PERSONAL NOTE: Gene Kelly is a Sexpot!

I was sick this past week. Very, VERY sick. Confined to my bed, there was nothing for me to do but stare at the ceiling or the television, so I opted for the latter. In my codeine induced delirium, I was having trouble picking a movie to watch, so I thought to myself, "Hey, I should just go through my DVD collection alphabetically, watching one film of each letter..." (I got to N in 4 days, by the way). First up was Anchors Aweigh, which had been sitting in my stash collecting dust since I bought it. It was my first time seeing the film, and now I am kicking myself for waiting so long to watch such a gem!

I have never considered myself a huge musical fan, but after watching this film I may be a classifiable junkie. Aside from noticing the enjoyable story, catchy tunes, and the extreme skinniness of Frank "Blue Eyes" Sinatra, I was left with one very clear impression: Gene Kelly is phenomenal! Not just as an actor, a singer, or a dancer, but as a man who so easily blends all three categories into one charismatic goldmine of masculinity and grace that he makes all other men look like boys.

It's strange, for I have seen Singin' in the Rain, Cover Girl, etc, but never before have I been so impressed by Kelly's profound athleticism. He doesn't jump, he soars; he doesn't dance, he destroys! He can take the entire frame and fill it up with his own virile frame like it's some kind of magic trick. Then there is the thing I can't put my finger on, which is his incredible essence, his power. Unlike Astaire, whom I equally adore, Kelly leads not with an endearing bashfulness, but with a profound confidence. Both men are graceful, talented, cocky in their own way, but Astaire is innocent and classic, while Kelly is seductive and modern. Indeed, there was one scene at the beginning of Anchors when Kelly is on the phone with his never seen "booty-call," Lola, and as he sensuously strokes the receiver I found myself going, "Whoa! How did that make it past the censors?!?!" 

Perhaps I am not well-versed enough in Kelly's filmography, but I felt that this role was a bit of a departure for him. I always thought of him as a "nice guy," a "gentleman," the "boy-next-door-who-dances." In this film he is a bit more dangerous. He plays the lady killer, ironically opposite the innocent Frank Sinatra character (haha). While he is not a rogue by any means, he has more edge, even if he proves to be more talk than action. He's a bad boy, but the bad boy who is a lover and not a fighter. The typical macho, Alpha male in the package of a graceful body and a trustworthy face, Kelly could have gone on to play truly dangerous men. His immediate likability would make him the perfect predator. I know Kelly did perform in some dramas, and I am interested to see how they turned out.

In any case, if you haven't seen Anchors Aweigh, I suggest you do posthaste, if only for the famous dance sequence Gene Kelly does with the cartoon mouse Jerry of "Tom and Jerry"- (another great thing about Kelly was his innovative way of using technology to expand the possibilities of dance, such as the scene in which he dances with himself in split-screen in Cover Girl). In the mean time, if you have any other good Kelly movies to recommend, I'm all ears!