Film

It's Always Fair Weather

Name: It's Always Fair Weather
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Released: 1955
Cast: Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey, Michael Kidd, Cyd Charisse, Dolores Gray

Drama

A 1955 musical where three war buddies reunite a decade later to discover they've become strangers to each other. What begins as awkward nostalgia blooms into something deeper: a bittersweet reckoning with adulthood, compromise, and whether old bonds can survive the weight of a decade's worth of different choices. It's smart, funny, and anchored by Gene Kelly's gift for mixing athleticism with genuine emotion.

TMDb rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love sardonic, grown-up musicals where the song-and-dance numbers carry the bite, and a wry look at middle-aged disillusion appeals more than sunny sentiment.

Skip it if you want a light, sugary musical with unbroken good cheer; its cynicism runs close to the surface, and its jokes about 1950s commercialism can feel a little dated.

What it asks of you: It runs about 102 minutes and lingers on sour, rough-edged banter between three men who have drifted apart, so it asks for patience before the dancing takes over.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

On the Town1949

Kelly and Frank Sinatra prowl New York in twenty-four hours, and the spontaneity crackles. The DNA of Fair Weather is here: male friendship, the city as co-star, dancing that doesn't feel like a pause in the story but like the story itself.

But It's a full-throttle musical with less of the melancholy that makes Fair Weather haunting. The tone is relentlessly ebullient, which isn't for everyone.

The Best Years of Our Lives1946

Three servicemen return home to find America unchanged but themselves utterly altered. It hits the same nerve—the impossibility of truly coming home—but with devastating dramatic weight. A masterpiece about readjustment and what gets lost in the transition.

But Nearly three and a half hours, no dancing, and unsparing about grief. It's serious in a way that can feel heavy if you're not in the mood.

Guys and Dolls1955

Released the same year, with Sinatra and Marlon Brando. It's a musical where the story matters as much as the numbers, and the friendship between the leads is genuine and tested. Stylish, funny, and unexpectedly touching about connection.

But The satire of Broadway types can feel dated, and some numbers drag. It's longer than Fair Weather and less restless about pacing.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from It's Always Fair Weather

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

L'Avventura1960

Both explore how time and circumstance turn intimacy into estrangement. Where Fair Weather tries to rebuild the bridge, L'avventura questions whether the bridge ever existed.

Michelangelo Antonioni's masterpiece about disconnection and the impossibility of true intimacy. Three friends on an island, and everything fractures. Like Fair Weather, it's about people failing to really know each other, but Antonioni strips away the musical sugar and sits with the pain.

But Glacially paced, plotless by conventional standards, and offers no comfort. It's an art film in the fullest sense—demanding, unsentimental, occasionally frustrating.

An American in Paris1951

Gene Kelly's masterpiece. A dancer in post-war Paris chasing love and art—another story about dreams deferred and the self you thought you'd be. The final ballet sequence is transcendent. You'll understand why Kelly mattered.

But The romance plot is fairly thin; the film lives on visual beauty and Kelly's charisma. If you want emotional depth over spectacle, it won't satisfy.

Singin' in the Rain1952

Kelly and Donald O'Connor in what many call the greatest film musical ever made. Pure joy, but also constructed with real intelligence about storytelling and performance. Watch for the architectural clarity of how it's made.

But It's almost too perfect, which can feel untouchable. And the gender politics are entirely of their era—the female lead is underwritten.

The Band Wagon1953

Fred Astaire in a musical that's also a backstage comedy, with real bite about ego and creative compromise. The dancing is superb, the ensemble work is joyous, and it understands that friendship survives disagreement.

But It's lighter on story than Fair Weather; more a revue than a narrative. Astaire isn't Kelly, and if you're after that specific energy, you won't find it here.

Pal Joey1957

Frank Sinatra as a scoundrel dancer in post-war San Francisco. It's cynical about ambition and male friendship in a way that echoes Fair Weather's undertone. Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak are wonderful. Darker than most 1950s musicals.

But Sinatra's character is genuinely unlikable, and the film doesn't soften that. If you want heroes, this isn't it. Also, the Rodgers-Hart score is great but not iconic.

Invitation to the Dance1956

Gene Kelly's directorial experiment: a feature-length ballet with no dialogue, just pure storytelling through dance. It's audacious and peculiar. Three separate stories, each a small emotional arc, held together by human connection and artistry.

But No plot in the traditional sense and no music to sing along to. It's a bold swing that doesn't always land; parts are genuinely static.

Living in a Big Way1947

An early Kelly film about a war veteran struggling with peacetime domesticity and identity. It's rough and ungainly in ways that make it feel honest. Kelly's physicality carries the emotional weight of a man who can't quite fit back into civilian life.

But It's not a polished product like his later work. The editing is choppy, and the tonal balance between comedy and pathos is uneven. It feels like a sketch sometimes.

The Poseidon Adventure1972

Both are ensemble films about the bonds that form under pressure and the question of whether those bonds survive. Fair Weather is philosophical; this one is catastrophic.

A disaster film where eight strangers must work together to survive after a ship capsizes. It's pulpy entertainment, but it has the same underlying premise as Fair Weather: disparate people forced into sudden intimacy by circumstance, learning something true about each other.

But It's deeply earnest about melodrama and disaster. No irony, no winking. If you want sophistication, this is not it. Also, the special effects are of their era.

Magnolia1999

Both films assert that emotional honesty and vulnerability between men—especially old friends—is the truest subject. Fair Weather is a 1950s musical; Magnolia is maximalist postmodern melodrama. Same question, entirely different register.

Paul Thomas Anderson's three-hour juggling act about nine Los Angelenos whose lives intersect across a single day. Like Fair Weather, it's about male friendship, regret, the person you thought you'd be, and whether connection can be recovered. But it's maximalist where Fair Weather is elegant.

But Formless for two hours, then a biblical plague of frogs. Wildly ambitious and sometimes self-indulgent. If you don't buy into Anderson's sincerity early, it'll feel like a slog.