Bojangles

I admittedly knew nothing about Bo Jangles but the name going into this movie. I knew he was an entertainer of some sort, but not quite sure what form of entertainment.

"Bojangles" is a biopic about a Black tap dancer named Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (played by Gregory Hines). Per the movie, he was a performer from the teens to the fifties and the highest paid Black performer during his prime. He wrestled with gambling problems and the problem all Balck people dealt with: racism. He began his career doing Vaudeville and performing in black face. How ironic is that? A Black man performing in black face so that the white audience could feel as though they're watching a white performer.

"Bojangles," if it's anything, it's informative and educational. The movie inspired me to know more about Bill Robinson. I know that it became en vogue for some African Americans to criticize Bojangles for the degrading roles he played, but what other roles could he have played? At that time it was a major feat just to be on stage or in a film as a Black person, so we definitely weren't calling the shots. "Bojangles" explores that conundrum while taking us through the years of Bill Robinson's professional life. It wasn't a cinematic wonder, but it is worth watching.

This story about the life of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson begins in 1916, when after his performance he meets the young pharmacology student who he eventually marries. She was about 20, he was in his early 40s. The film ends about 30 years later, with what looks like original footage of his funeral procession in NYC. To 99% of the people "Bo" was a great and generous person and entertainer. To the other 1% who knew him intimately, he was apparently a real S.O.B.

A compulsive gambler and womanizer, his life was pretty close to a happy trainwreck. Dancing professionally until past the age of 65, he suffered with heart problems and died at age 71. During his prime he was the highest-paid black performer, and he was the black dancer in some of the early Shirley Temple movies.

The film is based on his biography, co-produced by star Gregory Hines, so I assume it is an accurate protrayal. In general I like fact-based films best, and I really like this one. I rate it "8" of 10. I also am a big fan of great dancing, and this film has that. I consider Hines not only a superb actor, but also one of the best modern dancers, and his portrayal of "Bojangles" seems so perfect. However, the real highlight for me is 1 hour 16 minutes into the film, when the newcomer kid, played by Savion Glover, does a routine that dazzles Bojangles, then they do a routine together in the dingy nightclub. The whole scene with all the tapping only lasts about 3 minutes, but it is a remarkable 3 minutes.

The DVD is very simple, no access to a menu, no digital sound, no extras. It is a Showtime movie.

The grand daddy of all the folks who make beautiful clicking noises with their feet is portrayed here by Gregory Hines in the TV film Bojangles. As Fred Astaire said in Swing Time "ask anyone up Harlem way, who that guy Bojangles is. Astaire knew what he sung about because Bill Robinson was both a friend and dancing rival.

But Astaire got to play all kinds of sophisticated parts in films and dance with Ginger Rogers. Bill Robinson was reduced to playing butlers, doormen, and house servants of all kinds and his most famous dancing partner was Shirley Temple. He yearned to play wider range parts and in the end in his last film Stormy Weather he and newcomer Lena Horne made some beautiful music together.

When Bill Robinson in show business touring the tank towns, Jim Crow segregation was being enshrined into law by the Supreme Court with Plessy vs. Ferguson in 1896. What was unofficial before was legal now and Robinson like his contemporary Bert Williams endured the inferior eating establishments and accommodations to work his trade before mostly white people in the audience. He also had to put up with the ludicrous idea of performing in black face. He was made up as surely as Al Jolson was for Dockstadters Minstrels.

Somethings like a vaudeville partner and a first wife are eliminated from this story. Robinson did work a double dancing act and was married briefly before the character of his wife (second) was introduced. Kimberly Elise plays the character. She was a beautiful and serious minded woman who never got total control of her husband's vices which included gambling and a too generous nature.

Peter Riegert plays his manager and Maria Ricossa plays Riegert's wife who was a vaudeville performer who put them together. There is also a marvelous bit by Jonathan Higgins as Darryl Zanuck, something I assure you would never be done while Zanuck was alive.

The marvelous dancing and three dimensional acting of Gregory Hines is the real reason though to see and wonder at the dancing marvel that was Bojangles.

It's a biopic of tap dance and movie legend Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (Gregory Hines). Fannie S. Clay (Kimberly Elise) is unimpressed at first but becomes the love of his life and his wife. Marty Forkins (Peter Riegert) is his lifelong manager and friend.

This is a Showtime TV movie. Hines is good and there's no denying his tap dancing. This is good but I feel that it could be better. It skips along his life. Maybe it should concentrate solely on his controversial contribution to black culture. There is a great narrative there and this movie does a solid job laying out the facts. It's the connective tissue and the narrative flow that needs more bulking up. This has the main points but there is more to be told. I'm taken with his big confrontation with a young protester at the end. It is such a moment of today with BLM. It needs more space and more work. It doesn't even give the year of the incident. It should place it somewhere in the Civil Rights era and give it context. It probably didn't actually happen but that's also part of the point.

"Bojangles" tells the story of legendary hoofer Bill Robinson who tapped his way to stardom and success as America's highest paid black entertainer only to die penniless. Hines brings charisma, charm, and lots of great tappin' to the title role in this polished and sanitized biography. A fun watch especially for those who love tappin'.