“On the Town”, co-directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, was named by the American Film Institute in 2006 as the 19^th greatest musical in American cinema history.

“On the Town,” is the story of three sailors who have a day of shore leave in the grandeur city of New York City. The three sailors: Gabey, Chip and Ozzie are played by Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin respectively.

The first thing on the minds of Gabey, Chip and Ozzie are to find girls and then to see the sights and tourist attractions of New York City. The film was released in 1949, but there are serious undertones in the film that lead viewers to believe that the three sailors are merely trying to get laid before they set back out for their ship and the sea.

While on the subway Gabey sees a picture of the new “Mrs. Turnstiles” subway girl, named Ivy Smith and played by Vera-Ellen. Gabey has to have “Mrs. Turnstiles” and him, Chip and Ozzie set out to search for her all over New York City.

Chip quickly finds a woman, a cab driver named Brunhilde, played by Betty Garrett. Ozzie follows suit when he finds an anthropologist named Claire, played by Ann Miller. Gabey finally finds Ivy Smith and the two get to know each other, however, it is obvious that there is one big secret that she seems to be hiding. The three newly formed couples plan to meet each other that night at the top of the Empire State Building.

While waiting for the others to show up on the Empire State Building, Sinatra and Garrett perform what is likely the best musical number of the film, “You’re Awful.” The tune is a creative and unique love song with lyrics like: “You’re awful … awful nice to look at, awful nice to be with, awful sweet to have and hold.”

There are many good musical numbers in this film as you would expect from a classic musical. Among the other finest performances in the film are: “New York, New York”, “Prehistoric Man”, “When You Walk Down Mainstreet with Me” and, of course, “On the Town”.     

“On the Town”, was co-written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, who also wrote Donen and Kelly’s 1952 directorial collaboration “Singin’ in the Rain”. “Singin’ in the Rain” was an almost perfect film, and was named by AFI as the greatest musical of all time. However, there is an infamous scene in “Singin’ in the Rain” that simply wasn’t needed and could have been edited out. That scene is the one with Kelly dancing with the leggy Cyd Charisse. There is a similar scene in “On the Town,” where Kelly basically reviews the film in the “A Comedy in Three Acts” scene. However, this scene does include some of the best dancing in the film, just as the scene with Charisse does in “Singin’ in the Rain”.

The couples all meet on the top of the Empire State Building and go out for a night on the town. After spending a wonderful evening together Ivy Smith leaves Gabey behind. Gabey once again tries to find her and when he does her secret is reveled. The film ends shortly after with the three men returning to their ship. Their 24 hours in New York City were definitely memorable.