Summer Stock

Summer Stock represented Judy Garland's swan song at MGM. Garland plays the owner of a New England farm which entrepreneur Gene Kelly hopes to convert into a summer theatre. Gloria DeHaven, a member of Kelly's troupe, also happens to be Garland's sister. Aware that the farm is having financial ...more

By 1950, the "let's put on a show in a barn" idea had been done to death, so it's something of a surprise that Summer Stock is actually an entertaining flick. It's also a reminder of how one single moment in a film can stick in an audience's memory and make them forgive and forget the film's flaws. In this case, that moment is the legendary "Get Happy" number. Performed by Judy Garland in a black tuxedo jacket and rakishly angled fedora, and accompanied by a chorus of men in black, the sequence ...more