With the remake of 'Footloose' pirouetting its way into theaters, I thought dancing should be the theme for this week's 'Listmania!' I've been very strict with this list, including only movies where dancing is a central theme of the plot. Therefore, just being a musical with dancing in it is not qualification enough. Sorry, Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire.
There's no greater cause for dance than to bring people together and dismantle racial segregation. But, this film, by the quirky John Waters, doesn't take its serious plot at all seriously. 'Hairspray' is hilarious, satirical, and toe-tappingly fun. Ricki Lake stars as the giddy and chubby dancer, Tracy, and Divine, John Waters' favorite drag queen, steels the show as her morbidly obese mother, Edna. A 2007 remake with John Travolta proved just as fun and, with the addition of showstopping musical numbers, bigger, flashier, and overflowing with snappy dances.
A high school boy from Chicago moves to a small town where, he discovers, public dancing has been outlawed. Seen as a troublemaker from the adults around him, he brings the youth of town together to fight the law and put together a senior dance. The best moments in the film come from the incomparable Diane Wiest and the equally delightful John Lithgow as two people trying to make sense of this challenging little thing called 'parenting.' Kevin Bacon also gives a great performance in his fight for the freedom to dance.
Renee Zellweger stars as a woman wanting a life in the spotlight so badly, she's willing to commit murder in order to get it. Catherine Zeta-Jones plays her dancing idol and murderous arch-nemesis in a film filled with jazz, booze, crime, and a whole lot of dancing. The roaring twenties never got a better love letter.
7 - Dirty Dancing
The late Patrick Swayze and a young Jennifer Grey play a dance teacher and his student who fall in love. Famous line: "Nobody puts Baby in a corner!"
The short-lived disco craze of the late 70s is capitalized to great effect with the help of heartthrob John Travolta, who plays a dead-end Brooklyn kid unable to see himself doing anything but steeling the floor at the disco clubs. The film has made such an impact, that there isn't a kid today, 30+ years later, who doesn't know the famous 'Point' dance move.
Baz Luhrmann eventually gained fame and success with his gorgeous 'Moulin Rouge,' but it's 'Strictly Ballroom' that started his career and set him apart from the competition. The film is boiling over with quirkiness as a young man dares to dance his own steps in an Australian ballroom competition. The film features a great dancing montage to 'Time After Time' in which the young man prepares an ugly duckling to be his dancing partner.
Few dancing movies are as bold as this, in which a young boy finds himself infatuated with ballet dancing amidst family and patriotic discontent. Jamie Bell made a name for himself as young Billy, and the film remains so well-loved, that songwriter Elton John has written a Tony-winning Broadway Musical based on the material.
The world of ballet dancing becomes so fierce that Prima Ballerina, Natalie Portman, has to watch her back, or else a jealous young dancer could kill her and take her role as the Swan Queen. The mind-bending, psychological thriller is rich with chilling and abstract dance sequences, including the disturbing finale, in which Portman literally begins transforming into a Black Swan.
Directed by famed choreographer, Bob Fosse, 'All That Jazz' puts a magnifying glass to the life of a choreographer, and his endless need to outdo himself. Roy Scheider stars as the dying director, who wants to create the perfect dance before his time on earth fades. The film is wildly abstract, including the endless death sequence, in which Sheider's friends, family, and colleagues appear in his subconscious and dance and sing for him as he directs, still trying and failing to perfect it.
'The Red Shoes' has had such an impact, that many professional dancers claim it to be their inspiration for dancing. Ironic, since the film is about a girl so obsessed with being the ultimate Prima Ballerina that she eventually dances to her death. The film was created by the British film company, The Archers, and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, the team that made such great films as 'Black Narcissus,' and, one of Martin Scorsese's favorite films, 'The Tales of Hoffmann.' It was released in 1948, during a time when technicolor was only used as a bright and kaleidoscopic distraction. The Archers were very subtle and particular in their use of color, making this one of the greatest films of the technicolor era. Moira Shearer made such a big name for herself as Victoria, that her dancing career all but crashed as she attempted screen fame. Unfortunately, besides a great role in 'The Tales of Hoffmann,' her acting career failed too. The long ballet sequence in the film has become iconic. Film students study the hell out of that sequence, for its special effects, its camera movement, editing, and the use of color. It is one of the greatest scenes from one of the greatest movies.
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