence going back to Susan's house.
- Imagine Spot: A lot of the song numbers involve this.
- Jerkass: The two leads actually have shades of this, with Joe a bit worse than Clarence. The duo's first song is them basically bragging and rubbing their shore leave in the faces of the other sailors, and later they both sing a song smearing Susan's reputation just to scare off a potential boyfriend.
- Love Epiphany: "I Fall in Love Too Easily" is the song where Clarence realizes in an instant that he's in love with Brooklyn.
- Love Triangle: Clarence, Susan, and Joe. Clarence eventually finds another girl, and Joe and Susan end up together.
- Maiden Aunt: Played with. Clarence and Joe are surprised to find out that the Maiden Aunt in charge of young Donald is young and gorgeous.
- Mistaken Age: Donald makes it seem like his aunt is a lot older than she is, giving the guys quite a shock when the finally meet her.
- Mistaken for Gay: Joe is trying to instruct Clarence on how to pick up girls. He's miming an excessively feminine walk, when a passerby sees him and gives him a long, strange look.
- No Name Given: The waitress from Brooklyn who ends up with Joe is never named. In the credits Pamela Britton is identified as "Girl from Brooklyn".
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Clarence has been trying to get past security and into a movie studio so that he can get Susan an audition. He tries and fails multiple times. Joe waltzes up to security, asks to see the movie executive, says he's expected—and after a cut, somehow they are in the studio.
- One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Towards the end, Clarence is trying to tell Joe about how he's unexpectedly fallen in love with Brooklyn, but Joe thinks he's talking about how Joe's fallen in love with Susan.
- Pep-Talk Song: "The Worry Song", where Gene convinces Jerry that he can dance.
- Pretty in Mink: Susan has a white ermine
◊ shoulder cape (a then common young socialite accessory). - Really Gets Around: Invoked. Clarence and Joe decide to get rid of Susie's suitor Bertram by convincing him that she's a slut who services sailors. There's a whole number dedicated to this.She's not so choosy
No, not our Susie - Roger Rabbit Effect / Medium Blending: Joe dancing with Jerry. Originally, the filmmakers wanted it to be Mickey Mouse, but Disney was unfortunately too busy trying to get out of losses it took in the last few years.
- Socialite: Susan is rich, but wants to be on stage instead of being Idle Rich.
- Speak in Unison: "Well how do you like that!" when Clarence meets a girl who is also from Brooklyn in a Mexican restaurant.
- Suddenly Speaking: Jerry in the dance number. Though in this case it was part of a story Joe was telling. Jerry's actress, Sara Berner, had actually previously voiced him in the 1944 Tom And Jerry short, Zoot Cat, for a single line.
- Titled After the Song: After Navy anthem "Anchors Aweigh".
