This plot less and structureless musical has somehow reached classic status despite the fact that, aside from the main number, it features one song and dance number after another that are awful.
It does have some good points - the image of the three Sailors on leave is iconic and the opening sequence is always fun and promising, Ann Miller is her usual saucy and sexy self, Jules Munshin turns in a performance that actually pips Kelly and Sinatra, the 7 minute Gene Kelly fantasy dance is masterful unto it's own (but doesn't fit in the narrative the same way his similar sequences in Singin' in the Rain and An American in Paris didn't really fit). Also, much of this was shot on location which documents 1949 New York City interestingly.
But as a film, a story, and as a musical, it is decidedly below average, and overrated. As hard as you pull for it to be as entertaining as other MGM musicals from the period, it just isn't. It's arduous, shallow, underwhelming, very often nerve damaging, and pointless. You just get the feeling all the scenes were scripted the night before they were shot, or Kelly and Donen as Directors were just making it up on the fly.
It's a worth a look of course for the pluses mentioned above. But it's hardly a great musical and Kelly, Sinatra, Donen, and Miller all did much better work in other films.
It does have some good points - the image of the three Sailors on leave is iconic and the opening sequence is always fun and promising, Ann Miller is her usual saucy and sexy self, Jules Munshin turns in a performance that actually pips Kelly and Sinatra, the 7 minute Gene Kelly fantasy dance is masterful unto it's own (but doesn't fit in the narrative the same way his similar sequences in Singin' in the Rain and An American in Paris didn't really fit). Also, much of this was shot on location which documents 1949 New York City interestingly.
But as a film, a story, and as a musical, it is decidedly below average, and overrated. As hard as you pull for it to be as entertaining as other MGM musicals from the period, it just isn't. It's arduous, shallow, underwhelming, very often nerve damaging, and pointless. You just get the feeling all the scenes were scripted the night before they were shot, or Kelly and Donen as Directors were just making it up on the fly.
It's a worth a look of course for the pluses mentioned above. But it's hardly a great musical and Kelly, Sinatra, Donen, and Miller all did much better work in other films.