I Ponder Thusly

This weekend I watched the old musical Guys and Dolls with Frank Sinatra. And by that I mean Frank Sinatra was in it, not that Mr. Sinatra accompanied me while I viewed the film. Though that would have been exciting (and morbid, considering he is not living at this present time).

I didn't even realize that one of the main characters was Marlon Brando until I saw the end credits. I guess I don't watch very many old movies. Or many movies with Marlon Brando when he was young.

From what I could tell, the theme of the movie was gambling and the relational roles of men and women. This chump named Sky Masterson (Brando) bragged to Sinatra that he could convince any girl to go lunch with him in Havana by the next day. What an ego! And, what confidence!

Sinatra said he'd give Masterson a thousand bucks if he could get Sarah Brown, the decent but unfeeling young doll that ran the local mission, to ship off to Cuba. Sky soon marched into the mission to introduce himself to Sarah. He told her that he was an awful sinner in need of the help of repentance. She wasn't buying it - for after all, he was a successful gambler (and generally only unsuccessful gamblers would want to repent). Ms. Brown was probably a little impressed that Sky could quote the Bible near better than her, however.

Of course, the two ended up talking about Sarah's personal life and wound up in an argument about what kind of man she was "waiting" for, as Masterson hinted that he was interested in her. She said something like, "You think I'm a prude, don't you? I'm one of those innocent but neurotic girls who is thoroughly afraid of forbidden sins - only because I have an unusual fascination with the sin. I know all about it -I've read two books on it."

Of course, she goes to Cuba with him and pretty much goes off the deep end - madly in love - dropping all inhibitions. He didn't even really try to seduce her. She fell all by herself because she wanted to fall. Seems kind of sad. But at least they had a proper Christian wedding right away!!

I don't know why I'm reviewing this movie right now. Probably because I have "Luck Be A Lady Tonight" stuck in my head. Right from the beginning when only the instrumental music was playing, I heard the melody for the song and was all excited that the song was in this musical (I had only heard it on Mrs. Doubtfire before that). Two or so hours into the film, I was losing my confidence that the song would be sung. I thought I was hallucinating with the instrumental melody. But then Brando sang it, yes him rather than Sinatra. And it was one choice song.

# posted by jac-atac : 5/15/2005 02:15:00 PM