I just saw Robert Osborne and Alec Baldwin on TCM talking about next week’s “essential” movie: An American in Paris. That was the one from like two months ago. Oh, well. I guess there can only be so many essentials. Anyway, at the end of their discussion, Alec Baldwin says: “It’s Gene Kelly’s wonderful looks and athleticism that makes it great.” That’s funny, because I always thought it was Nina Foch’s man-eater cougardom that made it great. Ah, well, I suppose there's no accounting for taste.
What I’m really waiting for is the long-awaited sequel to An American in Paris, where he runs off with his French cherie, gets dumped and bad-mouthed by his art patron so that nobody will ever take his painting seriously again, gets dumped by Leslie Caron for being a failure, and becomes a homeless alcoholic who uses his athleticism to get away from the cops when they try to arrest him, or to get away from the chateau-owners whenever he gets caught squatting. I don’t know why they haven’t made it yet. With the state of the economy and the housing market, and the anti-authoritarian reaction it engenders, it could be the “feel-good” movie of the Year!
