Metacritic reviews

The face-off between two of the biggest legends in American pop culture, Sinatra and Brando, is something to be relished, although the roles are perhaps a little too atypical for each for the pairing itself to be legendary as the individuals. But still, what a joy it always is.

Conceivably the best picture Sam Goldwyn ever produced.

Still one of the most thrilling and thoroughly entertaining of all musicals.

The real draw is the script: based on stories by Damon Runyon and spruced up by His Girl Friday scribe Ben Hecht, it strikes such a perfect blend of salty and sweet that it’s almost a shame when the band strikes up and the jazz hands come out.

A bangup filmusical in the topdrawer Goldwyn manner.

It was once said that Runyon’s prose had a ungrammatical purity about it (what with the refusal of the past tense), but likewise Guys And Dolls works because it shouldn’t work.

It's as tinny and tawny and terrific as any hot-cha musical film you'll ever see.

Guys and Dolls is a rare example of a filmed musical being as sprightly in its own way as the original stage production. [28 Mar 1956, p.6]

A great play but just a good movie, Guys and Dolls fails to convey the charm that the magnificent stylized stage version brought to the unique world inhabited by Damon Runyon's characters, despite the collaboration of some very talented people.

Sinatra sings pleasantly, and Brando and Simmons are ingratiatingly uneasy when they burst into song and dance, but the movie is extended and rather tedious. The Broadway version is legendary; the movie provides no clue as to why.