On The Town recounts the 24 hour adventure of three sailors, Gabey (Gene Kelley), Chip (Frank Sinatra) and Ozzie (Jules Munshin) who disembark from their battleship in the Brooklyn Navy Yard at six o'clock in the morning for their shore leave. A timer that appears occasionally across the bottom of the screen keeps track of the progression of time. Gabey and Ozzie just want to find a girl to spend time with while Chip, armed with his outdated 1905 guidebook, prefers to soak in the sights of New York City.

Along the way, Gabey falls in love with Miss Turnstyle, Ivy Smith (Vera-Ellen), when he sees her visage on a subway  poster and goes on a determined search for her. Smith pretends to be a celebrity but she is actually a kootch dancer in Conery Island. Ozzie hooks up with a scientist, Clare Huddesten (Ann Miller), at the Museum Of Anthropological History. Huddesten is enraptured by the distinct resemblance between Ozzie and a prehistoric man (Pithecantropus Erectus) specimen. Chip eventually gives up his sight-seeing plans after being pursued by the lascivious taxi driver, Hildy Esterhazy (Betty Garrett).

With songs like the delightful "New York, New York", the witty "You're Awful" and "Prehistoric Man" which is full of double entendres like “bearskin… he just sat around in nothing but bearskin - I really love bearskin”, there is little surprise that On The Town won the Academy Awards for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture in 1950. Where else can you get lines like "As the fly paper told to the fly, you can stick to my side"?

Kelley once again dances up a storm and a young Sinatra, in one of his earlier film roles, gives an starring indication of the things to come in the future.

The roles for the women are not developed as well as those for the men in this movie although Miller shows in her tap-dancing number that she can be on par with her male counterparts  for the dance sequences.

This movie pays homage to many New York sights and attractions such as The Statue of Liberty and The Empire State Building. However, the plot doesn't go in very much depth, the characters seem rather dull and one-sided at times and not all the songs are memorable. For this reason, I suppose that is why On The Town does not age as well as the other MGM classic, Singin' In The Rain.

Note: This movie is in colour even though the screen shots used on this page are not.

Reviewed on 22 June 2004