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Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Sick Product of a Sick System

Overrated

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Guys and Dolls is one of the most famous of the 1950s, but IMHO it has dated more badly than most of its contemporaneous pieces, at least as far as the film version goes. The reason, I think, is down to 3 things: characters, plot and music (in other words, basically everything).The best moments in the film are the musical numbers, although these are hardly the equal of say West Side Story. There are a lot of dated songs, either what might be described as patter or list songs or else sickly sentimental romantic ballads. The songs given to the "Dolls" are forgettable and quite tedious despite being quite short. There are a few interesting ensemble piece for the "Guys" such as Fugue for Tinhorns, The Oldest Established and mostly memorably the title Guys and Dolls. Of the solo songs, the only two of note are "Luck Be a Lady", unfortunately "sung" by Brando (Couldn't a way be found to have contrived Sinatra to sing it?) and "Sit down you're rocking the boat".Although these songs are good they are short, lasting usually less than 2 minutes. In total I would say that the musical numbers add up to less than 40 minutes (probably less) of the film's 150 minutes, and as stated, many of these are substandard. But that leaves well over an hour of film, made up of a silly plot and badly drawn caricatures, and it is for this reason that Guys and Dolls is a failure.The characters are broadly drawn even by the standards of the time. In keeping with the convention of making gangsters non-threatening, they all talk in a comically over precise and genteel way always saying "I do not" rather than "I don't". Now this would be fine if it was limited to short bursts or to one or two characters, but most of the male characters talk this way for most of this (lengthy) film. It gets old very quickly and actually becomes annoying.As far as the females goes, there are only two of note. One talks in a "comical" broad New York accent and the other, more serious one, is depicted as a sexually repressed spinster eager to become wild. This is greeting card level psychology. As to why Sinatra and Brando, two serial womanisers, would suddenly both be overcome by urges to marry these women is never seriously explained. It simply happens because that's what happens in a romantic comedy.This is not the only aspect of the plot that is weak. One gangster, Big Juli, is depicted as being feared yet Brando knocks him out with a single punch at one point without there being any ramifications. And why is the crap game being held in a sewer? Is it believable that extremely rich men would travel great distances to play a high stakes game to walk 10 minutes in a stinking sewer? Maybe it was a crap game in more senses than one.The Police Chief walks in and out of scenes with all the realism of a character in a bad sit-com. He just walks in, speaks a few lines, then walks out again. I could give many more examples of the weak and contrived plotting, and of course the counter would always be "well its just a piece of light hearted entertainment, not to be taken seriously." But even the light hearted must be competently constructed in order to be enjoyable. Things simply can't happen one way at one point because the plot demands it, and another way at another point because the plot demands it.Despite several numbers being cut, the film seems all of its 150 minute length. There are many longueurs, the most interminable being the scenes with Brando and Simmons in Havana, with the implausible seduction of Simmons by Brando which is really the seduction of Brando by Simmons. Despite her handing herself to him on a plate and him previously telling us his easy conquests of women, he declines and acts like a gentleman. One might argue that her purity appeals to his jaded sensibility; however, inexplicably, he starts to fall for her AFTER he has seen her act like a totally selfish and violent drunken tart.Verdict: watch the best bits on youtube and give the film a miss.

In New York, the smalltime gambler Nathan Detroit (Frank Sinatra) has been eloping from getting married with his girlfriend Adelaide (Vivian Blaine) for fourteen years. Nathan needs one thousand dollars in advance to rent a place for the crap game but neither he nor his friends Nicely- Nicely Johnson (Stubby Kaye) and Benny Southstreet (Johnny Silver) can afford. Nathan decides to bet against the gambler Sky Masterson (Marlon Brando), challenging him to have a dinner in Havana with a woman of his choice. Sky accepts the bet and Nathan chooses the prude Sergeant Sarah Brown (Jean Simmons), who runs a mission for sinners. Sky visits Sarah and invites her to have dinner with him in Havana; in return, he would bring one dozen sinners to the mission. Sarah refuses the deal, but when General Cartwright (Kathryn Givney) comes to New York to shutdown the mission, Sarah feels that the only chance to keep the mission operating is accepting Sky's invitation. They travel to Havana and fall in love with each other; but when they return to the mission, Sarah discovers that Nathan used the place for his crap game. Further, she believes that Sky has plotted the scheme to use her. 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. Mankiewicz. The romantic comedy is highly funny and entertaining with great musical numbers. Marlon Brando dances and sings and the number in Havana with Jean Simmons if one of the funniest moments of this movie. Despite the running time of 150 minutes, the viewer never feels tired or bored. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Eles e Elas" ("They (he) and They (she)")

This movie is terrific. Although shot on an interior set, this movie captures the essence of New York City and contains incredible performances by the the cast who succeed in making this movie work. This movie is character-driven, meaning that if the actors fail to make their characters believable, then the movie fails. This the movie avoids. Instead, what the movie delivers is first rate acting, a wonderful story, and first-rate music. Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons deliver surprisingly strong performances, which include dancing and singing (not dubbed). The chemistry between them is so strong that is it almost palpable. Although the story has an offbeat satirical quality, nevertheless it is strong dramatically. Vivian Blaine is also excellent as frank Sinatra's perennial fiancé, and the other members of the cast, especially Stubby Kaye and Johnny Silver, deliver wonderfully entertaining performances. If you like Hollywood musicals, then this movie is for you. If you don't like Hollywood musicals, watch this movie anyway; it may change your mind.

Joseph Mankiewicz's 'Guys and Dolls' is a funny musical comedy based on the famous musical play. Colourful and full of energy, filled with songs, dance and gambling, the pacing does occasionally stumble as it sometimes feels as though the songs overshadow the story. In my opinion, some of the songs could have been left out, like the pussycat number. The overall dance numbers are very well choreographed. Hats off to the art department for making the film look so beautiful and vibrant with different colours. The cinematography is brilliant.I never thought I'd see Brando sing and dance. It wasn't something I'd even imagined but he does a decent job. Sinatra is already familiar with this genre. However, his role is barely developed. Of the women, Vivian Blaine and Jean Simmons do a fine job using their comic flair. Stubby Kaye provides fine support as Nicely.Finally, in my opinion, 'Guys and Dolls' is among the better musical of the 50s. Amusing, entertaining, energetic and (at the very least) foot-tapping, just what a musical should be.