That's Dancing! (1985)

The history of dance depicted on film.

Director:

Jack Haley Jr.

Writer:

Jack Haley Jr.

Stars:

Mikhail Baryshnikov, Ray Bolger, Sammy Davis Jr.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mikhail Baryshnikov	...	Himself - Host
Ray Bolger	...	Himself - Host
Sammy Davis Jr.	...	Himself - Host
Gene Kelly	...	Himself - Host
Liza Minnelli	...	Herself - Host
Tucker Smith	...	'West Side Story' dancer
Tony Mordente	...	'West Side Story' dancer
David Winters	...	'West Side Story' dancer
Eliot Feld	...	'West Side Story' dancer
Bert Michaels	...	'West Side Story' dancer
David Bean	...	'West Side Story' dancer
Robert Banas	...	'West Side Story ' dancer
Anthony 'Scooter' Teague	...	'West Side Story' dancer (as Scooter Teague)
Harvey Evans	...	'West Side Story' dancer (as Harvey Hohnecker)
Tommy Abbott	...	'West Side Story' dancer

Storyline

A documentary film about dancing on the screen, from it's orgins after the invention of the movie camera, over the movie musical from the late 20s, 30s, 40s 50s and 60s up to the break dance and the music videos from the 80s.

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Plot Keywords:

tap dancing | dance | dancing | reminiscence | retrospective | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Musical

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 January 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

That's Dancing

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,506,802, 20 January 1985, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$4,210,938

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM),Winters Hollywood Entertainment Holdings Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The footage for the Broadway sequence was initially slated to begin with a photo montage of Broadway-to-Hollywood showstoppers unfolding over "Luck Be a Lady" (The Crapshooters Ballet) from Guys and Dolls (1955). The snippets, each timed to punctuate the underscoring, included Reiko Sato, Patricia Dunn and Wonci Lui in "Not Since Nineveh" from Kismet (1955); Judy Holliday and Doria Avila in "Mu-Cha-Cha" from Bells Are Ringing (1960); "Safety in Numbers" from The Boy Friend (1971); "A Secretary is Not a Toy" from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967); Mitzi Gaynor in "Anything Goes" from Anything Goes (1956); Yuriko in "The Small House of Uncle Thomas" from The King and I (1956); "The Telephone Hour" from Bye Bye Birdie (1963); Julie Newmar in the Sadie Hawkins Day Ballet from Li'l Abner (1959); the cowboys entrance in "Laurey Makes Up Her Mind" from Oklahoma! (1955); Gene Kelly, Alex Romero and Lee Scott in "A Day in New York" from On the Town (1949); Carol Haney, Buzz Miller and Kenneth LeRoy in "Once a Year Day" from The Pajama Game (1957); Juliet Prowse in "Can-Can" from Can-Can (1960); Barbara Hancock in the Rain Dance Ballet from Finian's Rainbow (1968); Debbie Reynolds and Harve Presnell in "I Ain't Down Yet" from The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964); Shirley MacLaine in "Dis-Donc, Dis-Donc" from Irma La Douce (1963); the Entrance of the Clans from Brigadoon (1954); "The Waiters' Gallop" from Hello, Dolly! (1969); Natalie Wood in "Let Me Entertain You" from Gypsy (1962); Janet Leigh and Betty Garrett in "Conga!" from My Sister Eileen (1955); and the Wedding Dance from Fiddler on the Roof (1971), culminating in the final bars of the Crapshooters Ballet itself. Following this, the Broadway sequence was originally to have included "Something to Dance About" from Call Me Madam (1953), performed by Donald O'Connor and Vera-Ellen; "June is Bustin' Out All Over" from Carousel (1956); "Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets" from Damn Yankees (1958), performed by Gwen Verdon; "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This" from Sweet Charity (1969), performed by Shirley MacLaine, Chita Rivera and Paula Kelly; and a medley of sequences from West Side Story (1961) comprised of the Prologue, "The Dance at the Gym" and "America," performed by Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris and The West Side Story Dancers.

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Quotes

Sammy Davis, Jr.: Style. Elegance. Charm. And class, personified. Yes! That's Fred Astaire!

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Connections

Features West Side Story (1961)

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Soundtracks

Organ Grinder's Swing
Music by Will Hudson and Irving Mills
Performed by Shirley Temple and Bill Robinson in 'The Littlest Rebel' (1935)

User Reviews

From a formula passed its prime...

Famous dancing stars Mikhail Baryshnikov, Liza Minnelli, Sammy Davis, Jr., Ray Bolger and Gene Kelly host this tepid retrospective on classic dance numbers from musical films (most of them made at M-G-M), a trend begun in 1974 with the song-oriented "That's Entertainment!" Spotlighting the high-energy dance sequences from Hollywood's chestnuts must have seemed like a no-brainer, but what isn't discussed is why today's dance films have proved to be no threat to the masters. It's a piqued, juiceless formula capped with cold charisma. Our hosts (and hostess Minnelli, who never danced in an M-G-M film and is here only by proxy) have very little light to shed on the history of dancing cinema, and it all quickly congeals into a moist-eyed, redundant piece of anemic nostalgia. *1/2 from ****