One Paragraph Movie Review: Guys and Dolls

Two hundred and ninth film: Guys and Dolls, a musical starring Frank Sinatra (who can sing), Marlon Brando (who… hmmm), Jean Simmons and a bunch of stereotypes. Okay, the bad: I dislike musicals that labour the point through song, and this is one, filled with questionable messages like ‘if you sneakily get a girl drunk she’ll fall in love with you’ , ‘if you’re an unmarried woman in your thirties there’s something wrong with you’ and ‘the Salvation Army has cool people in it’. But it’s also full of extremely good songs, genuinely entertaining characters, street scenes and choreography, top costuming and my new favourite band name, Jazz Ballet Crap Game. If I must watch a musical about gambling, piety, and marriage, it might as well be this moderately tolerable one. Two and a quarter milky Bacardis out of five.