Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

daviddaphneredding I like John Raitt, Eddie Foy, Jr., and especially Doris Day in this movie, and I liked the songs, but the plot was somewhat controversial in this George Abbott/Stanley Donan production from Warner Brothers from 1957. The plot centers around the workers in a pajama factory putting forth endless efforts for their seven-and-a-half-cents-an-hour raise. Thus, to some extent this is a "serious" musical,though, granted, it is humorous in places, but again is a story about a sensitive issue. Too often anymore too many places go on strike for a raise, and it ends up affecting the whole economy in this country.Does this movie seem to say that fighting for raises is "cute"? I wonder. But again, the songs and occasional comedy are very entertaining, john Raitt and Doris Day click, and it does end up on a positive note. Yet, if this is supposed to be a comedy, then deal with something less controversial.

MartinHafer When I watched this film, I was VERY surprised to see the subplot involving the jealous boyfriend (Eddie Foy Jr.) Such extreme jealousy is NOT funny--though it was sure meant to be. And late in the film when he chased his girl with a knife--tossing them right and left at her...funny?! It's pretty amazing that insane pathological violence was seen as a laugh-getter back in the day! As for the plot of "The Pajama Game", it plays a LOT like a musical-comedy version of "Norma Rae"! Seriously....it really is very similar. Doris Day plays a spunky union rep who is pushing her company for a 7 1/2 cent an hour raise--and the pig-headed boss is willing to let the business go to pot for 7 1/2 cents. Stuck in the middle is John Raitt--who represents the company BUT who is also infatuated with Day. What's to happen? See the film.This is a decent musical overall but not much more. Some of the songs are very familiar and quite good, while some seem inexplicable, as they seem to have nothing to do with the plot and just seemed crammed in regardless (such as "Steam Heat" and "Hernando's Hideaway"). Also, when it comes to Day's singing, you might find (like I did) that it came off as brash--as she belted out tune after tune with little grace--just LOTS of power. In fact, though he never went on to star in another film, Raitt came off pretty well in this one and you wonder why he didn't get more opportunities in films--though apparently his career on stage was quite long and successful.

selffamily I have never seen the pajama game before this week when I managed to get a copy of the DVD. I was too young in the 50's and it hasn't been around much since then. I was a bit apprehensive, another movie I caught up with late was Flower Drum Song and I've yet to take to that. However, this was a joy from go to whoa. Yes, it was stagey and some of the numbers, although well done and entertaining were not what you would get nowadays, so that took some mental adjustment, but once the brain was in gear - WOW! Doris we know and love, Calamity Jane is a standard in this house, (I can't wait until my kids see this!) but the stage ensemble who transferred seamlessly - according to the previous writers, who have the advantage of me in that they knew the stage show - make the whole thing go with a bang. Let's face it you could have Doris sing the phone book, and it would be entertaining, so you can't judge a show by her. But Carol Haney, John Raitt (swoon, swoon) et al are fantastic and I wish I'd been born 20 years earlier and lived in New York if this is what I've missed. I loved that there were real people in this, an older lady - Reta Shaw? - and Barbara Nichols? and others. My only gripe with the whole thing is that I am sick of having women dancers groins thrust into my face during dance sequences, and just when I thought we'd managed without it, the Once a Year Day sequence let me down. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the movie, There Was A Man, Hey There, etc. I've been raving about this all week, and the songs wont go away. Now that's a sign of a good musical.

MARIO GAUCI I'm not a big fan of vintage Hollywood musicals any more and can only return, even if with trepidation, to just a handful of classic titles. For that reason, I haven't watched one in ages…but this film had always been a highly-touted example of the genre – being also more adult than usual, with a social theme involving an impending factory strike – so, I decided to give it a go. That said, my adjustment to the schmaltzy style which so characterizes musicals of this era wasn't immediate...However, there's no denying that the songs by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross are splendid – even if I preferred the more intimate numbers; likewise, Bob Fosse's choreography felt impersonal for the most part (though I was, admittedly, conditioned by the fact that I'd seen the musicals he later directed – which exhibited a definite, and unique, stylization to the dance steps – prior to this one!). Anyway, the best musical sequences are: Doris Day's "I'm Not At All In Love", John Raitt's melancholy "Hey There" (later reprised by Day), "Steam Heat" (a recognizably Fosse number highlighting Carol Haney) and the stylish "Hernando's Hideaway" (though, in retrospect, it seemed silly to me that the latter is ostensibly a "secluded place" and yet all the factory-workers seem to hang out there!).The cast, of course, is headed by Day (ideally cast here as the head of the factory's "Grievance Committee", with the film itself generally considered as her best); many of her fellow performers had originated their characters during the show's Broadway run – including leading man John Raitt (rather stolid in his only major film role), Eddie Foy Jr. (as the burly manager at the factory whose fits of jealousy and penchant for throwing knives could turn dangerous when he's had one drink too many!) and Carol Haney (as the latter's fiancé and the factory-boss' secretary in what proved to be her last film, as she died quite young).Ultimately, the film isn't up to Donen's best (and better-known) musicals – such as ON THE TOWN (1949), SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952) and SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954) – nor do I see myself watching it as frequently as his two delightful imitation-Hitchcock comedy-thrillers, namely CHARADE (1963) and ARABAESQUE (1966). Still, even if I wasn't quite as enthused with the film as I'd hoped, I'd still like to catch the same team's follow-up musical – DAMN YANKEES (1958), if anything for its Faustian overtones.