Guys and Dolls Decades Collection - 50s (1985)

Variety
"Robert Altman has directed a fine cast in FOOL FOR LOVE with all the authority and finesse a good play deserves..." 11/27/1985

Los Angeles Times
"...It's a raw, explosively funny, elemental tragicomedy about the pure willfulness of love....What Altman has pulled out of this pair is perfection..." 12/06/1985 p.C1

FilmsGraded.com 7 of 10
Damon Runyon's short story "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" became the unlikely subject of the biggest new Broadway musical of 1950. It was directed by the legendary George S. Kaufman, and contained memorable songs composed by Frank Loesser. It was inevitable that the play would become an MGM film, although it cost Samuel Goldwyn dearly. He paid a million dollars plus a percentage of the gross for the rights. Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who had won Oscars in consecutive years for All About Eve (1950) and A Letter to Three Wives (1949), was named as the director...With its colorful sets and costumes, and exaggerated characters and choreography, Guys and Dolls lives up to the expectations of a big budget MGM musical from the 1950s. Nathan Detroit (Frank Sinatra) and Sky Masterson (Marlon Brando) are hardened New York City gamblers. Masterson opines that "all Dolls are alike", which leads to a bet with Detroit that he can win the love of Sarah (Jean Simmons)...At 150 minutes, Guys and Dolls does seem overlong. While the legions of fans of the long-running musical would object to the removal of production numbers, the film could do without "Adelaise's Lament" and "Take Back Your Mink". Vivian Blaine's role in Guys and Dolls may be the highlight of her film career, but her clinging, pyschosomatic character can be reduced without impacting the major storylines...Guys and Dolls had its greatest success at the Golden Globes. In the Musical/Comedy category, it won Best Picture and Best Actress (Simmons). At the Academy Awards, it was nominated without a win for its sets, cinematography, costume design, and score. As fifties musicals go, Guys and Dolls had nothing to be ashamed of, but it was hardly in the same league as Singin' in the Rain (1952) and A Star is Born (1954). - Brian Koller
 
DVD Town 6 of 10
I have the impression that the movie version of "Guys and Dolls" may have been more than a bit outdated even when it was first released in 1955. It comes off as a passably good musical and certainly one that everybody knows, but it's not a great musical. Its cast, which includes Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra, is sincere, and its screenwriter and director, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, is earnest...Maybe the fault lies with Frank Loesser's music and lyrics. With the exception of a couple of numbers, they aren't really memorable. I'd bet that beyond "Luck Be A Lady," most people would be hard pressed to recognize, let alone remember, any other song. Be that as it may, "Guys and Dolls" is a long, lavish, old-fashioned Hollywood production that tries very hard to entertain. Maybe too hard. No such reservations about MGM's picture and sound, though. They're first-rate all the way...Samuel L. Goldwyn, who produced the movie, brought a measure of publicity to the film before it ever started shooting by paying a then-record $1,000,000 for the screen rights. But Brando was not Goldwyn's first choice to play Sky Masterson; Gene Kelly was. There were also thoughts about Clark Gable and even Dean Martin (with Jerry Lewis as Nathan Detroit)..."Guys and Dolls" comes off as a throwback to the extravagant Hollywood shows of the thirties and forties, a form soon to be replaced by deeper, more penetrating character studies like "My Fair Lady," more sociopolitical efforts like "Cabaret," and more satiric stage works like Frank Loesser's own later musical, "How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying."...Many people still consider "Guys and Dolls" the greatest Broadway show of all time, and I wish them well. For me, most of the songs fail to endure the test of time. - John J. Puccio