preppy-3
Employees at the Sleeptite Pajama Factory are ready to go on strike if they don't get a raise of (get this) 7 1/2 cents an hour! A new manager (played by John Raitt--Bonnie's dad) is hired to cool things down and falls in love with one of the employees (Doris Day). But will the salary dispute tear them apart?The plot is OK and some of the dated aspects are amusing--the 7 1/2 cent raise and a company picnic that offers free beer! The songs are great (I love "Hernando's Hideaway" and "Hey There"), Raitt and Day can sing beautifully and the production numbers are full of energy and color. The only negatives here are that Raitt and Day have zero sexual chemistry together and Raitt isn't the best actor...but when he sings all is forgiven. For some reason this is pretty unknown but it's a very good 50s musical.
evanston_dad
Musicals as a genre can afford to be about nothing, since the point of a musical is its song and dance. But even at that, "The Pajama Game" is pushing it.This ditzy, schizophrenic musical about labor relations in a pajama factory doesn't make a lick of sense. Doris Day plays the head of HR while John Raitt is the new hard-line manager. There's knife throwing, firings, a scene of attempted murder set in a creepy basement full of mannequins (yet played for laughs), and there's nary a dramatic conflict to be found. Or more precisely, there are conflicts, but they disappear without getting resolved, or they're resolved within minutes after being introduced, leaving you to wonder what the rest of the film will possibly be about.Many of the stage actors were transplanted directly to the screen, and maybe that's one of this film's biggest problems. These aren't screen actors who know how to make material work in context of a film. This musical is probably a hoot on stage, but it doesn't work as a movie at all.Bob Fosse provided the minimal choreography the film's few dance routines contain, but fans watching the movie for his touch will likely be disappointed. Still, even at that it's still his signature number, "Steam Heat," that stands as the most memorable moment, even if it has nothing to do with anything else going on.Grade: C-
cinnamonbrandy
But the moral of the film (couldn't speak for the stage play) is 'steal from your employees by cooking the books to pocket their pay rise for six months! you won't be arrested! you won't be fired! you can keep six months of your ill-gotten gains! and then you can sing an up-beat number about great job you're doing! As long as your second in command gets the girl with your connivance, he's not going to make a fuss! I can see why people were ready for the sixties. 'Steal from the poor to line your own pockets', 'steal from people who implicitly trust you', 'make deals behind closed doors to stiff the female workforce' - well, they're not really tag-lines I can get behind, myself.Bring on North Country.
ryancm
While not the best musical ever, it is certainly entertaining. Lots and lots of songs (more than dialog it seems) with a frail story line to keep the songs going. Too bad they had to sanitize some of the songs, but because of severe censorship in the 50's it had to be done. Even in the 7 1/2 CENTS number, the had to change "hell-of-a lot_ to "heck-of-a lot". Seems silly. I'LL NEVER BE JEALOUS AGAIN was changed even more...to bad. Other lyrics as well were changed, but at least they made it into the final cut, unlike other musicals that take out almost everything and add new numbers. Only three numbers were cut from the stage version and it's too bad A NEW TOWN IS A BLUE TOWN wasn't included.The performances are all top notch. A perfect vehicle for DORIS DAY, although JANIS PAIGE who did the stage version would have worked as well but she wasn't a big NAME. Ironic that JANIS had first billing and the lead in DORIS' first movie ROMANCE ON THE HIGHT SEAS, and about 8 years later DORIS takes over from JANIS. Oh well, that's show biz.For a fun way to spend and hour and 41 minutes, do see PAJAMA GAME. A bit stagy but after all it was a stage play.
AD
