For our Friday ‘dance-off-the-dirt-of-the week-and-head-into-a hopefully-less-dismal-weekend’ offering, here’s the famous ‘trash can’ dance from ‘It’s Always Fair Weather’, starring Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey and Michael Kidd. It’s a curious film and not very successful in its day–it was thought to be ‘to cynical’ and perhaps the subject matter hit a bit too close to home for post-war America. The three men play WW2 war buddies who vow after the war to meet again ten years later. Only time has not been kind to any of them and their disappointments in life dominate the story. Not something most mid-century Americans wanted to admit to, I suspect. The movie also came as the popularity of movie musicals had begun to wane. Fewer people were interested in musicals for some reason, and fewer people were interested in working with Gene Kelly (for obvious reasons). Nonetheless, the movie holds up quite well, perhaps because of its unusually thoughtful and melancholy nature. Enjoy!