File #3 On The Town/The Third Man

So far Sinatra has kept up with a strange relationship towards his female co-stars. One in which it becomes the female’s job to pursue him and eventually convey their feeling for him in order for him to fall in love with them instead of the other way around. One might view this as a somewhat feminine trait however, especially in On The Town, the inclusion of Gene Kelly and Jules Munshin complicates things in a sort of “theater of distractions” sort of way. On one hand you have Gene Kelly, who in many ways plays a character similar to Frank Sinatra’s in Anchors Aweigh. While Jules Munshin provides more or less the comic relief in the trio he happens to be the first one of the three to land a girl more importantly Ann Miller, who, if you actually watched Mulholland Drive, played Niomi Watts’ landlord.

In a way you could decipher the type of masculinity these three sailors represent by looking at whom they pair off with.

Take Munshin for instance, he pairs off with Ann Miller who plays a very domineering personality thus you could say that Munshin fits into the same quasi-submissive role as Frank Sinatra but more of a humorous dunderhead or rather caveman who ironically ends up with the smart girl, I like to call this the “jock character”

As I had mentioned earlier Frank Sinatra plays a somewhat submissive masculinity. He is still a man’s man and his character is not particularly feminine but the fact that he is pursued instead of being the pursuer isn’t exactly “manly”. Sinatra ends up with Betty Garrett, a street-smart cab driver who is noticeably forceful in her pursuit of Frank Sinatra.  However unlike in Anchors Aweigh, Sinatra is slightly on par this time around with his co-star/director Gene Kelly.

Not unlike before, Kelly is seen here as a the masculine figure of the group however this time around he needs help from Sinatra where it were once the other way around. Kelly ends up with Vera-Ellen a girl who Kelly feels has the air of celebrity but in fact is nothing but a burlesque dancer in Coney Island.

On the Town could be seen as the beginning of Sinatra’s gradual transformation into the screen version of his recording persona, yet he has still got a long way to go before he becomes his SNL self ...

Here's a SNL video parodying Ann Miller and Frank Sinatra...among other things (they mention On The Town too! Bonus)Leg Up Video by Saturday Night Live - MySpace Video

Until Next Time!