Anchors Aweigh (800th post)

Heere's 800!

It's about time Gene Kelly appeared in a milestone post.

Check out the previous milestones: 100 ... 200 ... 300 ... 400 ... 500 ... 600 ... 700.

"Oh, it was I who saved your life, so now I owe *you* something! Hey look, have you gone crazy?"
"Look, I didn't ask you to save my life, but you did. So now I feel you are responsible for me."
  "Well I don't!"
"Well, what's the good of having a life saved when you can't have any fun with it?"

Clarence "Brooklyn" Doolittle (Sinatra) and Joe Brady (Kelly) are given a four day pass from their duties in the Navy.  They are best friends and Joe saved Clarence's life.  Joe is planning to see his girl Lola, but agrees to help Clarence find a girl.  Their search is interrupted when they meet Donald Martin (Stockwell), a young boy who wants to join the Navy like his late father.

Joe and Clarence take Donald home and meet his aunt Susan Abbott (Grayson), and Clarene is smitten.  Joe agrees to help set things up between the two.  Susan wants an audition with famed conductor Jose Iturbi (as Himself), and Joe tells her that they already arranged an audition for her.  Can they find a way to make things work out right so Clarence can get the girl?


I grew up watching this film.  We loved watching musicals, and this was in the regular rotation of films we watched.  My grandparents even had a piano roll of the song for their player piano (they probably still have it).  We knew all the words to the songs (not that I remember watching any of Kathryn Grayson's songs).

This film is the first of three pairings of Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly (followed by Take Me Out to the Ball Game and On the Town), it also served as Sinatra's first starring role.  The film was nominated for five Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Actor for Kelly, Best Cinematography, Best Song for "I Fall In Love Too Easily") and won Best Original Music Score for Georgie Stoll.

This film is best known for the scene below when Kelly dances with Jerry.

The scene is cute and memorable.  Kelly plays the cad, while Sinatra is the shy singer (a formula they would repeat in future collaborations), while Kathryn Grayson shows off her operatic pipes in 2 numbers.  Dean Stockwell is adorable as Donald and gets some very funny moments.  Jose Iturbi has a lot of charisma in this film.

The songs are catchy, especially the title song and the Kelly / Sinatra duet "We Hate to Leave" and Kelly gets a cute dance with Sharon McManus to "Las Chiapanecas".  It's definitely dated and the cast all went on to do better films, but it is still an enjoyable ride.

Anchors Aweigh (1945) 143 minutes
Director: George Sidney
Starring: Frank Sinatra as Clarence "Brooklyn" Doolittle
Kathryn Grayson as Susan Abbott
Gene Kelly as Joseph "Joe" Brady
Jose Iturbi as Himself
Dean Stockwell as Donald Martin
Billy Gilbert as Cafe Manager
Pamela Britton as The Girl From Brooklyn