On the Town (1949)

MGM
Directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Bros)

Those two rascals Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra team up with sailor buddy Jules Munshin for 24 hours of shore leave in NYC. They see the tourist sites in the first few hours, but what they really want are girls. Gene falls in love with poster girl Vera-Ellen, leading to a frantic search of the city's museums and cultural centers. Frank falls in love with taxi driver Betty Garrett, or the other way around, while Munshin picks up anthropologist Ann Miller. The couples hit the nightclubs with plenty of stops for songs and dances. Energetic production with some very good dance routines, particularly a couple of stylized tangents with Kelly, but dragged down by some dumb ones as well, such as an ill-advised caveman number and one at Coney Island with the boys in drag.