Saturday Night Fever (1977)

Again coming out of my writing, this time considering Bruce Weiss and Nora Ortiz, and dancing, this film popped into my consciousness. Still a great dela of fun. Travolta was magnificent.

Voice lessons

In a side column in a recent issue of the New Yorker, David Denby wrote: Those who were charmed by The Artist should see the real thing: "Singin' in the Rain," the great American movie musical about the transition from talkies to sound...The movie chronicles Hollywood's misadventures with early recording techniques, but does so with carefree gaiety and confidence — confidence in music and dance and in a specifically American style of impudent wit."

Yes, the American film is still  robust, fun to watch —despite shortcomings such as the mismatches in age between Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds and Donald O'Connor, his two costars, who are supposed to be about the same age. The singing and the dancing is contagious, energizing, and plain fun. Jean Hagen's character, Lina Lamont, still holds up, she with her screechy little voice and street pronunciation (cain't stend it).

The Artist I found difficult to enjoy. It dragged. Contemporary taste is highly favorable for it. Then again, in Rotten Tomatoes Singin' in the rain gets even higher numbers: 100-91 v. 98-90. In the end, I did enjoy it, but Singin' is better. O, and Cyd Charisse.

Footloose (1984)

Cute, But, Kevin Bacon was 26 when he played a high school student, Lori Singer 27. (In the 2011 version, not much has changed: both leads are in their 20s)

Band Wagon

Great dancing, nice singing, thin plot, and Oscar Levant all in one film. A classic

Marilyn Hotchkiss

Marilyn Hotchkiss' ballroom dancing & charm school

Took it our because of Marisa Tomei, a way to get films lacking anything specific.

Cute. Works. Fun. 3 stars, just makes 3, out of 5.

John Goodman makes a strong contribution, playing a strange role, moving the narrative along. Why Robert Carlyle was cast as the leading man is a mystery. Goodman's charcater propels him; without that support, he might have sank.

Dancing with Cuba

Picked up, looks interesting; another time.

Swing time

Saw a biography of director George Stevens on Turner Classic Movies, including clips from several of his films. I was surprised, when I searched the OPAC, that this was one of his films.

Ginger Rogers was flawless, Fred Astaire wonderful, and the movie worked pretty nicely. Victor Moore played Pop, and Helen Broderick played Mabel (trivia: she was mother of Broderick Crawford).

Nice dancing, good music.

Swayze

Glenn told me about this video, of a tribute to Patrick Swyze in "Dancing with the Stars."

Goddess of the tango galaxy

Cusumano, Camille. (2008). Tango : an Argentine love story.
Berkeley, CA : Seal Press.