That's Dancing! (1985)
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70% of users liked it
(1,346 ratings)
Nine years after his last compilation of musical-movie highlights (That's Entertainment, Part II), producer Jack Haley Jr. offers another enjoyable nostalgia-fest, That's Dancing. Unlike his earlier films, which were confined to the output of MGM, That's Dancing offers vignettes from the… More Nine years after his last compilation of musical-movie highlights (That's Entertainment, Part II), producer Jack Haley Jr. offers another enjoyable nostalgia-fest, That's Dancing. Unlike his earlier films, which were confined to the output of MGM, That's Dancing offers vignettes from the best of Warner Bros. (the Busby Berkeley extravaganzas, On Your Toes), RKO (Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers), 20th Century-Fox (The Nicholas Brothers, Carmen Miranda), Universal (1969's Sweet Charity) and United Artists (the "Cool" number from West Side Story). There are also highlights from the top musicals of the 1970s and 1980s, which with such rare exceptions as Saturday Night Fever (1977) can't hold a candle to Hollywood's vintage songfests. Host/narrators Gene Kelly, Sammy Davis Jr., Mikhail Baryshnikov, Liza Minnelli and Ray Bolger help put the clips in their historical perspective, though all five stars seem tired and unenthusiastic. The real money scene in That's Dancing is Ray Bolger's "wind" dance, which was cut from the final release print of The Wizard of Oz (1939). In answer to the excellent audience response to this vintage sequence, Haley's next compilation, That's Entertainment III (1995), incorporated several such "lost" musical gems from the MGM vaults. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- Jack Haley Jr.
- Genres
- Documentary, Television, Musical & Performing Arts, Classics
G,
- In Theaters
- Jun 1, 1985 Wide
- Studio
- MGM Home Entertainment
Critic Reviews
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Austin Kennedy, Film Geek Central
I'd rather just watch a musical in it's entirety than a greatest clips presentation, but for what it is, it's entertaining enough. At least it made me write down a list of musicals to watch.
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Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine
The rare dance documentary that features more clips of Bob Fosse in front of the camera rather than behind, That's Dancing!'s only crippling flaw is that it was made when Kim Carnes was around to rasp through the closing credits.
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Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine
Bends over backwards to celebrate the perception that the box office success of Fame and Flashdance heralded the rebirth of the form.
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Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
A fine film about the beat that put bodies in motion from tap to ballroom to disco to break dancing.
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