Easily my favorite musical. I first saw it as our high school’s spring musical in the mid-seventies (went back a couple of times, I liked it so much). I remember being a bit put off by the guy who sang Sky Masterson. Last time a watched the movie, it dawned on me that his voice had a Brando-like quality. Don’t know if that was a coincidence; maybe the drama teacher showed the cast the movie.
I haven’t seen the film that often, but I bought it a couple weeks ago. I’ve had the CD of the new Broadway cast recording for about 10 years. Can’t watch the movie or listen to the CD without having a medley float through my brain for days.
And I agree, the choreography is wonderful.
Guess I’ll go watch the movie again; I don’t remember feeling that Sinatra didn’t fit in. Of course, I barely remember that Sinatra was in it. Is that a sin?
Ah, what a wonderful movie! amarinth is right – the crap game dance is amazing! And the only thing that tops Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat is the bashful smile Nicely Nicely exchanges with the mission lady who caught the bouquet at the end.
IMHO, the film contains a great song that’s overlooked because it was not one of the hits that grew out of the original Broadway show: Adelaide (not to be confused with Adelaide’s Lament). It’s the one that Nathan Detroit sings in the barbershop to announce his upcoming wedding: “Adelaide, Adelaide, ever-lovin’ Adelaide is taking a chance on me…”
Not only is the song boffo, but it also opens with a musical intro that contains one of the best lines in the show:
Though she knows deep in her heart
that I’m a phoney and I’m a fake,
She wants five children to start. Five’s a difficult point to make!
Anyway, for all you G&D fans I suggest you pick up the book Honest Abe, the autobiography of Abe Burrows, a comedy-writing giant and the author of the G&D script (and father of TV comedy legend James Burrows). There’s a chapter about G&D. I read it once. It’s got great insights and behind the scenes stories about the original Broadway production.
One tale I recall is how Burrows had written a less-than-top-notch joke that the director (George S. Kauffman, IIRC) asked him to improve or remove. Very defensively Burrows resisted, saying that the joke was good. It would bring down the house on such-and-such comedy radio program where he was a writer, he said. The director replied, “Radio is free. Our audience is paying four dollars to see our show. They deserve a four dollar joke.” Burrows wrote a better joke and never forgot the lesson.
Okay, here’s a 5-star trivia question for you G&D nuts: Robert Alda & Sam Levene (not Levinson, RealityChuck) had something in common besides playing the male leads in the original Broadway cast of G&D. What was it?
I know the song Bushel and a Peck, but didn’t realize it came from Guys and Dolls. Who sings it to who, and at what point in the action?
And …
Marlon Brando. Oh. My. God. Pure sex. My first image if I hear his name is Don Corleone, followed closely by the fat whack job of his later years. God Lord what a gorgeous young man he was.
“A Bushel and a Peck” is sung by Miss Adalaide and the other girls at the Hot Box in the place where “Pet me, Papa” is sung in the movie. In the production that I saw, they all had headbands with flower petals on them and in between verses the ladies played “He loves me, He loves me not” and plucked petals off.
sigh My high school, of course, did the show the year after I left. Knowing the way they cast things at my school, I would have been considered too fat to play Adelaide … but I might have had a shot at Sarah, if I could get my voice to cooperate with the high notes.
Draelin, I’d give my left…pinkie to watch you perform as Miss Adelaide.
The most memorable moment in our show. There’s a line in Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat when Nicely sings “And the devil will drag you under / by the fancy tie 'round your wicked throat.” Each time I would sing that line, I’d grab a random gambler by the tie and pull him to his feet. One evening, during performance, I grabbed the tie belonging to the gambler sitting at the end of the bench, and yanked it hard. To my astonishment, my hand and the tie continued skyward, while the gambler pitched back onto his seat. The damned tie was a clip-on. Somehow, I managed to finish the song with a straight face. Fortunately, at that point, the show goes to an immediate blackout – I dashed off the stage and out the back door, where I collapsed in heaving fits of laughter.
Now, if we may drag this back on topic (by the tie, if necessary). How many would agree with me that the two male leads in the cast should have been switched? I mean, come on! Sky Masterson could have been written for Sinatra. Even Robert Alda, who played the role in the original Broadway cast, sounded just like Sinatra. Yet Hollywood tossed aside their most famous singer, handing him a largely non-singing role, in favor of Marlon Brando? Okay, Marlon wasn’t half bad. He pulled the part off with style. But how much better would it have been if they’d switched the two?
Aww, thanks, Kizarvexius. Too bad you didn’t cast the plays at my high school.
I definitely agree that Sinatra would have made a great Sky. Although, I like him as Nathan, trying to be smooth and not quite pulling it off. I don’t think Brando could have played it, though–he didn’t have the right amount of … eagerness, I guess is the best term. Brando is cool, Nathan Detroit is most certainly not.
Yeah, Sky has to be a studmuffin – and Sinatra was too scrawny to even be considered for it. (I know it’s heresy, but I just don’t “get” Sinatra.) I will admit it’s ironic that the single best song of the the movie – “Luck Be a Lady” – is sung by a man who can’t really sing. And can’t dance – but I love watching him in the Havana scene.
Like a few others in this thread, this was my first non-Disney musical. What struck me most in re-watching was the colors – the gambler’s flashy clothes, the bizarrely bright sewer pipes, and of course the sets and clothes in Havana.
I remember hearing an interview with one of the writers (or producers?) of the original show talking about the “Fugue for Tinhorns” number. He mentioned that, although it’s a great song, they almost cut it. The showrunners expected that the audience would want to hear about the outcome of the horse race, and be confused when this craps game showed up. Tell the truth, I didn’t even remember about the horse race ten minutes into the next number, and I doubt anyone else did either!
You know, Tracy, now that you mention it, I remember getting stoned one night years ago while watching the movie and wondering which horse won the race, but I didn’t care for long.
As much as I like G&D, and will watch it every time it’s on, I am still dragged down to the Simpson’s version with Mark Hamill as ‘Luke’ Sky Masterton swinging his lightsaber to "Guys and Dolls! We just a bunch of crazy Guys & Dolls! La-la-la! Lah lah la la la Guys and Dolls! "
