The local PBS station shows classic movies on Saturday night – tonight’s offering, Guys and Dolls. This is at least the fourth time I’ve seen it in the last two years – blissful sigh. Marlon Brando when he was young and beautiful – one outstanding song after another – wonderfully stylized dancing (so '50s)…
I really planned to watch something else this evening – and now here it is, two and a half hours later and Stubby Kaye is launching into “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat.”
And Marlon Brando when he was young and beautiful – did I mention that part?
Pretty good musical, but it was a mistake to cast Frank Sinatra in a role that was written for someone (Sam Levinson) who couldn’t sing to save his life.
I saw Sinatra perform in 1985, and based on comments he made prior to singing one of the songs from that show, he was in agreement with you, Walloon.
However, at the time, Brando was a huge star and Sinatra, while enjoying a resurgence of his career following his role as Maggio in From Here To Eternity, was still not considered to be the box office draw that Brando was, so the producers decided to go with Brando in the Sky Masterson role.
I noticed recently that Don Johnston is starring in a revival at The Piccadilly Theatre in the West End. They have a nice site and if you let the intro go you get a lovely instrumental of Luck Be A Lady Tonight.
For me I can remember the first time I saw it as a kid and I nearly jumped out of my skin when Fugue For Tinhorns was sung.
Not really. He was an awful prose stylist, and his characters were flat and entirely w/o charm. What he had was schtick, but most real writers of his time didn’t consider Runyon a writer, and rightly so. What John O’Hara had to say about him for example, would singe your eyebrows off.
So what? Runyon himself wouldn’t have claimed to be a prose stylist. He was a humorist. Criticising his characters is about as meaningful as critiquing the cast of a joke.
I’ve heard that Sinatra wanted to be Sky Masterson, and was very disappointed not to get the role. I always did think it seemed all wrong for him to put on his “Sinatra” styling schtick Nathan’s songs. Doesn’t fit the character at all.
Sure, Sinatra absolutely wanted to play Sky Masterson – thank god he didn’t, though. The scenes in Havana absolutely work because Brando was so freakin’ sexy – that little pipsqueak Sinatra would never have been able to pull them off. Would that one senorita have thrown herself at Sinatra, kicking off the bar fight? I don’t think so.
Plus, last night for the first time I really got Brando’s version of “Luck Be a Lady” – I think he delivered it with a sincerity that Sinatra wouldn’t have been able to achieve in a billion years.
Of course, I have never gotten Sinatra worship at all …
I adore Sinatra well over Brando, but I kinda have to say that I think it worked better with them in the roles as they were. Sky’s a worldly sophisticate, while Nathan runs local floating craps games in any rathole he can find. Brando had that sleek, debonair look for Sky, while Sinatra has a slightly scrawnier build that fit the bill for Nathan. Both could sing quite well, so that wasn’t an issue.
Heck, the whole plot revolves around Sky claiming he can get any girl he wants. I can see Brando (at that age) doing so, while Sinatra just didn’t look all that hot; his talent was his voice.
Also, obligatory trivia for any Guys & Dolls discussion: Brando, being a meticulous career actor, consistently demanded several takes until he found one he was happy with, while Sinatra preferred to do things in one take and move on, and resented Brando for dragging his feet. There was not a whole lot of chemistry on that set, although it produced a hell of a fine movie.
Oh, I completely agree with you…Sinatra had made a movie career out of playing the geeky un-smooth guy…I don’t see him playing Sky Masterson at all. I just think that his song stylings were a little off for Nathan Detroit. This is actually the same complaint I always have about his movies…he plays the geeky, un-smooth guy, but when he sings, he turns into Frank Sinatra, you know? He was a great singer, and a decent actor…as a voice actor, though, not so much. The reason, I think, that Brando was so successful singing songs like “Luck be a Lady” is because he WASN’T a singer…he acted his way through the song.
I thought Brando would be horrible. But Luck Be a Lady was awesome. He acted the heck out of that song. Sinatra was eh. Maybe he was too busy being pissed off about not being Sky that he just didn’t try very hard.
I saw the revival with Nathan Lane and Peter Gallagher (yum) and the incomparable Faith Prince. Fantastic–one of the best show experiences of my life (3rd row center, orchestra, amazing performances). Stood on line for over an hour to have the cast sign my CD. They were fantastic. I just played Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat and Fugue for Tinhorns for my 5 and 2 1/2 year olds. They weren’t impressed, but my husband and I had fun.
