bob fosse and tommy rall
by Douglas Messerli
Blake Edwards and Richard Quine (screenplay), based on a
play by Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov and stories by Ruth McKenney, Jule
Styne and Leo Robin (songs and lyrics), George Duning (original music), Richard
Quine (director) My Sister Eileen /
1955
It is hard to imagine a more
endearing dance couple than Bob Fosse and Tommy Rall. In My Sister Eileen—overall a weak film when compared with Leonard
Bernstein's theatrical version of the same materials in Wonderful Town—the two become rivals, each trying to outdo the
other in an attempt to woo Eileen (Janet Leigh). Fosse, playing Frank
Lippincott is the counterman at the local Walgreen's diner, while Rall plays
Chick Clark, a newspaper journalist. Their short dance together is an all-male
ritual to see who's the fittest, like two rams butting heads or gorillas
thumping cheats.
The compact and lean Fosse has the edge, simply because of his ability
to deliver sharp spins and turns, moving along an arc like a sliver of moon,
hat in hand, a movement for which he has become well known.
Rall, a taller and just as lean dancer, occasionally appears a bit
gangly in comparison, but for my taste his dancing, even more athletic because
of his height, is more brilliant. His spins are perfect, with more rotation
than Fosse gets. And his huge outstretched legs in his leap from one of the
boxes in the alley where they wait for Eileen to return from an audition, is
absolutely stunning.
There is no winner, of course, in this dance rivalry. Both are simply
brilliant in their competitive moves. But while Fosse, mostly through his role
as a choreographer, has become internationally famous, Rall has crept,
undeservedly, into the background, despite his appearances in Kiss Me, Kate (along with Fosse), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Pennies from Heaven, and, on stage, Milk and Honey. Strangely, he is not
even listed as a character in the credits for the DVD of My Sister Eileen, as if his role was played by a ghost. My film
guides have repeated the error, wiping his name from the production. But one
only need watch this scene to see how brilliant of a dancer he was.
Los Angeles, February 23, 2011
Reprinted
from World
Cinema Review (February
2011).
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