The musical Summer Stock stars Judy Garland and Gene Kelly and is the last movie Garland made for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Its plot is a throwback to the 'lets put on a show' musicals from ten years earlier. Gene Kelly (in the Mickey Rooney role) was at first reluctant to make Summer Stock. Fresh off the success of the more innovative On the Town, he considered this movie a step backwards. He finally agreed only as a favor to Judy.

The silly plot is all corn. Judy is the big sis running a New England farm and Gloria De Haven is the little sis who returns home from the big city with Gene Kelly and an entire troupe of performers set to put on a show in the barn. The only time this movie comes alive is during the songs. Judy Garland and Gene Kelly were such amazing entertainers that anytime they are singing or dancing Summer Stock is pure joy. Phil Silvers, Marjorie Main, Gloria De Haven and Eddie Bracken all do their best in supporting roles, but nothing they do can make this hokum seem fresh.

Judy's dancing is particularly impressive here. She is easily the greatest triple threat entertainer of all time as she so ably demonstrates. She was slightly pudgy during the filming except in the famous 'Get Happy' number. This scene was filmed several months after the movie wrapped and Judy had been in and out of rehab in the intervening time. This was, in fact, the very last scene she ever did for MGM and it is probably her single most electrifying movie moment. In a man's tuxedo coat and fedora she incorporates tin-pan-alley, Broadway, jazz, and pop music in one magical fusion, in the process creating one of the single most iconic moments of 20th Century entertainment.

Unfortunately the rest of Summer Stock pales in comparison.

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Summer Stock has two saving graces, Judy Garland and Gene Kelly, who were each at different points in their careers. It was the end of Garland's career with MGM, but Kelly's next two movies would turn out to be his most memorable, Singing in the Rain and An American in Paris.

Patrick was exaggerating when he wrote that anytime Garland and Kelly are performing this movie is pure joy. Except for 'Get Happy' Summer Stock has few memorable musical numbers. Kelly does a slightly imaginative solo dance that involves a squeaky floorboard and a newspaper. But it doesn't compare to much of his other work. This is Kelly at the peak of his talent and he is stuck in this lame horse of a film.

Patrick fawned over 'Get Happy' and rightly so. It is an utterly perfect musical number. The one thing he didn't mention in praising it was that it was excellently choreographed. The suited men dance rings around Garland as she sings and in the process add to her performance. The best part is when Garland swings her arms out to the side and as if by magic the dancers all fall away from her. It is an amazing, yet brief, performance in a near forgettable film.

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