Party Girl

"Party girl" is a peculiar movie, starting with its title. In fact, the title recalls a light comedy in the style of the 1930/1940s. On the contrary, we deal with a drama/gangster-story of rare toughness (for the standards of the 1950s). The violence of some scenes is really scary. We recognize the hand of director Nicholas Ray. We even have an excellent action sequence which anticipates a famous sequence of "The Godfather". The story is interesting, the cinematography is good and accurate.

Unfortunately, this is an unbalanced movie. Vicky, very well played by beautiful Cyd Charisse, is a rather innovative character. But her dance numbers, so patently instrumental to show Cyd's legendary legs and phenomenal dancing skills, are just stuck to the film. A thorough and interesting psychological study of Thomas Farrell (Robert Taylor) is made. But the film is nearly marred by a huge flaw. The badly crippled Farrell has a miracle-surgery in Europe (?) and returns perfectly healed! (alas! that's not yet possible in the 2000s, let alone in the 1930s). And then the formerly crooked corrupt lawyer Farrell turns into the noblest possible person. Come on! At any rate, Taylor gives one of the best performance of his career. John Ireland is a great thug. Lee J. Cobb (as usual looking twenty years older than his actual age) makes an outstanding job as the suave, cruel gangster Rico. The action scenes, though well-filmed, are too scarce for a gangster movie. Besides the magical surgery, other twists of the plot are unlikely.

You see, "Party girl" has remarkable merits and flaws, as well. All in all, not a bad movie.

"Party Girl" is a rarely seen movie directed by Nicholas Ray. This 1958 picture mixes styles, and at times, it achieves an originality that only a director like Mr. Ray could give any movie he directed. Basically, we are given a situation in which a lawyer who defends the criminal element is caught in the way he must deal with a situation where he has to turn against his loyalty to his mobster employer because, at last, he sees the light and the consequence of his actions.

Robert Taylor plays the lawyer, Tommy Farrell. This was his last film that marks the end of his long and successful association with MGM. Robert Taylor makes an appealing Farrell, and even though one realizes he is defending people that are at the margin of the law, his character shows redeeming qualities that make him merit our sympathy. The actor is perfect in the role.

Cyd Charisse playing a dramatic role is a surprise. In fact, she was always seen in musical roles because of her talent as a dancer. In the film she plays a chorus girl that suddenly is elevated to a starring role in front of her former colleagues because of the influence Tommy Farrell had in those circles. Ms. Charisse holds her own against an accomplished actor like Mr. Taylor. This is one of her best opportunities in the movies.

Lee J. Cobb is seen as the criminal boss Rico, who has a tremendous power over Tommy Farrell. Mr. Cobb shows he could do anything in movies as well as on the stage. John Ireland plays the evil Louis Canetto.

This is a film that fans of the work of Nicholas Ray shouldn't miss.

Most any film directed by Nicholas Ray is usually worth watching, and "Party Girl's" no exception. Ray took here what might have been a quite routine movie under another director and turned it into something quite interesting.

He extracted an unusually strong performance from Robert Taylor, who celebrated his final MGM film here, and drew equally effective work from Cyd Charisse, who also demonstrated her formidable dancing skills.

Then there was that burly "brute" Lee J. Cobb doing his no-nonsense "gangster thing," which always rang true. Yes, "Party Girl" had lots of bite.

A bit of age comparisons are interesting here. Would you believe the actors playing the "handsome leading man" and "sinister character villain" were both born the same year? It was 1911 when Taylor and (gulp) Cobb entered this world. Adding to the mix, Ray was also born the same year, making for a perfect triumvirate. (Trivia note: Taylor and Ray both expired of the same terminal illness.)

Charisse showed what a 37-year-old-dancer-in-shape can do. Dig those mobile movements: cool hip action, fast torso turns, strenuous leg extensions and fantastic full-bodied falls. Cyd seemed one of the last holdouts as the film musical glory days "bit the dust."

The post-Lewis B. Mayer period allowed for more violence than ever before at MGM, and "Party Girl" had its abundant supply in the final gangland sequences.

This movie makes more sense if you watch the documentary MGM: When the Lion Roars, about the history of MGM. According to the documentary, 1936-1946 was MGM's Golden Era. However, after the war, tastes in film changed, but MGM refused to change with the times or the tastes of post-war America. By the 1950's MGM was a Lion in Winter. Thus this rather split personality film begins to make sense from the context of its manufacturer. It can't decide what kind of film it wants to be, going back and forth between the big musical spectacles that MGM was famous for since the dawn of sound, to hard-hitting gangster characters and antics in the Warner Brothers tradition, to social commentary on the plight of the disabled in modern times and a beauty and the beast romance. If you know the chaos into which MGM is plunged by 1958, this enables you just to sit back and enjoy the film, which does have a great deal to offer.

The movie is badly mislabeled, since it really is not that centered on party girls at all. Instead it is basically a prohibition era romance between a beautiful showgirl played by Cyd Charisse and a lame mob lawyer played by Robert Taylor. Already dumped by one glamor girl who just wanted his money but was repulsed by his misshaped body, Taylor's character is understandably reluctant to get involved again. However, soon the pair are in love and Taylor's character gains the confidence to want to stop being the mob's mouthpiece. However, leaving the mob is not such a quick and clean business, whether you are an attorney or just a muscle man.

Taylor gives a very good performance in this one, and Lee J. Cobb's performance as a mobster looks like it was the inspiration for Robert De Niro's portrayal of Al Capone in 1987's The Untouchables, in at least one scene anyways. This one is definitely worth your time if it comes your way.

Quite possibly Nicholas Ray's most visually eloquent film, the poorly- named Party Girl focuses not on the Cyd Charisse titular character but her romantic interest, mob lawyer Tom Farrell, played with great intensity and dedication by Robert Taylor.

Charisse is even more luminous than usual thanks in part to the mesmerizing lighting and camera work utilized by Ray in two major dance numbers obviously included to showcase MGM's most talented dancer. However, Ray was also able to elicit a rather touching albeit somewhat unrealistic performance from Charisse in playing a lonely showgirl drawn to Taylor's disfigured lawyer trapped in the world of defending known criminals.

Such a story had been done before many different ways, yet under Ray's direction the film achieves a certain sense of nobility and appreciation. It is not flashy, but not boring either. It is, as much of Ray's work was at the time, workman-like and beautifully crafted. Compared to much of the other features released at the time, Ray's films stand out today as rising above the material he was given to work with.