Tap - sulle strade di Broadway

If you like tap dancing, this is one of the rare opportunities to see tap legends like Jimmy Slyde, Sandman Sims, Henry LeTang, and Harold Nicholas along with latter-day tap wizards Gregory Hines and Savion Glover and icon Sammy Davis, Jr. Dianne "Lady Di" Walker even has a cameo appearance.

This movie is glued together with a questionable plot and some illogical excuses to tap dance. But who cares? Once these folks are dancing, nothing else matters.

P.S. Look (and listen) for the incomparable Etta James singing in the club scene.

You sometimes come across a film that is made more for a gimmick rather than telling a very interesting story; Tap is one of them. That's not to say that this movie is a flat out dud, it's just that the story doesn't really hold a candle to the tap dancing shown here. Starring the late Gregory Hines, the film revolves around a talented tap dancer named Max Washington (Hines), who must decide between embracing dancing at a new dance production from his girlfriend Amy (Suzanne Douglass) or becoming a criminal again with his old criminal buddy, Nicky (Joe Morton). From a premise like that, the movie becomes rather predictable from its outcome alone, and each beat becomes more obvious after another.

So what elevates the film up to being above average? Well, mainly the dancing, as many of the characters in the movie display a versatile amount of dance moves that one could only wish to be good at. The dancers range from the likes of Sammy Davis jr., Jimmy Slyde, Howard Sims, Bunny Briggs, Dick Anthony Williams, and even a young Savion Glover. It's hilarious watching Max getting involved with the old curmudgeons in games of dancing, and the choreography definitely deserves much recognition. One particular scene of Max demonstrating his moves to a crowd of people outside the dance production practically turns into a scene from a Broadway musical it's so much fun to watch.

Even at that, the most likable characters in the film are Amy and Little Mo (Davis jr.), as they cause much conflict with Max when it comes to deciding where he belongs as well as trying to get his act back together. Everyone else, while not despicable, are either just there or just give Max more problems, yet they're not as interesting as they could be and they just come off as a forgettable supporting cast. That being said, in spite of a majority of weak characters and a lackluster plot, they're not what this movie is all about at the end of the day. This is mainly made to be a fun little dance flick with Gregory Hines busting moves, and it does succeed in that aspect. If you're a Hines fan or you're just into dancing as a whole, definitely give this a watch; just don't expect a story with much substance or intrigue.

This movie, though the plot is somewhat weak,is really, really good. The dancing is soooo amazing that you can't watch it without getting up and trying some of the steps yourself. I'm a tap dancer as well, so it's fun "stealing steps" from the tap masters in this film. If you like dancing at all,see this movie.

If you like tap dancing, this is one of the rare opportunities to see tap legends like Jimmy Slyde, Sandman Sims, Henry LeTang, and Harold Nicholas along with latter-day tap wizards Gergory Hines and Savion Glover and icon Sammy Davis, Jr. Dianne "Lady Di" Walker even has a cameo appearance.

This movie is glued together with a questionable plot and some illogical excuses to tap dance. But who cares? Once these folks are dancing, nothing else matters.

P.S. Look (and listen) for the incomparable Etta James singing in the club scene.

Max is the son of Sonny, who was a great tap dancer. Max has inherited his father's talent but there are few opportunities to use it, so he has had to turn to crime. The big question: will he be able to go straight using his talent? The dancing is what makes this movie work, but Sammy Davis Jr. gives a wonderful performance as a washed-up dancer, and Sandman Sims makes an impact as a cynical former dancer who doesn't think much of today's music and dance. Gregory Hines does a capable job too. Savion Glover is also quite good as Amy's son. Suzzanne Douglass is good as dance teacher Amy.

At the time this movie was made, Gregory Hines must surely have been the best living tap dancer. If he wasn't, one of his co-stars probably was. In one of the movie's most memorable scenes, Max comments that the old men don't have the ability any more. They take this as a challenge and display incredible talent. Little Mo and Max actually have a duel of sorts, much like the Arthur Smith composition adapted as 'Dueling Banjos' for 'Deliverance'.

Another great scene is the one where Max shows where he got his ideas for routines by dancing in the streets of New York while construction is going on.

And there is the scene where 11-year-old Lewis is teaching Amy's dance class above Sonny's.

There was plenty of good music here, but surprisingly, a lot of the dancing was done without music--though what I like most about tap is the music made by the dancers, much like the percussion style of Buddy Rich. I especially liked the arrangement of 'Cheek to Cheek' which started out as elevator music when Max and Amy were dancing ballroom style, but changed over to jazz when they switched to tap. I wasn't crazy about attempts to make tap more hip by adding special equipment to shoes so the dancing could be heard with rock music, but it made the movie interesting.

This was worth seeing.