| Personal top 10 or 14 movie musical dance numbers |
[Aug. 18th, 2005|02:46 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | dance, movies, work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sleepy but accomplished | ] |
| [ | music |
| | An American In Paris- 3rd Movement: Concerto in F (O.Levant) | ] |
ALL THE IGNORANT MORONS WHO THINK MUSICALS EQUAL "OMG FAG" ARE ON MY HIT LIST. IDIOTS.
Being bred of the theatrical stage, I've been a longtime fan of movie musicals and stage musicals in general- except for Rodgers & Hammerstein (Carousel, South Pacific) which drive me goddamn NUTS save for The King and I. So what ho, a list of my favorites seemed like a grand endeavor. This was originally going to be a top 10 like my HK fights list but I couldn't stop taking pictures and ended up with about 14.
Work-related note: Jackie has often alluded to the similarities between dance choreography and HK fight choreography, and musicals have also had a great influence on my work. The principles of rhythm and tempo can greatly benefit the aesthetics and effectiveness of a fight performance. The way that dancers advance, contract, expand, jump, or turn with a rhythm can inspire/reveal timings and flow that accentuate fighting combinations if placed correctly (very difficult to explain, the implementation is subjective).
But all fighting crap aside, I love musicals for what they are- outstanding achievements of music and dance that show the scope of artistic creativity. And I'm a drama nerd to my heart. It pains me to see that stars these days only need to be attractive to be famous, I much prefer decades ago when actors could sing, dance, and act all at once. Modern Hollywood can kiss my grits.
Like the HK list: I'll add as many reasons as I can why these are on my list. Sometimes articulating your preference can't go very far beyond "It just works for me." (i.e. I dig short-haired brunettes) but I'll do my best to elaborate.
1. Singin' in the Rain (1952): Singin' in the Rain (Gene Kelly)
This is definitely number one. An iconic and timeless performance. This routine perfectly articulates the carefree bliss of being in love, disregarding all other emotions and simply celebrating the sheer joy of newfound romance. I have never, ever, watched this without eventually smiling (what a glorious feeling, indeed). If I ever see this and have no reaction, I'll know that it's my time to expire. If you like this movie, you owe it to yourself and future generations to get the special edition DVD and frickin' raise your kids on it. Anyone who buys a fucking BOOTLEG of this movie needs their fingers shaved off.
2. Singin' in the Rain (1952): Moses Supposes (Gene Kelly & Don O'Connor)
Far and beyond my favorite tap number. It's explosive and dynamic, frantic yet precise, and exudes boundless energy on the floor and in the air. Don and Gene each have a distinctly individual style yet superbly work off each other's strengths. I can only wonder how many hours of rehearsal it took to choreograph and synchronize the steps. The dedication and skill required to pull off a routine this great inspires me to break my own boundaries.
3. The Band Wagon (1953): Dancing in the Dark (Fred Astaire & Cyd Charisse)
An elegant and beautiful duet, as Charisse and Astaire merge their styles into a complementary flow. There were few finer pairs than these two. The dance exhibits a refined, ethereal quality and is very much poetry in motion. And Cyd Charisse is HOT, good lord. The Band Wagon special edition DVD is completely worth the purchase, but be warned, Liza Minelli's commentary is ear-grating and pointless as she just gushes about how much she loves the film as opposed to telling you anything that wasn't already in the documentary.
4. Singin' in the Rain (1952): Broadway Rhythm (Gene Kelly & Cyd Charisse)
The Broadway Melody number in its entirety is a wonderfully coordinated display of costumes, set pieces, and choreography, and the Broadway Rhythm nightclub section shows exactly why Gene is my favorite dancer of all. His style is powerful and dynamic, he's always been more explosive and intense than the other stars of his time yet maintains a seemingly effortless control over his movement. Watching this and realizing he was 40, doesn't that make anyone complaining about age in their twenties more than a bit silly?
Then enters Cyd Charisse. This is a fun and extremely sexy sequence where she toys with him in several ways- until he gets fed up and takes matters into his own hands. This is an excellent example of conveying a story by dance. Strangely enough at the end there is a jump and several frames missing, but the dance and music remain in time with each other and nobody seems to know why or how it happened.
5. Royal Wedding (1951): Sunday Jumps (Fred Astaire)
Innovation at its finest, and an great example of utilizing the environment to create choreography. Astaire starts with a metronome, moves to his famous sequence with a coat rack, parts briefly to utilize every other piece of equipment in the room (including weights, parallel bars, pommel horse, and clubs) and returns to the coat rack for a sharp finish. This number is brilliant, effortless, and hugely satisfying. Royal Wedding carries some of Astaire's most famous numbers, including the inventive dancing on the ceiling, but is unfortunately without an official DVD release. It's currently available on several dozen cheap budget discs with quality varying from grainy sub-VHS to almost laserdisc (yes, there was a laserdisc release long ago, but MAN is this film long overdue for a restoration).
6. The Band Wagon (1953): Girl Hunt (Fred Astaire & Cyd Charisse)
A signifcant departure from Astaire's usual style thanks to choreographer Michael Kidd. The duet is tragically short as it's only one component of the Girl Hunt number, but it's by far the best section and a suitable climax. It's hot, sharp, and sexy as hell, thanks in no small part to Cyd Charisse and her OO ER OH MY dress. Did I mention I'm building a time machine to 1939 so I can mack on Cyd before she gets married? I'm serious.
7. Singin' in the Rain (1952): Fit as a Fiddle (Gene Kelly & Don O'Connor)
Gee, could you tell I love Singin' in the Rain? It's first choice for any stranded-on-a-desert-island kind of situation. Anyway. This is the first dance number in the movie, and the sheer amount of tricks that they cram into this funny and inventive routine is amazing. They cover the whole stage and pull off some very difficult moves, the whole time making it look incredibly easy by wielding INSANE/DERANGED SMILES the whole time (which also fits the love-us-please starting point of their characters in the flashback).
8. An American in Paris (1951): An American in Paris (Gene Kelly)
I can't say that I enjoy every part of this 17-minute ballet finale, but it is an undisputable and unparalleled artistic triumph. The sequence is built around famous impressionist paintings by Dufy, Renoir, Utrillo, Rousseau, Van Gogh, etc. My favorite parts are pictured: The courtyard tap number, the Rhapsody in Blue ballet (with what is probably the most incredible trumpet I've ever heard in any version of Gershwin's classic), and the section based on Toulouse-Lautrec's Negro Dancer. IMO, the dance numbers and the story don't fully mesh (like Singin' in the Rain's did) so the film feels uneven, but the magnitude of the finale is an impressive cinematic achievement and stands alone.
9. Royal Wedding (1951): How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I’ve Been A Liar All My Life? (Fred Astaire & Jane Powell)
This routine is sharp and funny, primarily because of the interesting roles: Astaire plays a heel and Powell his crass girlfriend. These highly uncharacteristic parts are played to great comedic effect. The dancing is brisk and energetic, adding to the humorous portrayal of their arguing characters and the absurd back and forth. Warner had better get to work on this film and do justice to it within my lifetime *shakes fist*
10. Moulin Rouge (2001): Hindi Sad Diamonds (Ensemble)
The opening of the Hindi Sad Diamonds number is brief but visually astounding. Every cranny of the stage has something going on. I LOVE insane spectacles like this, just the fact that they put together something this massive and crazy. The harder to find 2-disc DVD has extended versions of four dance numbers on the special features disc (not quite up to par in quality however) that better showcases the choreography, plus rehearsal footage of all the dances in their entirety sans cuts. How many people ever noticed the snake contortionist or the windmilling guy in the Can Can number? I loved Moulin Rouge for the most part, but I didn't like how the dance numbers were fractured by a rapid MTV style of cutting. It can be argued that such a style was necessary to make it exciting for your typically desensitized mainstream audience, which I can understand (but not agree with as the right decision).
11. Singin' in the Rain (1952): Make 'Em Laugh (Don O'Connor)
This is more of an exhibition than a dance number, but what person who has seen it has ever forgotten it? It's a standout routine for a vastly gifted performer and is the only one untouched by Kelly in the film. It still holds up in impressing new viewers and in (dare I say it?) making them laugh. It's even more impressive when you discover Don was smoking four packs a day at the time, falling on thinly carpeted concrete, did the whole routine twice as the first version was ruined by a fogged camera lens, and had to spend three days in the hospital recuperating afterward. None of those obstacles are at all apparent in the routine, which makes it a more masterful performance.
12. Ziegfeld Follies (1946): The Babbit and the Bromide (Gene Kelly & Fred Astaire)
A short skit which was Gene and Fred's only dance together (barring a reunion decades later in hosting That's Entertainment II). Vicente Minelli (famed musical director for MGM) said that you do things completely differently with each man, which could be why the segment was painfully brief and they made no other films with each other- but at least they did dance side by side just once near the tops of their respective careers. Ziegfeld Follies remains unreleased on DVD. Parts of many unreleased MGM musicals can be seen in the Arthur Freed and MGM documentaries on the Singin' in the Rain and The Band Wagon special features discs.
13. Second Chorus (1940): Hoedown in the Bayou (Fred Astaire)
14. The Belle of New York (1952): I Want to Be a Dancing Man (Fred Astaire)
Second Chorus (top row in pic) is an unremarkable movie, slow and droll more often than not, but the final tap number is currently my favorite tap solo by Astaire. It's the most dynamic and high-energy solo I've seen of him to date. You can usually find this movie with a shitty transfer bundled with cheap Royal Wedding DVDs. The Dancing Man number is a killer soft-shoe routine that is one of my favorite examples of dance and music perfectly complementing each other, usually you have one dominating the other but Astaire was exemplary at finding that precious balance. I hear The Belle of New York is not particularly a good film but the dance numbers are among the best of Astaire's career.
My list is quite limited, as you can tell. I've only seen maybe 20-something movie musicals and that's a verrry small amount of the whole. Far too many are still lingering on out-of-print VHS copies with no DVD release in sight.
However, there have been some recent special editions:
-The Band Wagon/Brigadoon/Easter Parade/Bells are Ringing/Finian's Rainbow
-Silk Stockings/Broadway Melody of 1940/High Society/Kiss Me Kate/Les Girls
-Top Hat/Swing Time/Follow the Fleet/Shall We Dance/The Barkleys of Broadway
So I'm remaining optimistic. The ones that remain highest on my list for acquisition in one form or another include; Tap starring Gregory Hines, The Pirate starring Gene Kelly (includes a number with the famous Nicholas Brothers), Ziegfeld Follies, and that aforementioned Astaire & Rogers box set. Fates willing I'll be able to update this list in the near future.
Some related links:
The Gene Scene, FredAstaire.net, Official Cyd Charisse Site, Donald O'Connor |
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