A mildly cynical title for this musical spoof of television,advertising, and even the Hollywood musical. The story of three warbuddies in civilian life was meant to be a follow-up to On the Town; butIt's Always Fair Weather is a more likely sequel to Singin' in the Rainwith its offbeat combination of parody and the real thing-greatsong-and-dance numbers. Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey and Michael Kidd are thethree GIs who vow eternal friendship at the close of WWII, and thensuffer through a reunion ten years later. Each in his own way has turnedinto a two-bit huckster, with the exception of Dailey, who is a four-bithuckster in a grey flannel nightmare. His advertising and TV connectionslead the trio out of their existential dumps and into the bright companyof Cyd Charisse and Dolores Gray. The Arthur Freed production featuresKelly's dance on roller skates, "I Like Myself"; theecht-fifties "ash-can" dance; Dailey's droll parody ofadvertising new-speak, "Situation-Wise"; and Charisse's"Stillman's Gym" number. Kelly and Donen's experiments withCinemaScope and split-screen were influential. (JB)