Tap (Widescreen Edition)
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Movie Reviews of Tap (Widescreen Edition)
Movie Review: Fantastic
Summary: 5 Stars
I love Gregory Hines. I love tap dancing. He was truly a great dancer. Sorry I never got to see him in person.Movie Review: Tap
Summary: 5 Stars
I truly love this movie. The tap dancing brings chills, especially when dancing on Broadway.Movie Review: "Challeeeeeenge!"
Summary: 4 Stars
Gregory Hines isn't with us anymore, so what's the use of wishing? Still, I wish the man - who was surely the best tap dancer of his generation - had done more movies which featured his dancing skills. I saw him play hoofers in The Cotton Club, White Nights and this one, TAP, and I couldn't really get enough. It's true that TAP gets bogged down with a hackneyed side story, and this does take away from the overall enjoyment of the film. But the electrifying dance sequences go a long way to making TAP a must-see flick. Only, nowadays, I tend to fast-forward thru the parts where Max Washington is being lured back to a life of crime.
Max Washington, of course, is who Gregory Hines plays, and Hines inhabits the role so naturally that it didn't strike me 'til later that there's a bit of a dichotomy in a hard-bitten, resentful ex-con also being a tap dancer. I guess nowadays tap dancing is regarded as foofoo stuff, something for the well-bred Nancies. Except that tap, way back, was the equivalent of breakdancing and krumping and whatever else hip form of street dance is currently making the rounds. I know it sounds like a bit of "What? Really?" but folks used to battle on the street corner in the style of tap, challenging each other, striving to impress their homies, and trying to come up with the best moves and rhythms and cadences. My point being, that Max Washington as both a tap dancer and a criminal isn't that far of a stretch.
Quick catch-up to the premise: Max is the son of legendary tap dancer Sonny Washington. Max himself was a dance prodigy, but gave up on his talent to hang out with the wrong sorts. Now newly released from prison, he's torn between his love for dancing and the temptation of the easy, ill-gotten life.
But, as mentioned, the gangster subplot is pretty lame. Instead, it's all about the dancing and also about Max's relationships with the folks up at Sonny's Side of the Street, a tap dance studio housing Max's old flame and also a host of legendary tap dancing performers. And it's this side of the cast which lends the film its luminosity. Start off with Suzzanne Douglas, who is beautiful and feisty and sizzles in her scenes with Hines. When Douglas was cast for the role, she wasn't a trained tap dancer, but she learned how to do the thing (or fake it well enough) under tap dancer Henry LeTang's tutelage that, on the screen, you couldn't tell that she's new to tap. She looks natural and entirely effortless in the Rogers & Astaire-type rooftop number with Hines.
TAP brings together three generations of tap dancers. Savion Glover was 14 or 15 years old when he co-starred in this one, and he demonstrates not only his pretty impressive skills (but why only one dance outing for him?) but that he can also act. Nowadays, Savion Glover is the closest thing to an ambassador for tap that we have, and dude is doing his best. It's just that I get the sense that the tap dancing culture is slowly fading out.
Meanwhile, if you've been around for the past three decades, especially in the '80s, then you know that Gregory Hines held it down for his generation.
"Now I know you guys were good in your day, but since you ain't got no legs anymore..." is Max's observation to Little Mo (Sammy Davis, Jr., in his last film), and maybe it was an inadvertent slip of the tongue, but maybe it wasn't. Anyway, that comment leads to the absolute highlight of the movie: the Challenge number. In a hazy, nostalgia-drenched sequence, legendary tap dancers Howard "Sandman" Sims (perfectly, grumpily hilarious), Jimmy Slyde, Pat Rico, Steve Condos, Arthur Duncan, Bunny Briggs, Harold Nicholas, and, of course, Sammy Davis, Jr. himself all form a circle and show off their signature moves. And, from what I got out of the bonus features, a lot of this stuff was improvised. There's a lot of improv dancing that went on in this film, and I think that gave TAP a certain dynamic energy and freshness.
Another highlight is when Max is talked into taking a barful of dancers out into Times Square to demonstrate how his father was able to pick up tap moves merely from listening to noises off the bustling New York streets. This sequence ends up feeling the most staged, but the energy in this number is off the charts. I will say, though, that this has to be the most good-natured, accommodating crew of construction workers ever, as Max and his enthusiastic group of dancers and musicians proceed to take over a construction site without as much as a by-your-leave.
The DVD bonus features are worth checking out: Director Nick Castle's film commentary (recorded in 2004) and four documentaries: "The Movie" (the behind-the-scenes look, 29:15 minutes long), "What Tap Is" (the cast talks tap and tap dancer Alfred Desio goes on a bit about his experiments with manipulating tap with synthesizers, 26:24 minutes), "About Gregory" (a loving reflection on Gregory Hines, 21:15 minutes), "Old Timers" (a whole mess of reflecting and reminiscing by some of the cast's legendary tap dancers, including some massive props dropped on Sammy Davis, Jr. - 25:30 minutes).
Okay, my feeling is that the last dance number doesn't really live up. This climactic sequence is supposed to bridge the gap between tap and rock music, and so allow tap dancing to live on. Max's tap shoes are miked up and hooked to synthesizers as Max does his thing while fronting a bluesy rock band. But it doesn't really pan out. There's a purity that's stripped away when you replace the tap shoe's natural clickety-clackiness with synthesized claptrap. As Savion Glover says, "The integrity of the dance should be maintained between the wood and that tap."
TAP works as a loving homage and, in parts, as a sheer entertainer. Gregory Hines turns in a very good performance, both with acting and dancing, although I say his best stuff can still be found in WHITE NIGHTS (WHITE NIGHTS, TAP, and Running Scared are my three favorite Gregory Hines movies). Gregory Hines is graceful, although he doesn't have the grace and lightness of, say, a Fred Astaire. What Hines has is this driving, forceful energy, a rugged athleticism, and this hunkered down intensity, never more typified than in the opening moments in the prison cell, as Max Washington wakes his fellow inmates with a ferocious barrage of tap. The inmates' protests eventually turn to grudging applause, with one inmate's voiced endorsement ringing out above the rest. "Let the man dance!" Yay for the power of tap.
Movie Review: An uneven movie
Summary: 4 Stars
An interesting movie as it has a strong side, and a weak side. The weak side is the uneven drama of Gregory Hines character coming back to the old neighborhood and trying to find himself. While I loved Mr. Hines in many of his roles, this one was a little to shallow for me. The whole story was very uneven.
But on the strong side, you must see this movie for the tap performances. Many of the legendary stars had input into the dance scenes. It also shows of Mr. Hines moves, which are wonderful to watch. Finally, we get to see a very young Savion Glover with all these great dancers. It truly is a must see movie just for the dancing. Sammy Davis Jr. really comes out in this movie,not so much through his acting, but the way he moved.
Movie Review: Watch for the dancing, not the plot
Summary: 4 Stars
The dancing is amazing. Gregory Hines is the best, but the "challenge" number with the old legends is a real show stopper and by far the best part of the movie. Young Savion Glover is adorable. I only wish they had included more scenes of him dancing. The plot is pretty predictable and almost non-existent. But anyone who is watching this movie for the plot should go and watch something else.