A Movie Review: Babes on Broadway

Babes on Broadway.  With Mickey Rooney passing away, TMC aired Babes on Broadway.  I put it on DVR and just recently watched it.  

When I was a kid, I used to love watching Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland together.  It was a pleasure seeing them on screen again.

Mickey Rooney plays Tommy Williams, a down on his luck wanna be actor.  Judy Garland plays Penny Morris.  Penny Morris also wants to be an actor.  There is a slight difference in their circumstances.  Penny lives with her father.  Tommy is on his own.  Tommy is also far more the optimist.  

The two happen to meet up at the local diner where all the unemployed actors hang out.  With a little luck, Tommy might just have a big break coming his way.  Penny, on the other hand, has a growing desire to help the tweens/teenagers in the community.  A little conflict.  A big play is put on.  They make it to Broadway.

This movie works most of the way.  There is a build-up as Tommy and Penny negotiate love and ambition along with actually pulling together a performance.  It falls apart, for me, towards the end when there is a long drawn out musical number.  Never mind the fact that we now view black face as racist.  For me, it was a much better movie watching the two interact and play off each other versus watching a Broadway rendition on screen.