Before "Dancing With The Stars" there was the MOVIES.

A collection of dance clips from the past 40 years from Fred Astaire to Footloose


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYL3j27sSH8

I watched it and Loved it.

 But when I see Patrick Swazey I feel sad we lost him so young. Jamie Lee Curtis so sexy now she's concerned with ACTIVA and bowel movements. Time marches on and the money is good for a Fish Called Wanda. Of course we all forget just how good and skinny John Travolta was He's still good but fat and a Scientoligist to boot. A tragedy about his son. How can one follow L. Ron Hubbard? A sci-fi writer of fiction who is Scientology's founder. Many years ago I read his book on this and it was bad and fictitious. But then we believe in God becoming man and loving us. Knowing how bad we can be (not you) how crazy is that? I mean loving us. Of course Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly are the best of the best but when Donald O'Connor was young and in shape and not destroyed by alcohol , he held his own with the best. Remember "Be A Clown"? We forget just how athletic he was. AND speaking of athleticism how about Dick Van Dyke? Julie Andrews gets all the accolades for "Mary Poppins" which she deserves but every one forgets Van Dykes performance which was brilliant. Remember "the Chimney Sweep" scene? Not easy!

But America's love with the dance is brought up to date with "The Black Swan" Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" which is a psycho-drama but it brings Ballet into focus for it's great music and super dancing showing the dedication and focus needed to become a Ballet artist. "The Red Shoes", when was that?, 1960's may be the last great Ballet motion picture before "The Black Swan". I loved the picture even though I thought I would hate since I had no appreciation for Ballet, guys running around in pants so tight that their packages seemed strangled, not for me. But this picture changes my mind, although I will never try to even squeeze into Ballet tights. I have to admit that even though I loved the picture when it was over I wasn't sure of what I had seen. I'm still not sure but whatever conclusion I arrive at when I consider this great picture, I am satisfied, at least for that day.

Before I finish let me acknowledge that Patrick Swazey also did well in non-dancing roles. The one I shall always remember is "Ghosts". The scene with Demi Moore, doing some clay work to the great song of "Unchained Melody" remains as the most searing, sexual love scene I have seen. As I remember they kept their clothes on as they worked the clay and the melody played. I was sitting there in the movie house with my wife and we could feel the electricity flowing through our veins as that scene played out. As to what happened when we went home, I don't think I'll share with you.