About a week ago, I learned that on Friday, July 30, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) would air Black Hand (Richard Thorpe, 1950), a little-known film noir that stars my favorite song-and-dance man, Gene Kelly. Even though Kelly and his screen persona are completely un-noirish, I set the DVR anticipating the best.
Let’s just say that my excitement was short-lived; within the first 15 minutes, I was simultaneously amused, embarrassed, and bored. Mostly laughing while watching, I tweeted that Kelly’s character, an Italian seeking vengeance on the mobsters who murdered his father, spoke like not like an Italian but an Italian-Pittsburgian (Gene’s from Pittsburgh, PA). The accent’s not great, lemme tell ‘ya, which makes it rather difficult for me to believe that Kelly and his co-star were apparently “so convincing at playing men of Italian descent in this film that audiences were fooled over their true ancestry” (TCM). Oh, surely not. Long story short, I only made it through one hour before stopping it and then deleting it from the DVR for good. My apologies, Gene.
But as a little red-headed orphan sings in one of my favorite childhood musicals (Annie, 1982), “The sun’ll come out tomorrow.” And, boy, did it! Waiting for me on Twitter this morning was the following video, “a dance tribute to Gene Kelly” set to Robert Palmer’s song “Simply Irresistible.” Enjoy, all, and thank your lucky stars that Gene didn’t stay long in the film noir genre.
Btw, if you’re a fan of Gene, feel free to follow us on Twitter at Gene Kelly Fans.
Related posts:
10 Comments
Leave a Reply
I'm following
Instagrams
Professor of film and Shakespeare. Advocate of social media. Lover of popular culture,
Holy cow! This is amazing and really demonstrates Gene's athleticism.
I saw the title of your post and knew instantly that it had to be about the YouTube video
It's one of the best tributes I've seen.
As for Black Hand, I don't find it entirely interesting, but I enjoy it for what its worth. It's not Gene at his best, but it's not him at his worst either- have you seen Viva Knievel???? Anyways, I watch Black Hand to see another side of Gene and not anything more. I think I'm too smitten with the man to say anything worse!
I saw your comments below the "Simply Irresistible" video on YouTube, so I knew you'd seen it. =)
I have not seen all of VIVA KNIEVEL, but I have seen the scene in which Kelly's character detoxes. Yikes! And yes, it was hard for me to write that Gene's performance in BLACK HAND both embarrassed me and made me laugh, but that's okay; every star is allowed a few stinkers, right?
That particular VK scene is the most painful Gene scene to watch, in my opinion. The rest of the movie isn't as bad, in regards to Gene. I think he knew that the movie wasn't going to be anything special, but accepted the part after the prodding of the kids and had a fun time because of it. At his age, he deserved to kick back, enjoy the experience and not take himself too seriously
This is why I think you will enjoy Marjorie Morningstar, Kelli. It was, as I mentioned, a revelation to me as to Kelly's acting style. I was impressed. I think because he plays a song and dance man and also because he does not have to carry the picture and is secondary to Natalie Wood's Marjorie and her coming of age narrative that he achieves a very accomplished performance. I will be interested to see what you find in it.
I'll try to get to it before the fall semester starts!
I've had some DVR experience like that. Wow, what a novelty this will be! followed by the novelty wearing off in about 10 and the recording being deleted at about 15.
Ah, pop music/classic film mash-ups; I may have a few of those in my near-future though it's doubtful they will include Robert Palmer, ha ha… One thing that struck me watching this was just how many of Kelly's films were in color; he owns the Technicolor era like Astaire owns the B&W.
Speaking of contemporary music/classic Hollywood mash-ups, have you seen Astaire and Charisse "dancing" to Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal"?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKanPsUjP7w
Wow, Marjorie Morningstar? That one embarrasses me for him. Sorry, but there are some really bad moments. One line I always remember is a real stinker – "I seem to lack a central organizing energy" – or something along those lines. People do not talk that way.
Yet people say THIS before busting out with a rainy song-and-dance number?? "From where I stand the sun is shining all over the place." =)