There's a world on both
sides of the rainbow where songs come true and every time it rains, it
rains...
Director Herbert Ross' adaptation of Dennis Potter's landmark British
television musical transposed to Depression-era America, starring Steve
Martin as a married but sexually desperate sheet music salesman and
Bernadette Peters as the lonely schoolteacher with whom he becomes
involved in a tragic affair. The heart-rending vintage recordings of
popular songs to which they lip-synch-and which flower into stunning
full-fledged musical numbers-become emblems of their
impossible-to-achieve romantic longings. Martin and Peters are sublime,
and Christopher Walken is a devastatingly dapper scene-stealer tapping
up a storm to Let's Misbehave.
INHALT:
Ein erfolgloser Verkäufer von
Notenblättern im Chicago der 30er Jahre gerät immer tiefer ins Unglück,
flüchtet sich aber in die Scheinwelt des Musicals und verklärt in seiner
Fantasie seine Mißerfolge zu glanzvollen Tanznummern. Ein äußerst geschickt
zwischen Sozialkritik, melodramatischen Elementen und brillanten
Musical-Sequenzen aufgebauter Film, der zwar Sprünge und nostalgische
Momente aufweist, aber Humor, Satire und optische Opulenz zu einem
attraktiven zeitgemäßen Musical verbindet.
...Walken as Tom steals the film with a show-stopping strip-tease and tap dance musical number!
"Danny Daniels was my tap teacher when I was 12 years old at a
school called Jack Stanley's in Manhattan. And he said to Herb Ross, 'Did
you know that Christopher Walken can tap dance?' Because who would know a
thing like that? Pennies From Heaven was the last of the MGM musicals. I was
very lucky, being born when I was, to actually be in a big musical movie."
"I consider
Pennies From Heaven, the musical, as a turning point in my career.
I’m very happy to have done that because it was the last musical made by
MGM. I remember I dubbed my taps on the same little parquetry floor
that Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor – all those people –
used.” (CW)
A few minutes later we
find out that Steve Martin didn't know how to dance before filming
"Pennies From Heaven," and Danny Daniels taught him all those steps in
about six months. Steve Martin was asked about his impression of
Christopher Walken. Not surprisingly he said "I was afraid of him" and
then "Who knew he could dance?"
Link
I first met Chris
(Ronnie at that time) when he was a youngster in the early 50's. I was
teaching tap at Jack Stanley's dance studio in the Roseland Building,
51st and Bdwy (replaced by a skyscraper) and one of my private lessons
was with the Walken boys, three brothers.....Kenny, Ronnie, and Glenn.
They were all very good students, and I was their teacher for about a
year or two. A few years later, I was directing and choreographing an
off Broadway musical, Best Foot Forward, and there were parts in the
show that I thought Ronnie and his brother Glenn would be perfect for.
I hired them and Ronnie suggested I audition a young girl he was
taking acting lessons with, Liza Minnelli. She auditioned for me and I
now had two future stars in the show. A couple of years later, I
choreographed the Bdwy musical "High Spirits" with Bea Lillie and
asked Ronnie if he would dance in the chorus of the show. He said
sure, and was one of my pillars of strength as a dancer, starring in a
number with Bea Lillie, and another number with Tammy Grimes. Whenever
I needed someone to do an unpleasant task, like manipulating tables
and chairs with string, standing in the wings, I asked Ronnie to do it
and he was always willing, even though at times he was running around
backstage like a mad man! After that show our paths separated and
Ronnie became Chris and many years passed while Chris became a famous
actor and received and Academy Award. I was in a conference with
director Herbert Ross on the film Pennies From Heaven, and Herb was
looking for an actor to play the character of the pimp in the picture.
He had offered the part of the peddler to Chris and his agent turned
it down. When I heard that, I told Herbert to offer the part of the
pimp to Chris. Herb said......but he has to dance.....and when I told
him how good a dancer he was Herb was delighted and the next thing I
knew we were working together again. Chris is a superb performer, both
as an actor and a musical player. I hope to have another opportunity
to do another stage musical or film with him.... Danny Daniels
A short interview with Danny Daniels...
Feb. 23, 1999
Q. How did you get started in dance
instruction and choreography? Who were you trained by?
A. I became interested in choreography through teaching at the
school I mentioned when I was teaching the Walken brothers. Also, prior
to my teaching, I was in two Bdwy musicals and had played featured roles
in shows choreographed by Jerome Robbins (Billion Dollar Baby...1945)
and Anna Sokolow (Street Scene.....1947). I was influenced by these two
greats and Anna actually pushed me into that direction.
Q. Other than your videos, [he has a
series of instructional videos] do you still teach? Do choreography?
A. I still teach, but very little.....just to help me keep in
shape. Yes I still choreograph....I recently did a big benefit at
Carnegie Hall, with director Herb Ross (Pennies From Heaven) However, I
don't seek jobs anymore, but I do get called from time to time and am
particular [on] what I decide to do.
Q. Were the three boys, Ken, Glenn and
Ronnie eager students? Is Chris the oldest out of his brothers? Did
their mother drop them off, or stay and watch?
A. The three boys were very enthusiastic about their dance
training. Chris is the middle brother. Ken is the oldest and Glenn is
the youngest. I honestly don't remember if their mom watched, but I
suspect she did on occasion.
Q. I have heard a recording of "Best
Foot Forward." What kind of choreography was required in this show?
A. The choreography was a kind of jazz---with some tap. I
developed the dances according to the ability of the performers. It was
a very talented cast.
Q. Did Chris really "jump" up on
a pool table and then later on the bar in "Pennies From Heaven?" It
seems so high and looks like such an amazing, almost impossible, move on
screen. Is there anything else we may not know about that dance
sequence?
A. Chris did indeed jump on the bar (not the pool table), but
there was a mini trampoline behind the bar to give him a boost. Chris
was able to do the whole number without a stop, just as a stage number,
but to get the proper camera shots, we did it in about four or five
"takes".
Q. When was the last time you saw or
spoke to Chris?
A. I spoke to Chris on the phone in the spring of '97 when I was
in New York directing a play. I was sounding him out on a stage musical
idea I had. I'm still working on it.
"The real surprise, however, is Christopher Walken (King
of New York), who nearly steals the show as Tom the pimp. As expected,
he's genuinely threatening when he tells Lulu, "I'll cut your face," but no
one had ever seen him dance before. Like Bagneris, he has only one number,
but his salacious striptease to "Let's Misbehave" is a knockout. Sandwiched
tightly between two voluptuous hookers, he shimmies and shakes, tap-dances
like a vaudeville pro across the bar and cabaret stage, and even floats in
the air long enough to kick the walls, much like James Cagney did in Yankee
Doodle Dandy. The performances by Walken and Bagneris are worth the
price of the DVD."
"Eine wundersame Evokation der umgekehrt
proportionalen Verhältnisse zwischen Realität der Depressionszeit (hier
deutlich an Edward Hopper geschult) und dem irrealen Erfolg von Musicals
während derselben.
Ein verfremdetes wie verführerisches Artefakt, vom
Miniserien-Drehbuchmeister Dennis Potter höchstselbst nach eigener Vorlage
kondensiert, von Herbert Ross in seiner besten Regiearbeit kontrolliert
abgewickelt, von Christopher Walken in einer göttlichen Tanznummer in den
Himmel katapultiert: „Let’s misbehave!“, in der er aber nicht selber singt.
