good back-story, and good acting

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

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

The acting in this movie is really good.

I love this movie. I never realized all of the songs I recognized and sang in school were from this movie. A fantastic mix of singing, dancing and acting. Rich characters that you love from beginning to end. Of course there are better singers than Brando but Brando did hold his own with every tune, and he was the best one for the part with his usual magnificent acting and likability. Frank Sinatra is in top form and I always love watching the great and stunning actress Jean Simmons. You are in for a great time with this enriching musical. Fun for everyone. Will leave you falling in love with musicals all over again. A Must see!

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)")

While I'm not a gambler in the sense of rolling dice or pulling slot machine levers, I do gamble in life, as we all do, and in moving to New York, it is agreeably one of the biggest gambles you can take in life. To see the New York of "Guys and Dolls" is to see one that probably only existed in the mind of its sources' author, Damon Runeyon, but it is one that makes the shady gamblers of New York (and their molls) a delightfully cartoonish fable. "A Musical Fable", this was called, and that it remains, one perfect in story, songs and dances, and to do "Guys and Dolls" successfully is a difficult task. A recent Broadway revival (2009) failed as it was literally flat; The 1990's revival practically jumped off the stage with the greatest production a Broadway revival can, a dream cast that is equal to that of its earlier movie version.Take two talented actors who really can't sing (Jean Simmons and Marlon Brando), pair them with two who can (Frank Sinatra and Vivian Blaine), and you have a criss-cross of metaphors to discuss almost 60 years after the release of this movie. Metaphorically, a "mission doll" probably can't sing, so Jean Simmon's somewhat raspy voice is a perfect choice for Sister Sarah, and Brando's practically whispered singing is actually very charming for the role of Sky. The more colorful Nathan and Adelaide are characters who do sing, so their performers need to have a streetwise but pleasant sound to them. Vivian Blaine proved in Fox musicals of the 1940's that she wasn't the nasally voiced singer of "Take Back Your Mink", and she gently pokes fun at nightclub dames of the 1940's and 50's with a "Dumb Dora" spoof that really isn't as dumb as she looks to be. Sinatra, back on top after an Oscar win, shares the spotlight, and his comic timing here is perfect, contrasting nicely with Brando's suave lover who has a force-to-be-reckoned with reputation.A dance lover's delight, this has several hot production numbers, starting with a jazzy ballet right in Times Square which shows off every kind of character who had been there long before Ruby Keeler sang of sexy ladies from the 80's who are indiscreet. Going from Manhattan to Havana, Cuba erupts into another hot dance sequence that seems straight out of a modern music video. Stubby Kaye steals every moment he's on as Nicely Nicely, repeating his Broadway role, and shooting the roof off of the mission house with "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat". In fact, it is this song that gets a Tony number every time the show is revived. (For a nice contrast to Kaye's Nicely Nicely, see Eugene Palette's take on the character in "The Big Street" opposite Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda.) Hard-as-nails Adele Jergens gets some wry commentary as Blaine's chorus girl pal, and Robert Keith takes on the law as the Lieutenant who declares to one of the gambler, "Don't ever help my mother across the street" when he claims to be a boy scout master.No review of "Guys and Dolls" could be complete without mentioning the brilliant score (Broadway's best, perhaps?) by Frank Loesser, combining sardonic comments on New York life, romantic idealism and even how the common cold can take over when love steps out. I quibble a little about the deletion of "A Bushel and a Peck" for the inclusion of the new "Pet Me, Papa" (as far as I'm concerned, there was room for both of them), but the addition of "A Woman in Love" over "I've Never Been in Love Before" was certainly acceptable.As for the art direction, no other musical (except perhaps "Li'l Abner" or the made for film "Red Garters") utilized the cartoonish color so vividly. There is not one disappointing moment in the film, so many high points (Simmons' obvious recovery from getting sick from too many Bacardi's before breaking into "If I Were a Bell") that when you ask whoever you watch this with for the first time, "Ask Me How Do I Feel", the only answer can be "Wonderful!".

Samuel Goldwyn was a genius. A very stylized set which I couldn't appreciate until I got a 16 x 9 TV. On the old TV set this was a skinny "letterboxed" movie. The story is pure Damon Runyon. The Frank Loesser score is magnificent. Marlon Brando is the only weak spot, but his singing is better than expected. There was conflict on this production. It went over budget. Sinatra and Brando didn't get along. The story is unbelievable, but then this is more of a fable than even most musicals.Great choreography and dancing. So many memorable songs. My favorites are "Luck Be a Lady Tonight," "Adelaide's Lament," and "Sit Down, You're Rockin' The Boat." The inspiration for another great movie "Robin and the 7 Hoods." Plays as a filmed stage-play and deservedly so. Great fun. Runs over 2 hours but doesn't feel like it. A real classic.