Can-Can (1960)

The owner of Montmart's most notorious nightspot, the Cafe Le Bal Du Paradis, Simone Pistache (MacLaine) spends a great deal of her time in court, thanks to the banning of that "lewd and lascivious" dance, the can-can! So when her nightlife-loving lawyer and boyfriend, Francois Durnais (Sinatra), refuses to settle down and marry her, Simone decides to play up to his rival in romance, Parisian judge Philipe Forrestier (Jourdan), a lovestruck young jurist who's determined to make an honest woman out of her...one way or the other. Jam-packed with spectacular production numbers and the scintillating show tunes of the incomparable Cole Porter, Can-Can is "big, brassy, colorful entertainment" (Los Angeles Times). C'est magnifique!
 
"The lovely lyrics of Cole Porter spice up the soundtrack, making everything deliciously dreamy."  Crazy for Cinema
"...Sinatra makes me melt no matter what the role."  MatchFlick
 


Editor's Note

Frank Sinatra and Shirley Maclaine star in this extravagant reproduction of the Cole Porter stage musical about 1890s Paris. Loosely adapted from the original, the film follows the efforts of French lawyer Franois Durnais (Sinatra) to prevent the police from closing down the club owned by his girlfriend, Simone Pistache (Maclaine), because the venue features the prohibited cancan dance. Although Durnais has the support of Judge Paul Barriere (Maurice Chevalier), policeman Phillippe Forrestier (Louis Jourdan) is determined to raid the place. On a reconnaissance mission, the resolute cop falls head over heels for Pistache, who isn't interested but sees in Forrestier an opportunity to force Durnais' hand into marriage. Among these Machiavellian machinations stands a bevy of fine Cole Porter songs and some excellent dance routines, including a performance of the cancan in front of a French judicial inquiry. Sinatra and MacLaine add their prodigious charisma and flair to director Walter Lang's lively Parisian romp.