Smooth Criminal (Fred Astaire)

[Brooklyns_Finest]

I just saw this video on youtube and thought it was HOT. Fred had some serious dancing skills.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKanPsUjP7w

[blogslut]

1. Yes

Yes he did:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j02k9t4rP50

[elleng]

4. HUGE DELIGHT!

THANKS!

Here's Fred with Ginger!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnUfY-URXzA&feature=related

[realisticphish]

7. I can't hear this

without hearing Peter Boyle roar "PUUIH OH A IIIIITZ"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5Hr6NTsbtg

[KittyWampus]

2. I am struck at how modern that dance number is/was. It must be from about 1955?

Wonder how old Astaire was... will have to investigate.

[Lancer]

8. It's the capper from "The Band Wagon" (1953)

It's called "The Girl Hunt Ballet," and Cyd Charisse plays the blonde and the brunette. Very stylized and inventive. Astaire was 54 at the time. (Charisse was 31.) Critics did not like the number but Astaire always said it was one of his favorites.

Billy Joel wrote a song called "Big Man on Mulberry Street" which served as the backdrop to a dream sequence on the TV show Moonlighting in 1983 that was based on the Girl Hunt Ballet. Bruce Willis is not a professional dancer, but he does very well with his leggy dance partner, Sandahl Bergman. Worth a look!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ML3Xp1rK-8

[hippywife]

9. He was 56 in 1955. n/t

[Lancer]

10. Whil we're picking nits, "The Band Wagon" was released in 1953.

Frederick Austerlitz was born in 1899.

[hippywife]

11. I wasn't picking one little nit.

Part of the video was from the movie Daddy Long Legs which was released in 1955.

[KittyWampus]

14. Good catch!

[elleng]

3. AND Leslie Caron, AND Cyd Charisse!

.

[hippywife]

5. And amazingly enough,

both looking only half as beautiful as they would eventually come to be. :hi:

[hippywife]

6. Very nice editing job.

Very nice. And, yes, no one could beat either Astaire and Gene Kelly for their talent, skill and sheer athletic ability. :hi:

[JI7]

12. this is one of those things you just want to keep watching over and over again

also you can see how much influence Astaire had on Michael Jackson. and how good is that song.

and i think Fred Astaire said Jackson was the greatest dancer he had seen.


another one of my favorite dances to watch is this Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines from some movie i never saw.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haBZCrBHMm4

[Mad_Dem_X]

13. Very cool!

The editing was incredible.