Guys and Dolls

Ah, Guys and Dolls, the movie with many great songs, but only one great singer.

If you’ve ever heard Sinatra, Dean and Sammy sing any of this show’s songs; you know how good those songs can be. That’s not to say Stubby Kaye and company are bad, they’re just not as good as Dean and Sammy.

But enough about the movie that might have been, as it stands Guys and Dolls isn’t bad, just a bit too long and uneven.

The plot sees gambler Frank Sinatra, in order to finance a dice game, bet fellow gambler Marolon Brando that Brando can’t take missionary Jean Simmons to Havana.

Brando is fine in the lead. Although he can’t touch Sinatra vocally, he carries the film dramatically, and works well opposite Jean Simmons. For his part, Sinatra not only turns in the best songs, but also gives a really solid comedic performance as well.

Unfortunately, when neither Brando nor Sinatra is on screen, Guys and Dolls drags. Jean Simmons is passable, but doesn’t really command the screen, and Vivian Blaine is just plain flat. Not only does she lack any kind of charisma, but the audience is hard pressed to understand what Sinatra’s character sees in her, thus undermining one of the story’s dramatic points. Further, at 150 minutes, the film is simply too long. Excising some of the dead time when Brando and Sinatra are off screen would go a long way toward correcting this.

Still, Guys and Dolls is well produced, with great costumes and a laugh out loud cantina fight that looks surprisingly real.