Even if it was just a business lunch that he was having with Milo, it was an incredibly rude thing for him to do to be hitting on a woman he doesn't even know (Caron's character Lise) sitting at a table next to him. Such selfishness and lack of consideration does not a good husband make, so I doubt that he and Lise lived happily ever after, even if they did have a hot honeymoon.
shareYou're right. It was definitely bad manners! But wow, what a movie! They just don't make them like that anymore!
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I think Jerry's total attitude towards Foch was pretty rotten. He really
didn't show a grain of gratitude. Yes, she was a pushy fool, but he
could've been more humble towards her. One of Kelly's more obnoxious
characters.
You are right! Asking her to dance could be written off as cute, but then she says, "Please I would like to return to my friends now", not in a flirtatious way, and he says, "In a minute."
It does make me wonder about the 1950s. Was it okay for men to act that way back then? And what about The Apartment (1960), which is supposedly hilarious, but it's centered around a guy who lets his coworkers use his apartment for extramarital affairs. And what about Rebecca (1940), the top-rated romance of the 1940s, where the male lead barks at her constantly and then proposes in a way that's sort of an insult / rebuke from the next room.
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He reminded me a lot of William Holden's Character in Sunset Blvd. His rudeness was too much.
shareYou are right! Asking her to dance could be written off as cute, but then she says, "Please I would like to return to my friends now", not in a flirtatious way, and he says, "In a minute."
It does make me wonder about the 1950s. Was it okay for men to act that way back then? And what about The Apartment (1960), which is supposedly hilarious, but it's centered around a guy who lets his coworkers use his apartment for extramarital affairs. And what about Rebecca (1940), the top-rated romance of the 1940s, where the male lead barks at her constantly and then proposes in a way that's sort of an insult / rebuke from the next room.
I don't disagree with anything you say, but you have to remember that Milo WAS a cougar; she was the "patroness" of young, starving (and male) artists in return for an eventual sexual relationship.
Hayden Rourke's character makes this plain in the nightclub scene, although the Production Code forbade any overt sexual actions on Milo's part.
Even Adam was aware that Milo was a phony, when, at the Art Students' Ball, he says that Jerry has "a patron who has more nerve than cash."
And he knew that Milo was just that patron!
Thing is, Jerry was so improbably naive and ignorant that he thought nothing of hitting on another woman at the club.
IMO, that was the weakest part of Kelly's performance.
If Milo had any smarts at all, she would have dumped Jerry that very night.
But, no--she just had to keep setting herself up for the eventual letdown.
Sad.
"but you have to remember that Milo WAS a cougar"
She was younger than him!
Nothing in the picture indicates clearly that she's older, and the actress was 12 years younger than Kelly.
Yes, I hate movies where the female falls in love with the male after the male is too persistent and oversteps boundaries! It just teaches guys that that's how you win a woman and that's why lots of men are major creepers! It breaks my heart that Gene Kelly played a character like that, even if it was acceptable in the day. Leslie Caron did NOT want him around her and he wouldn't take the hint. Plus he was way older than her. CREEPY!!!
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I always figured Milo ended up with Oscar Levant! He wouldn't mind being a kept man and he'd finally be forced to write his symphony.
"We're fighting for this woman's honor, which is more than she ever did."
I don't think anyone in their right mind would want a man like Levant. Although talented he was extremely high maintenance and had severe mental problems.
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Jerry wasn't exactly a pleasant guy despite dancing with children and old ladies! He is consistently rude, to Milo, the young student who wants to talk about his work. He's also arrogant and to be honest I agree with you, I don't see these two living happily ever after.
Also would he as been as forgiving as Henri. Remember he didn't mind that she missed his big night at the theatre. Jerry would have bawled her out and accused her of not rooting for him. I believe that eventually he would have failed as an artist, as his whole attitude was bad. Should have stayed in Henri's car, Lise!
A coupla months ago, my mother mentioned that she'd just watched AAIP. Since she and my father met in 1950, I asked her how she would've reacted if he'd pulled a "Jerry" on her. Her answer: "You wouldn't have been here, because I would've kicked him REAL hard in his ankle and walked out of the club!"
"May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?"
What's weird is that I don't think I've ever found a character played by Gene Kelly to be very likeable, lol. An American in Paris, Singin' in the Rain, Cover Girl, On the Town, Anchors Aweigh, The Pirate - they all come off as pretty difficult to emphathize with or root for in some fashion or respect. But, why do I get the impression that Gene Kelly was this really nice guy who just played dick Protagonists really well, lol?
And despite that trend, I generally love Kelley's dancing style, and prefer it to Astaire's. Ironically, I generally find most of Astaire's protagonists to be much more likeable and easier to "root for" for some reason, lol.
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I didn't take too much offense to Jerry because I balanced it with how Milo was deceiving him in the beginning. As for the business lunch, it was business. Why should she expect him to devote all his attention to her. Plus I'm wasn't sure Jerry got it. He was used to fending for himself. I think the set up is really good. Two people not communicating at all. After she told him off, I thought she got the point. Where I agree is when he kissed her. He had no feelings for her. Then he was pure lout in my book.
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Yep, Jerry is an arrogant jerk in a few scenes. I first noticed when he snaps at the student critiquing his art on the street. Rude, and unnecessarily so. The overt hitting Lise in the cafe was too much.
shareTotally agree. In many ways I always felt that many of the arrogant characters that Kelly played was a real reflection of who he truly was in real life from what has been written about him. Yes, he was very talented, but not a likable man.
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