Hit The Deck!

Legendary crooner Vic Damone celebrated his 80th birthday on June 12. We celebrated in the gayest way possible: by watching his campy 1955 musical misfire, Hit the Deck; and then crying our eyes out as he belted out the theme song to the Cary Grant/Deborah Kerr sloshfest, An Affair to Remember.

Hit the Deck has been cited as the worst MGM musical of all time in certain circles; and I'm not overly inclined to disagree. The plot is worse than threadbare; the stars have zero chemistry with each other; there's ridiculous Italian-American ethnic stereotyping (Vic's character is named "Rico Ferrari," which says it all); and the musical numbers range from the terminally bland, to the eye-poppingly garish. Supposedly, MGM used this "all-star" vehicle as a time-waster to use up the contract options on such stalwarts as Walter Pidgeon, Jane Powell and Ann Miller, all of whom would leave the studio within a year.

But it's all a lot of fun, nevertheless, with some wacky 1950's fashions by Helen Rose, a few nice tunes, and surprisingly charming turns by the male leads: Damone, snub-nosed cutie Russ Tamblyn, and lecherous daddy Tony Martin all come off very well. Jane Powell gets to model some va-va-voom bombshell gowns, but never convinces us that she's in love with either Vic or his aging rival, Gene Raymond; Debbie Reynolds is as cute as ever, but given absolutely nothing to do; and Ann Miller does her patented snappy showgirl schtick, probably on autopilot. She does get the best production number, though; "The Lady from the Bayou" is a totally out-there number featuring a bevy of flaming homo chorus boys in tight pink and lavender shirts, and Annie as a Cajun hellcat. Worth the price of a rental alone.