Minnelli Marathon #4: The Band Wagon

"Professor" Michael Phillips returns for a conversation about one of his favorite Minnelli films, the 1953 musical THE BAND WAGON. The plot has Fred Astaire as a washed up song and dance man who gets paired with Cyd Charisse's anxious ballerina for a doomed stage musical based on the Faust legend. With Astaire and Charisse and a script by the same duo that wrote "Singin' in the Rain," expectations were high. But despite a few stand-out numbers - go ahead and YouTube "Dancing in the Dark", and the film's noir-inspired "Girl Hunt" finale - Adam and Josh come up a little short of being able to say: "That's Entertainment."

Up next: Minnelli's "Lust for Life" (1956)
And coming Friday, March 23: Unsane / FS Madness's Elite 8

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