Jack Haley, Jr. Movies
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, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Kelly, Sammy Davis, Jr., (more)
- 1983
The usually reliable director Bryan Forbes came acropper in Better Late Than Never. In one of his last films, a noticeably weary David Niven plays Nick, the supposed grandfather of 10-year-old heiress Bridget (Kimberly Partridge). Charley (Art Carney) shows up to cramp Nick's act, claiming that he is the genuine grandpa. Both men once slept with Bridget's grandmother, and she was never certain which of the two "inaugurated" her family. Neither Nick nor Charley are exactly prime parental material, so Bridget must choose from the lesser of two evils. Maggie Smith and Catherine Hicks are excellent in their thankless secondary roles. Better Late Than Never was lensed on location in the South of France; the scenery is the film's most pleasing aspect. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Niven, Art Carney, (more)
- 1977
Based on the coffee-table book of the same name, Life Goes to War is just what it says it is: an overview of World War II, as seen through the eyes of the editors, reporters and photojournalists of Life Magazine. Most of the film clips included herein were gleaned from the March of Time documentary series, produced by Time-Life publisher Henry R. Luce and filmmaker Louis de Rochemont. Don't expect an uncensored, unadorned look at the years 1939-1945: these films were originally sanitized and factory-approved for the purposes of home-front morale and propaganda. Thus, there are comparatively few glimpses of the horrors of war, save for a few shots of the carnage of D-Day and Okinawa, and the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps. What there is in abundance is shots of scrap-iron drives, defense plants, gas rationing, USO shows, the Hollywood Canteen, and other familiar trademarks of the war years. Life Goes to War was assembled by Jack Haley Jr., whose previous projects include the That's Entertainment musical compilations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This represents MGM's 1976 sequel to its enormously successful compilation film That's Entertainment (1974). In lieu of the multi-narrator device of the first film, director Gene Kelly chooses to limit the hosting chores to two people: himself, and his friendly rival Fred Astaire. Another departure from the first film was the decision to include comedy and dramatic highlights from MGM's past, with such stars as Greta Garbo (seen in a montage of "I want to be alone"s), Greer Garson, Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery, Marie Dressler, Red Skelton, the Marx Brothers, and Laurel and Hardy (though the last-named team's vignettes are culled from Hal Roach productions which were merely released by MGM). Be sure and catch That's Entertainment from the beginning for Saul Bass' opening credits, incorporating a variety of title-sequence styles: waves crashing on the shore, pages turning in a book, and a J. Arthur Rank-style gong. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, (more)
It's ironic that MGM, in such dire financial straits in 1974 that it was selling its fabled back lot and auctioning off artifacts from past movie triumphs, enjoyed one of its biggest box-office hits with That's Entertainment, a compilation of musical highlights from the studio's golden days. Onscreen hosts Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Gene Kelly, Peter Lawford, Liza Minnelli, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Mickey Rooney, James Stewart, and Elizabeth Taylor introduce the various film clips while standing on what was left of the MGM lot (Rooney delivers his comments from the Andy Hardy street). The vignettes, in both color and black-and-white, include generous slices of such classic MGM songfests as The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St. Louis, An American in Paris, Singin' in the Rain, and Gigi. The film includes the montage of Mickey Rooney's "Let's put on a show!" speeches, Clark Gable hoofing to "Puttin' on the Ritz" in Idiot's Delight, and James Stewart (!) serenading Eleanor Powell from Easy to Love. Assembled by Jack Haley Jr., That's Entertainment proved such a hit that the 1976 sequel, That's Entertainment II, was a foregone conclusion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, (more)
- 1971
- R
Based on the novel The Love Machine, by Jacqueline Susann, this movie concerns the machinations, in the boardroom and in the bedroom, of a group of people--from the chairman of the board down--who are involved in network television. Through his own guile and the sponsorship of his mistress (Dyan Cannon), the wife of the chairman of the board, a lowly television newsman (John Phillip Law) becomes the head of the network in a very short time. He leaves behind very few friends on his climb to the top, however, and he will need some. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Phillip Law, Dyan Cannon, (more)
- 1970
In this romance, an ex-Marine begins looking for a fellow Vietnam vet in hopes of making it as musicians in New York. He does not realize it, but he is driving in stolen cars. After being chased by the police, he ditches the cars and hitchhikes the New York. By the time he arrives, his pal has already left. At the friend's former apartment, the Marine gets romantic with a hippie chick and begins singing in the Village where he finds audiences unreceptive. He then boards a bus where he meets a young woman on her way to marry a Marine who ends up refusing to marry her. Soon she and the musical Marine are traveling companions. They are accompanied by a trick chicken, and a midget. Just as he finally finds his friend, the girl states that she is pregnant and the honorable fellow offers to marry her, but she will not. Then her old fiancé appears and a fight ensues. She ends up going with him. When the singer finally gets his big chance, he sees the girl watching him and realizes they are in love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glen Campbell, Kim Darby, (more)
- 1967
Nancy Sinatra's hourlong 1968 network television special Movin' With Nancy was not the standard variety-hour special customary for stars of the time. There were no lip-synced or live songs on sound stages in front of audiences, and no spoken sketches. In essence, it's a collection of 15 music videos (though MTV was still many years away), in which Sinatra lip-synced to recordings in various colorful outdoor locations, broken up by a few indoor studio-shot scenarios. For those who value Sinatra's image, one could hardly imagine a better showcase (in color) for her gaudy, florid, and numerous period late-'60s clothing outfits, go-go boots, hairstyles, and eye make-ups. In truth, the sets and stagings can be corny. But there are some pretty cool songs here, like "Some Velvet Morning," in which Lee Hazlewood and Sinatra duet on beachside horses, and "Jackson," the sole other Hazlewood-Sinatra piece, in which they sass each other while walking down an empty southern California street. Other high points, visual and musical, include "Sugar Town" by a waterfall, "Who Will Buy?" in a deserted amusement park, and "Friday's Child" in an unclassifiably desolate field of what looks like disused factory equipment and structures. It also includes Rat Pack guest appearances by Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra (filmed recording in the studio), and Sammy Davis (who does one of network TV's first interracial kisses with Nancy in their "What'd I Say" routine); Frank Sinatra Jr. has a brief cameo. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nancy Sinatra, Lee Hazlewood, (more)
