Reception

Financial Reception

Make It Happen was released first in the UK on Friday, the 8th of August. During its initial release, the film grossed $945,349 over the weekend and ended up fifth on the box office chart. It spent a total of one week on the top 10 chart, before dropping down to the 12th position in its second week, earning $216,923 as the weekend gross.

The film grossed $2,489,030 a total of over its run in the UK. It was further released on the 4th of September in both Australia and Singapore, where it went on to collect a total of $1,518,790 and $91,686 respectively. It made $86,540 in the Philippines after its debut on the 1st of October. The film is being released direct to DVD in the US on December 9, 2008.

Critical Reception

The film received generally negative to mixed reviews from critics. On the review aggregator site, Rotten Tomatoes, the film stands at a 20% approval score. It is certified as “rotten”, with the consensus being: “Cheap, predictable, formulaic and unimaginative generic dance film. Comes across as Showgirls for simpleton teens, but with much less flesh on show”. A fansite for Mary Elizabeth Winstead also aggregates reviews for Make It Happen. It lists a 41% approval rating, based on 49 reviews.

Apparently, many critics disliked the film’s similarities with other dance flicks such as Save the Last Dance and Flashdance. Another main criticism was that the film did not contain enough skin. One reviewer stated, “You’re liable to see more flesh in a Pussycat Dolls video than here”. The dance moves were also criticized as being lazy, and offering nothing groundbreaking.

Nevertheless, there were still positive points to the film. The film’s biggest and most universally-agreed asset was Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Reviewer Mike Martin says, “Winstead infuses every moment with an amazing amount of charm”. Another plus side to the film was its short running time, as most found its 80-minute run “bearable”.

Soundtrack

No official soundtrack has been planned for the film, but Make It Happen features the following songs, among others:

• Teach Me How To Dance – Che’Nelle
• Put It Down – Zshatwa
• Going Home – Mozella
• Hustle – Jamelia
• Get What I Want – Bittersweet
• Hoodie – Lady Sovereign
• Get Your Shoes On – Elisabeth Withers
• Ruby Blue – Roisin Murphy
• Steamy – Tamara Powell
• Shawty Get Loose – Lil Mama ft. T Pain & Chris Brown
• Triple Double – Ohmega Watts
• Break It Down – Alana D.
• Love Ya – Unklejam
• Bottoms Up – Keke Palmer
• Hello – Kip Blackshire
• Beware Of The Dog – Jamelia
• Push It – Salt-N-Pepa
• Just Dance – Lady GaGa

Cast

• Mary Elizabeth Winstead      Lauryn Kirk
• Riley Smith      Russ
• Tessa Thompson     Dana
• Julissa Bermudez     Carmen
• John Reardon     Joel Kirk
• Karen LeBlanc     Brenda
• Ashley Roberts      Brooke

Plot summary

Shy, intelligent, eighteen-year-old Katey Miller moves from United States to Havana, Cuba with her parents in November 1958, just before the Revolution breaks out. Her parents expect her to move within their well-to-do circles, but she defies their wish when she falls in love with Javier Suarez, a waiter who also happens to be a talented club dancer. Secretly meeting in a Havana nightclub the pair practice their Salsa dance routine in preparation for a prestigious national dance competition.

However, Katey’s parents are ex-professional dancers who trained her in ballroom dancing, whereas Javier has been trained in the titular Cuban style of dirty dancing, and the two must reconcile the differences between their styles if they are to win. Things become more heated when the coming revolution spells trouble for the pair’s plans. When the Revolution breaks out, Katey and Javier go to a beach tent and make love. The day after, Katey finds out that she has to leave Cuba. On their last night in Havana together, Katey and Javier share a night full of dancing before they say goodbye but Katey also narrates that she and Javier know that it will not be their last night dancing together.

Production Notes & Trivia

• Although set in Cuba, it was filmed in Puerto Rico.
• Patrick Swayze, from the original film, makes a cameo appearance; although never named on screen, it is edited as if Swayze is playing the role of Johnny from Dirty Dancing. Yet in the script draft this person is named as Simon “Sim” Johns.
• The plot is loosely based on the life story of JoAnn Jansen, who moved to Cuba with her family in 1958. Thus, the “Based on True Events” title. She is also a producer and choreographer for the film.

Soundtrack

1. “Dance Like This” – Wyclef Jean featuring Claudette Ortiz
2. “Dirty Dancing” – Black Eyed Peas
3. “Guajira (I Love U 2 Much)” – Yerba Buena
4. “Can I Walk By” – Jazze Pha featuring Monica
5. “Satellite (From “Havana Nights”)” – Santana Featuring Jorge Moreno
6. “El Beso Del Final” – Christina Aguilera
7. “Represent, Cuba” – Orishas featuring Heather Headley
8. “Do You Only Wanna Dance” – Mýa
9. “You Send Me” – Shawn Kane
10. “El Estuche” – Aterciopelados
11. “Do You Only Wanna Dance” – Julio Daviel Big Band Conducted by Cucco Pena
12. “Satellite (Spanish Version) Nave Espacial (From “Havana Nights”)” – Santana Featuring Jorge Moreno

Synopsis

Flamenco is a documentary that includes performances from some of the best flamenco singers, dancers and guitarists. Helped by cinematography by Vittorio Storaro, director Carlos Saura brings with this film the “Light of Flamenco to the World”.

As a hall fills with performers, a narrator says that flamenco came from Andalucia, a mix of Greek psalms, Mozarabic dirges, Castillian ballads, Jewish laments, Gregorian chants, African rhythms, and Iranian and Romany melodies. The film presents thirteen rhythms of flamenco, each with song, guitar, and dance: the up-tempo bularías, a brooding farruca, an anguished martinete, and a satiric fandango de huelva. There are tangos, a taranta, alegrías, siguiriyas, soleás, a guajira of patrician women, a petenera about a sentence to death, villancicos, and a final rumba. Families present numbers, both festive and fierce. The camera and the other performers are the only audience.

This film shows a world of flamenco — singing, dancing and guitarplaying melded into an intense, enclosing and dramatic space. Song, guitar and dance are blended in inventive ways. They are performed sometimes a cappella, extending the guitar playing in subtle and intense “solos” accompanied often by hand-clapping or knuckles rapped on a table. These dancers have learned the technique but they make the flamenco their own. Here we see children dancing with their parents; and grandparents demonstrating that flamenco imbues the spirit with a graceful power that does not age. At the end, we see the form of flamenco symbolically passed through a class of aspiring dancers.

Cast

Performances by: Paco de Lucía, Joaquín Cortés, Manolo Sanlúcar, Lole y Manuel, La Paquera de Jerez, Fernanda de Utrera, José Menese, Enrique Morente, José Mercé, Farruco y Farruquito, Ketama, Manzanita and many others at the old Seville train station

Originally a low-budget film by a new studio and with no major stars (at the time), Dirty Dancing became a massive box office hit. As of 2007, it has earned $300 million worldwide. It was the first film to sell more than a million copies on home video, and the Dirty Dancing soundtrack generated two multi-platinum albums and multiple singles, including “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life”, which won both the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Song, and a Grammy Award for best duet. The film spawned a 2004 prequel, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, as well as a stage version which has had sellout performances in Australia, Europe, and North America, with plans to open on Broadway.

Plot analysis

Dirty Dancing has been described as a coming-of-age tale showing the passage from adolescence to adulthood, in a classic hero’s journey format. The hero, Baby, is an innocent who receives a call to adventure from a gatekeeper – one of the camp staff asking her in to the party – who invites her to cross a bridge (symbolically significant as it links different realms) and Baby passes into an unfamiliar world (the resort’s staff and their more sensual dancing). Baby then proceeds through tests and trials (dancing lessons, taking the lead in dealing with Penny’s abortion, preparing for and completing the performance at the Sheldrake, standing up for Johnny) to achieve personal growth, “knowledge acquired through personal experience”. She is rewarded for her achievements, by sexual union with Johnny. At the end of the film she undergoes the supreme ordeal (dancing in front of her parents and the audience including the climactic lift), which she conquers, and is rewarded by being raised, both literally into the air and figuratively into divinity, demonstrating that the hero has achieved a new higher state of being, and has been permanently changed by the journey

Music

Rehearsals for the dancing, and some of the filming, used music from Bergstein’s personal collection of 45s. When it came time to select actual music for the film, Vestron chose Jimmy Ienner as music supervisor. Ienner, who had previously produced albums and songs for John Lennon and Three Dog Night, opted to stick with much of the music that had already been used during filming, and obtained licenses for the songs from Bergstein’s collection. He also enlisted Swayze to sing the new song “She’s Like the Wind.” Swayze had written the song a few years earlier with Stacy Widelitz, originally intending for it to be used in the 1984 film Grandview, U.S.A..

The movie’s incidental music score was composed by John Morris. The Kellermans’ song that closes the talent show scene had lyrics written specifically for the film, and was sung to the tune of Annie Lisle, a commonly-used theme for school alma maters. Kenny Ortega and his assistant Miranda Garrison chose the song for the finale by going through an entire box of tapes listening to each one. According to Ortega, literally the last tape that they listened to had “The Time of My Life”, which they saw as the obvious choice. Ienner then insisted that Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes record it. The song won the 1988 Grammy Award for Best Duet, an Academy Award for Best Original Song, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.

The film’s soundtrack started an oldies music revival, and demand for the album caught RCA by surprise. According to Previte, before a single had even been released, there were a million albums on back-order. The Dirty Dancing album spent 18 weeks at number 1 on the Billboard 200 album sales charts and went platinum eleven times, selling more than 39 million copies worldwide. It spawned a follow-up multi-platinum album in February 1988, entitled More Dirty Dancing, selling 32 million copies worldwide.

Songs from the album which appeared on the charts included^:

• “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life”, performed by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, composed by Franke Previte, John deNicola, and Donald Markowitz – this song rose to number 1 on the pop charts.

• “She’s Like the Wind”, performed by lead actor Patrick Swayze, composed by Swayze and Stacy Widelitz

• “Hungry Eyes”, performed by Eric Carmen, composed by Franke Previte and John deNicola

Legacy

The film’s huge success had the paradoxical effect of backfiring on some of the participants. Patrick Swayze was routinely parodied in the media, and in 1989, received two nominations for worst actor from the Golden Raspberry awards, for his performances in Next of Kin and Road House. But in 1990, Swayze again had success in Ghost with Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg. Grey, for her part, had a rhinoplasty in the early 1990s, which changed her nose and made her face nearly unrecognizable from her “Baby” character. She was never able to find a role which matched the success that she had in Dirty Dancing. As for the studio, despite the film’s huge monetary success, Vestron followed it up with a series of flops, and ran out of money. Vestron’s parent company Vestron Inc. went bankrupt in 1990, and was bought out in January 1991 by LIVE Entertainment for $26 million. The rights to Dirty Dancing passed to Artisan Entertainment, and later to Lionsgate.

Jerry Orbach, already known as a successful Broadway actor, continued in different genres. He was the voice of the candelabra “Lumiere” in the 1991 Disney animated film, Beauty and the Beast and then took on his best-known role, detective Lennie Briscoe on Law & Order, which he played from 1992 until his death in 2004.^[38] Choreographer Kenny Ortega went on to choreograph other major pictures such as the 1992 Newsies and starting in 2006, the High School Musical series. He also became a director of film and television, including several episodes of Gilmore Girls, in which Dirty Dancing’s Kelly Bishop had a starring role.

Various images and lines from the film have worked their way into popular culture. Johnny Castle’s line “Nobody puts Baby in a corner” has been used in song lyrics, and was the title of an episode of the TV series Veronica Mars.

While the Mountain Lake Inn still stands in western Virginia, the site where the Lake Lure scenes were filmed at the old Boys Camp are long gone – some due to vandalism and some due to fire. As of 2007, the Kellerman’s/Sheldrake Ballroom had burnt down, the staff cabins were gone, the dance rehearsal studio and the Dirty Dancer’s hangout were all gone. All that remains of the site are the stairs that Jennifer Grey’s character carries a watermelon up. As of 2008, the site has become private property for multi-million dollar lake homes.

The movie is mentioned throughout the Canadian TV Series Trailer Park Boys.

The movie was loosely based on events that took place in the tiny, rural farming community of Elmore City, Oklahoma. Much of the film was filmed in Utah County.

Production details

Dean Pitchford wrote the screenplay (and most of the lyrics) for Footloose, Herbert Ross directed the movie, and Paramount Pictures co-produced and distributed it.

Oscar winning director Michael Cimino was hired by Paramount to direct the movie when negotiations with Ross initially stalled. After four months working on the film, the studio fired Cimino, who was making extravagant demands for the production, and ended up hiring Ross.

Casting

Footloose also starred Lori Singer as Reverend Moore’s independent daughter Ariel, a role Madonna also auditioned for. Dianne Wiest appeared as Vi, the Reverend’s devoted yet sympathetic wife.

Footloose is one of the earliest film appearances of Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker as Ariel’s friend Rusty, a role for which she was nominated for Best Young Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Musical, Comedy, Adventure or Drama at the Sixth Annual Youth in Film Awards. It was also an early role for Chris Penn as Willard Hewitt, Ren’s best friend, who doesn’t know how to dance until Ren teaches him.

Filming

The film was made at various locations in Utah County. The high school and tractor scenes were filmed in and around Payson, Utah and Payson High School. The church scenes were filmed in American Fork, Utah. The steel mill was the Geneva Steel mill. The final sequence is filmed in Lehi, Utah, with the Lehi Roller Mills featured in the final sequence.

Reception

The film, despite mixed critical reviews, nonetheless grossed approximately $80,000,000 in domestic box office.

Soundtrack

1. “Footloose” – Kenny Loggins
2. “Let’s Hear It for the Boy” – Deniece Williams
3. “Almost Paradise” (Love Theme) – Mike Reno (Loverboy) & Ann Wilson (Heart)
4. “Holding Out for a Hero” – Bonnie Tyler
5. “Dancing In The Sheets” – Shalamar
6. “I’m Free (Heaven Helps the Man)” – Kenny Loggins
7. “Somebody’s Eyes” – Karla Bonoff
8. “The Girl Gets Around” – Sammy Hagar
9. “Never” – Moving Pictures

A huge commercial success, the movie significantly helped to popularize disco music around the world and made Travolta a household name. The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, featuring disco songs by the Bee Gees, became the best selling soundtrack at that time and held the record until 1999 when the soundtrack to The Bodyguard overtook it. The film is also notable for being one of the first instances of cross-media marketing, with the tie-in soundtrack’s single being used to help promote the film before its release and the film popularizing the entire soundtrack after its release.

The story is based upon a 1976 New York magazine article by British writer Nik Cohn, “Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night.” In the late-1990s, Cohn acknowledged that the article had been fabricated. A newcomer to the United States and a stranger to the disco lifestyle, Cohn was unable to make any sense of the subculture he had been assigned to write about. The characters who were to become Tony Manero and his friends was based on Mods, an English youth movement that also placed great importance on music, clothes and dancing. The film also showcased aspects of the music, the dancing, and the subculture surrounding the disco era: symphony-orchestrated melodies, haute-couture styles of clothing, sexual promiscuity, and graceful choreography.

Filming locations include

• Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
• Phillips Dance Studio
• 2001 Odyssey, which was later renamed Spectrum (a Gay club) in 1987 before being demolished in 2005. The club was located at 802 64th Street, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York.
• Six Brothers Hardware and Paints formerly located at 7309 5th Ave in Brooklyn was the backdrop for Tony’s place of employment. The store was owned and operated by a father and his six sons of the Albergo Family. It became a popular tourist stop after the release of the movie. The father was Giuseppe (Joseph Sr.) and the six brothers were Joseph, Domenic, Marco, Peter, Angelo, and Ralph. The owners have since sold the store and have retired.

Soundtrack

1. “Stayin’ Alive” performed by Bee Gees – 4:45
2. “How Deep Is Your Love” performed by Bee Gees – 4:05
3. “Night Fever” performed by Bee Gees – 3:33
4. “More Than a Woman” performed by Bee Gees – 3:17
5. “If I Can’t Have You” performed by Yvonne Elliman – 3:00
6. “A Fifth of Beethoven” performed by Walter Murphy – 3:03
7. “More Than a Woman” performed by Tavares – 3:17
8. “Manhattan Skyline” performed by David Shire – 4:44
9. “Calypso Breakdown” performed by Ralph MacDonald – 7:50 (*)
10. “Night on Disco Mountain” performed by David Shire – 5:12
11. “Open Sesame” performed by Kool & the Gang – 4:01
12. “Jive Talkin’” performed by Bee Gees – 3:43 (*)
13. “You Should Be Dancing” performed by Bee Gees – 4:14
14. “Boogie Shoes” performed by KC and the Sunshine Band – 2:17
15. “Salsation” performed by David Shire – 3:50
16. “K-Jee” performed by MFSB – 4:13
17. “Disco Inferno” performed by Trammps – 10:51

Trivia

• Saturday Night Fever was the favorite movie of the late film critic Gene Siskel, who claimed to have seen it 17 times. He liked the movie so much, he bought the famous white disco suit (worn by Travolta in the movie) at a charity auction for $17,000.
• According to the DVD commentary for this movie, the producers wanted to use the song “Lowdown” by Boz Scaggs for use in the rehearsal scene between Tony and Annette in the dance studio. Representatives for Scaggs’ label, Columbia Records, refused to allow the song, as they wanted to pursue another disco movie project, which never materialized. David Shire had to compose a song to match the dance steps demonstrated in the scene, as it was done with “Lowdown” in mind. However, it does not appear on the movie’s soundtrack.
• Donna Pescow was almost considered ‘too pretty’ for the role of Annette. She corrected this by putting on 40 pounds and training herself back to her native Brooklyn accent, which she trained herself away from while she was studying drama at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. After production ended, she immediately lost the weight she gained for the role and dropped the accent.
• John Travolta’s mother Helen and sister Ann both appeared in minor roles in this movie.
• Bobby’s C’s car is a 1964 Chevrolet Impala.
• Madonna’s video for her 2005 hit single “Hung Up” is an homage to a scene from Saturday Night Fever, when Tony first approaches Stephanie at the rehearsal studio. In the video, Madonna is wearing almost exactly the same leotard and tights set that Stephanie wears in the film, and there is wood paneling and a wooden barre much like in the rehearsal space Stephanie uses for this scene. Madonna also did a remix during the Confessions Tour in 2006, following her successful album Confessions on a Dance Floor. The remix was the instrumental of “Disco Inferno” from Saturday Night Fever mixed with Madonna’s hit song “Music” from 2000. Madonna’s appearance and dance moves during “Music Inferno” were similar to Travolta’s in the film.
• The song “K-Jee” was used during the dance contest with the Hispanic couple that competed against Tony and Stephanie. Some VHS cassettes used a more traditional Latin-style song instead. The DVD restores the original recording.

Cast

• John Travolta – Tony Manero
• Karen Lynn Gorney – Stephanie Mangano
• Barry Miller – Bobby C.
• Joseph Cali – Joey
• Paul Pape – Double J.
• Donna Pescow – Annette, a former girlfriend of Tony, still in love with him
• Bruce Ornstein – Gus
• Julie Bovasso – Flo Manero, Tony’s mother
• Martin Shakar – Frank Manero Jr., Tony’s brother
• Sam Coppola – Dan Fusco, paint store owner, Tony’s boss

The film is something of a travelogue around Spain with dance interludes, mainly set to the repeated theme of The Honeymoon Song by Mikis Theodorakis. Performed in the film by Marino Marini and his quartet, it was subsequently recorded by many performers, including The Beatles.

Production

After his partnership with Emeric Pressburger ended, Michael Powell looked around for other projects and was enticed to Spain to make a film that, it was hoped, would do for flamenco and Spanish ballet what The Red Shoes had done for ballet. There were many problems during the production, mainly due to the lack of available finances. In one non-fiscal incident, Powell’s car was stolen and as the thieves were chased they crashed the car and died in the crash.

Awards and honors

At the 1959 Cannes Film Festival, Luna de Miel won the Technical Grand Prize. Also, director Michael Powell was nominated for the Golden Palm Award.

Subsequent history

Ludmilla Tchérina liked the final ballet, Los Amantes de Teruel , so much that she incorporated it into her regular stage performances. With the help of director Raymond Rouleau, it was turned into a film Les Amants de Teruel (1962).

The film was cut for television in the U.K., and this version was the only one available for many years. The cuts were mainly to some of the extended dance sequences, leaving it as little more than a travelogue. This led to the film getting a bad reputation.

The film was fully restored from its original elements by Charles Doble of Somerset, and the restored film had its first public screening at the San Sebastián Film Festival in 2002 in the presence of Rosita Sergova, one of the stars of the film. It was first shown in the U.K. in Ashbrittle, Somerset on 21 June 2003^.

Music

Music used in Luda de Miel includes:

• “Anononio’s Zapatedo” – composed by Sarasate, arranged by Leonard Salzedo
• “Honeymoon Song” – by Mikis Theodorakis, arranged by Angela Morley (as Wally Stott), performed by Marino Marini and his quartet
• El Amor Brujo (ballet) – music by Manuel de Falla, story by Carlos Fernandez Shaw, choreography by Antonio
• Los Amantes de Teruel (ballet) – music by Mikis Theodorakis^.

Cast

• Anthony Steel as Kit Kelly
• Ludmilla Tchérina as Anna
• Antonio as Antonio
• Léonide Massine as “Der Geist”
• Rosita Segovia as Rosita Candelas
• Carmen Rojas as Lucia
• María Gámez as Pepe Nieto
• Diego Hurtado as Pepe Nieto
• Juan Carmona as Pepe Nieto
• María Carla Alcalá as Soloist

The movie is frequently described as one of the best musicals ever made, topping the AFI’s 100 Years of Musicals list, and ranking fifth in its updated list of the greatest American films in 2007.

Production

In the famous dance routine in which Gene Kelly sings the title song while twirling an umbrella, splashing through puddles and getting soaked to the skin, he was actually dancing in water with a little bit of milk added, so that the water puddles and raindrops would show up in the filming. Kelly was sick with a 103-degree fever at the time.

Debbie Reynolds was not a dancer at the time she made Singin’ in the Rain — her background was as a gymnast. Kelly apparently insulted her for her lack of dance experience, upsetting her. Fred Astaire was hanging around the studio and found Reynolds crying under a piano. Hearing what had happened, Astaire volunteered to help her with her dancing. Kelly later admitted that he had not been kind to Reynolds and was surprised that she was still willing to talk to him afterwards. After shooting the “Good Morning” routine, Reynolds’ feet were bleeding. Years later, she was quoted as saying that making this film and surviving childbirth were the two most difficult experiences of her life.

Awards and honors

Jean Hagen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and the film for Best Original Music Score.

Singin’ in the Rain has appeared twice on Sight and Sound‘s list of the ten best films of all time, in 1982 and 2002

In 1989, Singin’ in the Rain was also deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
American Film Institute recognition

• 1998 – AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies – #10;
• 2000 – AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Laughs – #16;
• 2002 – AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Passions – #16;
• 2004 – AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Songs:
  • “Singin’ in the Rain” – #3
  • “Make ‘em Laugh” – #49
  • “Good Morning” – #72
• 2006 – AFI’s 100 Years of Musicals – #1
• 2007 – AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – #5

Cast

• Gene Kelly as Don Lockwood. Although his performance in the song Singin’ in the Rain is now considered iconic, Kelly was not the first choice for the role — Howard Keel was originally cast. However, Keel was replaced by Kelly as the screenwriters evolved the character from a “Western actor” to a “song-and-dance vaudeville” performer.
• Debbie Reynolds as Kathy Selden. Early on in production, Judy Garland (shortly before her contract termination from MGM), Kathryn Grayson, Jane Powell, Leslie Caron, and June Allyson were among the names thrown around for the role of the “ingenue”.
• Donald O’Connor as Cosmo Brown. The role was based on, and was initially written for, Oscar Levant.
• Jean Hagen as Lina Lamont. Judy Holliday was strongly considered for the role of Lina, until she suggested Hagen, who had been her understudy in the Broadway production of Born Yesterday. Fresh off her role in The Asphalt Jungle, Hagen read for the part for Arthur Freed and did a dead-on impression of Holliday’s Billie Dawn character, which won her the role.
• Millard Mitchell as R.F. Simpson. The initials of the fictional head of Monumental Pictures are a reference to producer Freed. R.F. also uses one of Freed’s favorite expressions when he says that he “cannot quite visualize it” and has to see it on film first, referring to the Broadway ballet sequence, a joke, since the audience has just seen it.
• Cyd Charisse as Don’s dance partner in the “Broadway Melody” ballet
• Rita Moreno as Zelda Zanders, the “Zip Girl” and Lina’s informant friend

Astaire was not enthused by the proposal to blend ballet with popular dance, and it shows. Neither, it appears, was George Gershwin—who had become famous for blending jazz with classical forms—as he makes no reference to this concept in any of the songs. While the film—the couple’s most expensive to date—benefits from quality male comedy specialists, opulent art direction by Carroll Clark under Van Nest Polglase’s supervision, and a timeless score which introduces three classic Gershwin songs, the extremely convoluted plot and the curious absence of a romantic partnered duet for Astaire and Rogers—a hallmark of their musicals since The Gay Divorcee (1934)—contributed to their least profitable picture to date—a clear indication that audiences might be tiring of the Astaire-Rogers’ magic. Ginger, in particular, looks tired in the picture and had already requested a break from musicals.

Astaire was no stranger to the Gershwins having headlined, with his sister Adele, two Gershwin Broadway shows: Lady Be Good! in 1924 and Funny Face in 1927, and George Gershwin accompanied the pair on piano in a set of recordings in 1926. Ginger Rogers first came to Hollywood’s attention when she appeared in the “Embraceable You” number (choreographed by Astaire) in the Gershwin’s Girl Crazy in 1930.

Musical numbers:

Hermes Pan collaborated with Astaire on the choreography throughout and Harry Losee was brought in to help with the ballet finale. Astaire often appears either dismissive or uncomfortable with the central ballet/popular dance idea. While he made further attempts—notably in Ziegfeld Follies (1944/46), Yolanda and the Thief (1945) and Daddy Long Legs (1955) it was his rival and friend Gene Kelly who would eventually succeed in creating a modern original dance style based on this concept. Some critics have attributed Astaire’s discomfort with ballet (he briefly studied ballet in the 1920s) to his oft-expressed disdain for “inventing up to the arty”.

• “Rehearsal Fragments”: In a brief segment which seeks to motivate the film’s core dance concept, Astaire illustrates the idea of combining “the technique of ballet with the warmth and passion of this other mood” by performing two ballet leaps, the second of which is followed by a tap barrage.

• “Rumba Sequence”: Astaire watches a flip-picture book illustrating a brief but beautiful rumba sequence for Ginger Rogers and Pete Theodore choreographed by Hermes Pan—her only partnered dance without Astaire in the 10 film sequence of Astaire-Rogers musicals.

• “(I’ve Got) Beginner’s Luck (dance)”: A brief comic tap solo with cane where Astaire’s rehearsing to a record of the number is cut short when the record gets stuck.

• “Slap That Bass”: In a mixed race number unusual for its time, Astaire encounters a group of African-American musicians holding a jam session in a spotless, Art Deco-inspired ship’s engine room. Dudley Dickerson introduces the first verse of the song whose chorus is then taken up by Astaire. The virtuoso tap solo which follows is the first substantial musical number in the picture, and can be seen as a successor to the “I’d Rather Lead A Band” solo from Follow the Fleet (1936)—which also took place aboard ship—this time introducing a vertical element to the predominantly linear choreography, some pointedly dismissive references to ballet positions, and a middle section similarly without musical accompaniment but now imaginatively supported by rhythmic engine noises. George Gershwin’s colour home-movie footage of Astaire rehearsing this number was discovered only in the 1990s.

• “Walking the Dog”: George Gershwin composed this jaunty and beautifully orchestrated number—only published in 1960 as “Promenade” — to accompany two pantomimic routines for Astaire and Rogers, constructed with the care and precision of a dance routine although they include no formal dance moves. It was the last orchestral piece George Gershwin wrote.

• “Beginner’s Luck (song)”: Astaire delivers this jaunty number to a non-committal Rogers, whose scepticism is echoed by a pack of howling dogs intervening at the close.

• “They All Laughed (At Christopher Columbus)”: In the film’s most impressive number, Ginger Rogers provides a sparkling introduction of Gershwin’s now-classic song and is then joined by Astaire in a comic dance duet which begins with a ballet parody: Astaire in a mock-Russian accent invites Rogers to “tweeest” but after she pointedly fails to respond the pair revert to a delightful tap routine which ends with Astaire lifting Rogers onto a piano.

• “Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off“: The genesis of the joke in Ira Gershwin’s famous lyrics is uncertain: Ira has claimed the idea occurred to him in 1926 and remained unused. Astaire and Rogers sing alternate verses of this quickstep before embarking on a partnered comic tap dance using roller skates on an ice-rink. Astaire uses the circular form of the rink to introduce a variation of the “oompah-trot” he and his sister Adele had made famous in vaudeville, and while critics have acknowledged the number’s affectionate charm and originality, some have noted both partners’ technical limitations with roller skates and the ensuing limited choreography, while pointing out that the skating sounds—which as usual were dubbed in post-production—are unnaturally loud and precise. In a further dig at ballet, the pair strike an arabesque pose just prior to toppling onto the grass.

• “They Can’t Take That Away from Me”: The Gershwins’ famous foxtrot, a serene, nostalgic declaration of love—one of their most enduring creations and one of George’s personal favourites—is introduced by Astaire in one of the film’s few genuinely touching and romantic moments. Rogers’ reactions are a testimony to her considerable dramatic abilities. As with “The Way You Look Tonight” in Swing Time (1936), it was decided to reprise the melody as part of the film’s dance finale. George Gershwin was unhappy about this, writing “They literally throw one or two songs away without any kind of plug”. Astaire subsequently acknowledged the error, and finally put matters right in The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), his final reunion with Rogers, creating one of their most admired essays in romantic partnered dance, and it remains the only occasion on film when Astaire permitted himself to repeat a song he had performed in a previous film. George Gershwin died two months after the film’s release, and he was posthumously nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song for this song at the 1937 Oscars.

• “Shall We Dance”: The film’s big production number begins with a ballet featuring a female chorus and ballet soloist Harriet Hoctor whose speciality was performing an elliptical backbend en pointe, a routine she had perfected during her vaudeville days and as a headline act with the Ziegfeld Follies. Astaire approaches and the pair perform a much-criticised duet to a reprise of the music to “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” with Astaire appearing diffident and uninvolved. After a brief routine for Astaire and a female chorus, each wearing Ginger masks, he departs and Hoctor returns to deliver two variations on her backbend routine. Astaire now returns in top hat, white tie and tails and delivers a sparkling rendition of the title song—urging his audience to “drop that long face/come on have your fling/why keep nursing the blues” and follows this with a zestful half-minute tap solo. Finally, Ginger arrives on stage, masked to blend in with the chorus whereupon Astaire unmasks her and they dance a brief final duet. This routine was referenced in the 1999 romantic comedy Simply Irresistible.

• The score is probably the largest source of Gershwin orchestral works unavailable to the general public, at least since the advent of modern stereo recording techniques in the 1950s. The movie contains the only recordings currently available to Gershwin aficianados (unfortunate because not all the incidental music composed for the movie was used in the final cut.)

• Nat Shilkret, musical director for the movie, hired Jimmy Dorsey and all or part of the Dorsey band as the nucleus of a fifty-piece studio orchestra including strings. Dorsey was in Hollywood at the time working the “Kraft Music Hall” radio show on NBC hosted by Bing Crosby. Dorsey is heard soloing on “Slap That Bass,” “Walkin’ the Dog” and “They All Laughed.”