Film

Guys and Dolls

A candy-colored postcard from a New York that never existed, where gamblers rhyme, showgirls have hearts of gold, and Salvation Army missionaries can be won with a trip to Havana. Brando surprises you by singing at all, Sinatra glides through it like he owns the joint, and the whole thing runs on Damon Runyon's slangy, big-hearted crooks. Pure theatrical sugar for musical lovers.

TMDb rating6.6

If you liked this

Singin' in the Rain1952

The gold standard of the studio-era musical — dazzling choreography, genuine wit, and a love letter to Hollywood itself that never once feels like homework.

But If bright, cheerful spectacle isn't your mood, this is relentlessly, unapologetically sunny.

Singin' in the Rain poster

On the Town1949no page yet

Sinatra again, younger and looser, as one of three sailors loose in Manhattan for 24 hours — same city, same playful energy, half the runtime.

But Thinner story than Guys and Dolls; it's mostly an excuse to string numbers together.

The Music Man1962

Another charming con man selling a dream to a skeptical town, with 'Ya Got Trouble' doing the same fast-talking work as Nathan Detroit's patter songs.

But Small-town Americana instead of big-city grit — sweeter, and a shade more wholesome.

The Music Man poster

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Threepenny Opera1931no page yet

Both dress a criminal underworld up in showstopping musical numbers; this is the sourer, earlier European ancestor of that whole tradition.

German early-sound cinema's own underworld musical — pimps, beggars, and a knife-wielding antihero singing Brecht and Weill's caustic, unforgettable songs.

But Subtitled, stagey, and morally bleak where Guys and Dolls is warm — this is the same idea with the sugar removed.

More like this (8)

Kiss Me Kate1953

Cole Porter instead of Frank Loesser, but the same backstage sparring-lovers energy and showstopping ensemble numbers, originally shot in eye-popping 3D.

But The Shakespeare-play-within-a-play framing takes a minute to click if you don't know Taming of the Shrew.

Kiss Me Kate poster

West Side Story1961

Same stylized, dance-driven New York, but the stakes turn tragic — Bernstein's score and Robbins' choreography reinvent what a movie musical can carry.

But It ends in heartbreak, not a wedding — a very different emotional temperature.

West Side Story poster

Sweet Charity1969no page yet

Shirley MacLaine as a dance-hall hostess dreaming of respectability — the same Runyonesque lowlife-with-a-heart terrain, filtered through Bob Fosse's sharper, jazzier lens.

But Fosse's style is angular and a little cynical where Guys and Dolls is warm and rounded.

Cabaret1972

A demimonde musical with real teeth — showgirls, hustlers, and doomed romance, but staged against the rise of Nazism instead of a craps game.

But Considerably darker and more adult; not remotely comfort viewing.

Cabaret poster

Chicago2002

Modern proof the crime-comedy-musical still works — razzle-dazzle numbers wrapped around murder, celebrity, and courtroom farce.

But Fragmented, fantasy-sequence structure is a very different rhythm from Guys and Dolls' straight narrative.

Chicago poster

High Society1956no page yet

Sinatra and a stacked cast in a Cole Porter musical remake of The Philadelphia Story, if you want more of his easy charm in a lighter register.

But Glossier and more upper-crust — none of the street-level Runyon flavor.

Little Miss Marker1934no page yet

Straight from the same Runyon well as Guys and Dolls, decades before the musical polished his gamblers and grifters into stars.

A Damon Runyon story filmed two decades earlier, with the same racetrack lowlifes, wiseguy patter, and unlikely soft-heartedness — no songs, just pure pre-Code Runyon voice.

But Shirley Temple's precocious-child sentimentality is a hard sell for modern audiences.

The Lady Eve1941

Same structural trick as Sky and Sarah's bet: a scheme designed to win someone gets hijacked by real feeling.

A dazzling screwball comedy where a con artist sets out to fleece a mark and falls for him instead — the bet-becomes-love engine, minus a single musical note.

But No songs, no spectacle — just fast dialogue and Barbara Stanwyck being devastatingly good.

The Lady Eve poster

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