Guys and Dolls
Tags: psychological

Plot synopsis:
=== Act I ===
A pantomime of never-ceasing activities depicts the hustle and bustle of New York City ("Runyonland"). Three small-time gamblers, Nicely-Nicely Johnson, Benny Southstreet, and Rusty Charlie, argue over which horse will win a big race ("Fugue for Tinhorns"). The band members of the Save-a-Soul Mission, led by the pious and beautiful Sergeant Sarah Brown, call for sinners to "Follow the Fold" and repent. Nicely and Benny's employer, Nathan Detroit, runs an illegal floating crap game. Due to local policeman Lt. Brannigan's strong-armed police activity, he has found only one likely spot to hold the game: the "Biltmore garage." However, the owner, Joey Biltmore, requires a $1,000 security deposit, and Nathan is broke ("The Oldest Established"). Nathan hopes to get $1,000 by winning a bet against Sky Masterson, a gambler willing to bet on virtually anything. Nathan proposes a bet which he believes he cannot lose: Sky must take a doll (a woman) of Nathan's choice to dinner in Havana, Cuba. Sky agrees, and Nathan chooses Sarah Brown. At the mission, Sky claims he wants to be saved, impressing Sarah with his knowledge of the Bible. He offers Sarah a deal: He will bring the mission "one dozen genuine sinners" if she will accompany him to Havana the next night. Sarah rebuffs him, telling him that she plans to fall in love with an upright, moral man. Sky replies that he plans on being surprised when he falls in love ("I'll Know"). Sky kisses Sarah, and she slaps him. Nathan goes to watch his fiancée of 14 years, Miss Adelaide, perform her nightclub act ("A Bushel and a Peck"). After her show, she asks him, as she has many times before, to go down to city hall and get a marriage license. She is distraught to find out that Nathan is still running the crap game. She consults a medical book, which tells her that her chronic cold is a psychosomatic reaction to her frustration with Nathan's failure to marry her ("Adelaide's Lament").
The next day, Nicely and Benny watch as Sky pursues Sarah, and Nathan tries to win back Adelaide's favor. They declare that guys will do anything for the dolls they love ("Guys and Dolls"). General Cartwright, the leader of the Save-a-Soul organization, visits the mission and explains that she will be forced to close the branch unless they succeed in bringing some sinners to the upcoming revival meeting. Sarah, desperate to save the mission, promises the General "one dozen genuine sinners", implicitly accepting Sky's deal. The gamblers, including a notorious gangster from Chicago named Big Jule, are waiting for Nathan to secure the spot for the game and Lt. Brannigan becomes suspicious. To convince him of their innocence, they tell Brannigan their gathering is Nathan's "surprise bachelor party". This satisfies Brannigan, and Nathan resigns himself to eloping with Adelaide. Adelaide goes home to pack, promising to meet him after her show the next afternoon. The Save-A-Soul Mission band passes by, and Nathan sees that Sarah is not in it; he realizes that he lost the bet and faints.
In a Havana nightclub, Sky buys a drink for himself and a "Cuban milkshake" for Sarah. She doesn't realize that the drink contains Bacardi rum, and she innocently drinks multiple glasses, becoming progressively tipsier. Outside the club, Sarah kisses Sky and proclaims that she is truly enjoying herself for the first time in her life ("If I Were a Bell"). She wants to stay in Havana with Sky. Sky is surprised to find, though, that he truly cares about Sarah's welfare, and he insists that they go back to the airport and return to New York. Back in New York, it is 4:00 a.m., and as Sky and Sarah (now sober) stand in the street outside the mission, Sky explains that this is his favorite time of day, and Sarah is the only woman he's ever wanted to share it with him ("My Time of Day"). They both spontaneously admit that they're in love ("I've Never Been in Love Before"). A siren rings out and gamblers run out of the mission, where Nathan has been holding the crap game. Sarah assumes that Sky took her to Havana and pretended to be in love with her just so Nathan could use the mission for the game, rejecting his protests of innocence.
=== Act II ===
The next evening, Adelaide performs her act at the Hot Box ("Take Back Your Mink"). Nathan doesn't show up for the elopement because he's still running the crap game. She soon realizes that Nathan has stood her up again and turns to her book for comfort ("Adelaide's Second Lament").
Sarah admits to Arvide Abernathy, who is her grandfather and fellow mission worker, that she loves Sky but will never see him again because she believes he is responsible for the previous night's crap game. Abernathy expresses his faith in Sky's inherent goodness and urges Sarah to follow her heart ("More I Cannot Wish You"). Sky tells Sarah he intends to deliver the dozen genuine sinners for the revival. She doesn't believe him and walks off, but Arvide subtly encourages him.
Nicely shows Sky where the game is being held: the sewer ("Crapshooters Dance"). Big Jule has lost a large amount of cash and insists on playing on credit. To change his luck he uses his own dice which are blank and proceeds to cheat Nathan out of all of his money. Sky then arrives with Nicely. Big Jule isn't impressed in the slightest but Sky responds by punching him out. He then gives Nathan $1,000, saying that Nathan won the bet and implying that Sarah refused to go to Havana with him. Sky, determined to get the dozen sinners he promised Sarah, bets every man at the game a thousand dollars against their souls. If he loses, everyone gets a thousand dollars each, but if he wins, they must all attend the revival at the mission ("Luck Be a Lady"). He tosses the dice. The gamblers head towards the mission, and it is clear that Sky has won his bet. On his way there, Nathan runs into Adelaide and tells her that he has to attend the prayer meeting. Adelaide does not believe him. She asks herself why she keeps putting up with Nathan's lies, and he tells her that he loves her ("Sue Me").
Sky and the gamblers arrive at the mission, much to Sarah's surprise. General Cartwright asks if anyone wishes to give testimony to their sins. Benny and Big Jule testify but another gambler named Harry The Horse lets slip that Sky only got them to the meeting because he won their souls in a dice game. The General is very pleased by this as it shows that good can come out of evil. Attempting to appear contrite, Nicely invents a dream which encouraged him to repent, and the gamblers join in with revivalist fervor ("Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat"). Brannigan arrives and threatens to arrest everyone for the crap game in the Mission, but Sarah clears them, saying that none of the gamblers were at the mission the previous night. After Brannigan leaves, Nathan gives testimony and confesses that they held the crap game in the mission. He also confesses the bet he made with Sky about taking Sarah to Havana. He adds that he won the bet, to Sarah's shock, and she realizes that Sky wanted to protect her reputation and must genuinely care about her.
Sarah and Adelaide run into each other, and they commiserate and then resolve to marry their men anyway and reform them later ("Marry the Man Today"). Several weeks later, Nathan has opened a newsstand. Sky and Sarah have just been married, and Sky is playing the drum in the mission band. Adelaide and Nathan are about to get married at the mission, and Sky tells Nathan he'll lay eight to ten odds that he will be very happy. The title song is reprised ("Guys and Dolls" (Finale/Reprise).

Review: The acting is impeccable, and what's more, almost believable (for a musical at least), the singing is pretty decent (well, Marlon Brando is another story, but I'll get to that) and the whole thing is just so amusing and entertaining that you'll be singing the tunes and quoting the lines long after you've finished watching it.
Critics and viewers seem to sometimes have a difficult time with taking the film too seriously, by this I mean that a) Marlon Brando was not cast because of his singing voice (which was admittedly not good, but bearable), I like to think it was because he had irresistible charm, b) the whole premise is so unbelievable, to which I say, "name me a musical that IS wholly believable", and c) the movie moves too slowly, which is patently absurd, unless one does not have a taste for the slower pace of old movies and long, well articulated dance numbers, and romantic love scenes.
As far as the casting of Marlon Brando, otherwise not known for his singing abilities, Frank Sinatra and Jean Simmons, seem to work in the film.
Meanwhile Nathan Detroit must juggle his long-suffering fiancée Adelaide with trying to find a spot for a craps game which will make him rich if it doesn't alienate his fiancée forever first.The film started life as a series of short stories by Damon Runyon: that's his unique dialogue you hear, and those are his great character names, and that's his horse-racing/nightclub/late night gambling world.
Fortunately the music is so great, I don't care that much.My absolute favourite thing about this film, though, is the singing and acting of the two non-singers, Brando (as Sky) and Jean Simmons (as Sargeant Sarah Brown).
Along with South Pacific, Guys and Dolls is for grown-ups - - it is sassy, sexy, and full of men being men and women being strung along.There is an energy and drive that makes this stand out from the pack - the strength of Jean Simmond's performance, and the charm of a young Brando, and an already masterful Sinatra add much to the overall feel and look of the piece.Guys and Dolls wins as it is unashamedly what it is: an MGM musical.Still good to look at and listen too with great tunes and dance numbers - it will remain one of the classics of 20th Century cinema and be watched with pleasure for years to come.Warmly recommended..
Sheldon Leonard, who would go on to fame as TV producer of such shows as The Danny Thomas Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show does "Harry The Horse" wonders, B.S.Pulley is excellent as the harsh mannered and rough talking "Big Julie", and even Regis Toomey offers his excellence as "Brother Arvide".It is one of the fun musicals to see, good comedy, and you get Sinatra and Brando.
Now Sky has to convince the gamblers and gangsters that arrived in New York to the crap game that they should go to the mission to help Sarah."Guys and Dolls" is a delightful musical version of a Broadway successful play with Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra and Jean Simmons and directed by Joseph L.
Marlon Brando dances and sings and the number in Havana with Jean Simmons if one of the funniest moments of this movie.
Of course Nathan's life is also complicated by his 14 year long engagement to Adelaide of the Hot Box Revue.Considering the resentments that festered between Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra who played Sky and Nathan, I can't believe this film got made at all.
Proof of that can be found on Guys and Dolls cast album that Sinatra did for his Reprise record label in the early sixties where he shows what he could do with the Masterson songs.Still Brando is not great, but not bad as a singer and Frank Loesser did write the Adelaide song for Sinatra for the film.
Even worse, it lacks the razzmatazz that you come to expect from a Hollywood musical during the golden era.There's little to dislike in the pairing of Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra, but to be fair these two don't get much screen time.
It doesn't help that the songs aren't all that memorable, either, with the exception of the climactic "luck be a lady" number, which is the sole moment when GUYS AND DOLLS feels like a "proper" musical.
My only disappointment was that some of the original songs were changed.It's true that Frank Sinatra does not get a chance to sing as much in this movie but it's also nice that it's not just another Frank Sinatra movie where it's mostly him doing the singing.I actually thought it was better to use Marlon Brando's own voice as he has the voice that fits and I could not see someone with this great voice pulling off the gangster feel of his voice.Stubby Kaye's "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" is a foot-tappin', sing-a-long that I just love.
He is a hard act to follow with his version and I still like his the best.Vivian Blaine is just excellent in this part and "Adelaide's Lament" is my favorite of her songs.I really thought Jean Simmons was perfect for this part.
Then they badly miscast Marlon Brando in the lead (his one great moment in the film is when he delivers the line, "Dad, I've got cider in my ear!") and tampered with the ending, in effect eliminating the final punchline of the show.But what makes "Guys And Dolls" ultimately different from other Broadways shows mucked up by the movies is that the parts that are great elevate the film so much that you can be charitable for the mistakes made.
It's much more effective for Sarah Brown to sing about the way she feels when she realizes she's in love with Sky than for her to say, "If I were a bell I'd want to ring right now." Adelaide says so much more in her musical lament than she ever could with a speech about her long engagement to Nathan causing her cold-like symptoms.
Too bad that a musical like "Guys And Dolls" can't be enjoyed for what it is -- a fun adaptation of Damon Runyon with a wonderful score, not ever to be taken too seriously..
Likewise, Jean Simmons does pretty well for herself, acting-wise, and it's a delight to watch her let go in the "Havana" dance sequence, and she even sings "I'll Know" more or less well, but let's not get into "If I Were a Bell."  Still, even if these two aren't exactly world-class singers, they really embody their roles, so it's hard not to forgive them.
He almost wants to remind us it's a musical and not supposed to be reality, what with those bright and highly stylized sets by Oliver Smith (who I believe designed the original broadway sets as well), but yet almost everyone plays their roles completely straight and as realistically as possible, which adds an edge to the film that takes much of the great fun of the stage production away.
Guys and Dolls is a famous musical and this version casts a great actor but unfortunately not one known for his singing and dancing abilities.
It was probably regarded as avantgarde and hip at that time, although a few moves were copied many years later by Micheal Jackson in his Smooth Criminal video.Vivian Blaine, Johnny Silver and Stubby Kaye were in the original Broadway play and its shows in their performance in contrast with Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando.
Even Jean Simmons who looks beautiful was not that great at the singing and I doubt she was that much stretched with the acting in my opinion.As for the songs Guys and Dolls has a few signature and now famous songs, but there is also a lot of forgettable filler songs that seems to have always plagued musicals.Ironically its the casting of Brando that drew me to this version and it is his acting that kept me watching..
Her idealistic and sexually-repressed Sarah comes out of her shell following an alcohol binge in Havana, letting loose with an adorably playful rendition of "If I Were A Bell." Even though both Simmons and Brando were non-singers, producer Sam Goldwyn decided not to dub their vocals, contending that "maybe you don't sound so good, but at least it's you." Despite Goldwyn's backhanded confidence, the pair both do well to carry entire musical numbers themselves.
(For a good example of movie musical film-making, check out Meet Me in St. Louis  Minnelli's masterpiece of camera usage and the mise-en-scene).You can certainly argue that I had a predisposition against Guys and Dolls to begin with and that explains my negativity.
The famous musical numbers in this award-winning Broadway smash include "Fugue For Tinhorns", "Guys and Dolls", "Luck Be a Lady", "I'll Know", "A Person Could Develop a Cold", and "The Oldest Established Permnanet Floating Crap Game in New York!".
He is equally adept at getting fine dialogue acting and directing such huge numbers as "Luck Be Lady", the varied and challenging brawl section, the Havana "A Woman in Love" section created for the film that precedes it, the presenting of the title song "Guys and Dolls" and "Pet Me, Poppa" set in the club where Blaine works.
As it is, MARLON BRANDO was chosen to play Sky Masterson, he with a less than average way of belting out a tune--and prim JEAN SIMMONS plays the pretty Salvation Army miss in bland style (until the Havana nightclub scene) with her own unimpressive singing voice.
And, of course, FRANK SINATRA, as Nathan Detroit (too bad he's not the one who gets to sing "Luck Be A Lady") is equally at home with Runyon's style.But it's a musical about floating crap games that must have worked much better on the stage.
Mankiewicz adapted and directed this lavish screen-version of the long-running Broadway hit musical, retaining much of Frank Loesser's fine score in a romantic Damon Runyon story about two gamblers in New York, one trying to stay ahead of the cops and the other trying to stay ahead of a female missionary with the Salvation Army.
He bets Masterson $1,000 that he can't take missionary Sarah Brown (Jean Simmons) to Havana with him the next day.Guys and Dolls is basically nothing more than unsavory types singing and dancing, which usually, as it does here, add up to fun.
Vivian Blaine still stops the show with "Adelaide's Lament" and Stubby Kaye still brings down the house with "Sit Down, You're Rockin the Boat"; however, as someone who has appeared in three different stage productions of the play, this film is not even close to a proper rendition of this story for the big screen and I would love to see it remade.
Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra HATED each other while doing this film and in the years following it.Brando asked Sinatra for some singing lessons,but Sinatra (who was already upset over the fact that he was cast as Nathan Detroit,when he wanted the part of Skye Masterson)wanted to be the star singer in the production and didn't want any one to be better than he was.He told Brando to get lost,so to get back at him Marlon kept screwing up the scene in the diner where Sinatra was eating cheesecake so that he would have to keep eating,eating and eating.In the later years,Sinatra gave Brando the nickname "Mumbles" or "Mr.Mumbles" because of the way he talks..
Another surprise comes by watching Marlon Brando singing more musical numbers than Frank Sinatra.
You've seen that story a hundred times, but with singing and dancing, set in the 1940s, and played out in the style of old-fashioned gangsters, it's incomparable.Sometimes, in the transfer of a stage-to-screen musical, the timing of the lines feels slow, as if the actors are waiting for the audience to laugh.
It's so adorable.Guys and Dolls was the first Marlon Brando movie I ever saw, and it was years until I saw him in anything else, so I didn't quite understand how shocking it was for him to sing and dance in a musical.
My pick would have been Robert Mitchum, who played with Jean Simmons in three other movies, who had a very nice singing voice, tons of charisma, and perfected the art of bad boy.Frank Sinatra plays the second lead, but since he was given a couple of extra songs, he pretty much shares equal screen time with Marlon Brando.
In the film, he's the one who bets Marlon Brando to woo Jean Simmons, and while he makes such a reckless bet, the rest of his character is hen-pecked, stressed out, tired, but still charming and adorable.If you like the famous songs that came out of Guys and Dolls, like "Luck be a Lady", "Guys and Dolls", and "Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat", or if you like stylized period pieces where everyone speaks without contractions, or if you like Brando or Frankie, or if you like the scripts in musicals to be as entertaining as the songs, or if you want to laugh, or swoon, or sing along, or if you're looking for a new favorite musical, buy a copy of Guys and Dolls.
Guys and Dolls (1955) *** (out of 4) Sky Masterson (Marlon Brando) makes a bet with Nathan Detroit (Frank Sinatra) that he can sweep a missionary woman (Jean Simmons) off her feet.
While Sky works his magic on the woman, Nathan must try and find a new place to hold a large gambling ring.GUYS AND DOLLS will always be a hotly debated film because of the casting of Brando.
Vivian Blaine is also quite charming in her supporting role as Sinatra's fiancé for fourteen years.The cinematography is quite good and the musical numbers are well-staged and performed.
Instead I will seek out theatrical productions for the stage version.On the plus side Jean Simmons one of my favorites is wonderful, Marlon Brando very winning as Sky. Too bad the world of film did not see Stubby sing the songs he created on stage.
Not all the songs entirely click, and a little of the dialog feels like it's being performed for the stage as opposed to film (it's hard to tell at times- Brando and Sinatra straddle the line so often that one has to watch carefully to tell when one plays for the camera or for the "stage", while the actress playing Adele is better for stage than screen).The plot is one of those winners that works well for its period, even if one wonders if its influence has stretched to the likes of 1999's She's All That (well, not quite, but close).
With a theatrical look throughout, Guys and Dolls isn't a great film musical but certainly a very good one..
He has been engaged to Vivian Blaine for 14 years and she loathes his gambling habit.In a real change of pace, Sky Masterson was played by Marlon Brando who actually did his own singing here!The film is saved by superlative choreography.
Although in all fairness, I would probably still like the film production better because of my general adoration of both Brando (for his acting) and Sinatra (for his voice, although he is quite the actor as well, see The Manchurian Candidate or From Here to Eternity.)As for some of the other reviewers' statements about the songs, I have the Broadway soundtrack and though Isabel Bingley's voice outshines that of Jean Simmons, it is not more pleasant.
I have to disagree with Sue Lee comments on this movie - I think that Jean Simmons and Marlon Brando did extraordinary work in this film.
Frank Loesser's spirited Broadway musical, "Guys and Dolls," was given a serviceable presentation for the screen version.In a most unusual piece of casting, Marlon Brando took on the singing-acting role of Sky Masterson.
They made a good choice for the main characters,like Marlon Brando,Frank Sinatra,& Jean Simmons,also Stubby Kaye.
Part of the blame has to go to the leads, just about all of whom are miscast: Marlon Brando looks bewildered as to why he's in a musical, Frank Sinatra plays way too nice a guy and has none of the edge which makes him so essential (the songs are not tailored to his style) and Jean Simmons barely registers the way a Shirley Jones might.
In Damon Runyon's New York City, high stakes gambler Marlon Brando (as Sky Masterson) bets he can bag any woman, so floating crap game shooter Frank Sinatra (as Nathan Detroit) challenges him to take prudish missionary Jean Simmons (as Sarah Brown) on a cruise to Havana.
Mankiewicz ~ Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Jean Simmons, Vivian Blaine.
Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra and Jean Simmons are the headliners of "Guys and Dolls," but they aren't why I like it so much (I have a fancy DVD of it).
Frank Sinatra gives a charming and convincing performance as Nathan Detroit, a New York hood enamored both of gambling and of his long-suffering fiancé of 14-years, Adelaide (Vivian Blaine--superb!).One of the amusing insights into the making of this film is that Brando originally didn't want to play Sky Masterson, but the director (Joseph Mankiewicz) convinced him by saying "I understand you're apprehensive because you've never done a musical comedy.
Second of all, I had always dreaded the musical numbers with Marlon Brando & Jean Simmons in the movie version.
"Guys and Dolls" is a high water mark in American movies with great performances from Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, and Jean Simmons.
Nathan doesn't have to be a singer; he does have to have comic timing.I'd have cast Robert Mitchum (who could actually sing) as Sky Masterson and Phil Silvers as Nathan Detroit.Jean Simmons was fine as Sarah and Vivian Blaine was great as Adelaide..
The movie version of the Broadway show has the illogical casting of Marlon Brando in the singing lead of Sky Masterson, but it's also the only pairing of Brando and Frank Sinatra.