It's Always Fair Weather
| It's Always Fair Weather | |
|---|---|
_poster_(yellow_background).jpg) |
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| Directed by | |
| Produced by | Arthur Freed |
| Written by | |
| Starring |
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| Music by | André Previn |
| Cinematography | Robert J. Bronner |
| Edited by | Adrienne Fazan |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Release date
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September 1, 1955 |
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Running time
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102 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2,771,000 |
| Box office | $2,374,000 |
| It's Always Fair Weather | |
|---|---|
_coverart.jpg) |
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| Soundtrack album by André Previn | |
| Genre | Jazz |
| Length | 41:28 |
| Label | Sony Music (1991), Rhino Handmade |
| Producer | Dan Rivard |
It's Always Fair Weather is a 1955 MGM musical satire scripted by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, who also wrote the show's lyrics, with music by André Previn and starring Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey, Cyd Charisse, Dolores Gray, and dancer/choreographer Michael Kidd in his first film acting role.
The film, co-directed by Kelly and Stanley Donen, was made in CinemaScope and Eastmancolor. Although well-received critically at the time, it was not a commercial success, and is widely regarded as the last of the major MGM dance oriented musicals. In recent years it has been recognized as a seminal film because of the inventiveness of its dance routines.
It's Always Fair Weather is noted for its downbeat theme, which may have hurt it at the box office, and has been called a rare "cynical musical".
Three ex-G.I.s, Ted Riley (Kelly), Doug Hallerton (Dailey) and Angie Valentine (Kidd) have served in World War II together and become best friends. At the beginning of the film, set in October 1945, they dance through the street celebrating their upcoming release from the service ("The Binge") and meet at their favorite New York bar. They vow eternal friendship, and before going their separate ways, promise to reunite exactly ten years later at the same spot.
In the years after the war, the three men have taken entirely different paths ("10-Year Montage"). Riley, who had wanted to become an idealistic lawyer, has become a fight promoter and gambler, associating with shady underworld characters. Hallerton, who had planned to become a painter, has gone into a high-stress job in advertising, and his marriage is crumbling. Valentine, who had planned to become a gourmet chef, is now running a hamburger stand in Schenectady, New York that he calls "The Cordon Bleu", and has a wife and children.
The three men keep their promise to meet at the bar ten years later, and quickly realize that they now have nothing in common and dislike each other. Hallerton and Riley view Valentine as a "hick", while Riley and Valentine think Hallerton is a "snob", and Hallerton and Valentine think Riley is a "punk". Sitting together in an expensive restaurant as Hallerton's guest, munching celery, they silently express their regrets in "I Shouldn't Have Come", sung to the tune of "The Blue Danube".
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Wikipedia