Have you ever felt the urge to shake your tailfeathers? Why not? . . After all, isn’t dancing one of our most liberating forms of expression? If the film is a musical or dance movie, then it’s okay to bust out a move. What about the colorful dance sequences in films that are not musical?
You can also find out more about the following: Top 10 dance scenes from non-musical filmsWe will look at some dancing by movie characters who you wouldn’t think would gyrate based on their type of film, whether it was a comedy, crime drama or lighthearted horror flick. These movie hipsters wanted to show off their moves on screen and capture their personalities.
You can learn more about it here. Top 10 Dance Scenes from Non-Musical Movies Here are the following (in order of ALPHABETICAL alphabetical title):
| #10 “A PIECE OF THE ACTION”, (1978), FEATURING MANNY DURRELL AND DAVE ANDERSON |
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Career criminals Manny Durrell and Dave Anderson (Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby) are asked to reform their law-breaking ways when retired detective Joshua Burke (James Earl Jones) sentences them to do community service for delinquents at the local youth center in the late 70’s crime caper dramedy, “A Piece of the Action.” In the film’s climax, Manny and Dave dance with the misguided children that they had grown to love, despite their reservations. Poitier and Cosby dance jubilantly with the youths, to the soulful sounds of Mavis Mayfield and Curtis Staples’ hit single “Piece of the Action.” Manny, Dave, and their charges gave “Soul Train,” a run-for-its money. |
| #9 “AIRPLANE!” (1980) FEATURING ELAINE DICKINSON and TED Striker |
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There were no boundaries off limits for the comedy team of the Zucker brothers and Jim Abrahams in the whacked-out farce “Airplane!.” The nuttiness that is “Airplane!” The film mocked disaster films and everything else, including a cool disco club dance scene from the 1977 movie “Saturday Night Fever.” Ted Striker, the mopey pilot (Robert Hays), is drinking away his sorrows in a rundown dive bar until he sees the pretty and energetic Elaine Dickinson, (Julie Hagerty), dancing to the beat of “Staying Alive,” by The Bee Gees with a drunken old geezer. Naturally, Striker gets into his ridiculing Tony Manero mode (white disco suit and all) as he and Elaine hysterically dance the night away — in perverse Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker style, of course. |
| #8 “BEETLEJUICE”, 1988, CHARLES AND DELIA DEETZ WITH DINNER GUESTS |
| what does one do to prevent the continuation of a relentlessly pretentious dinner party thrown by an elitist couple Charles and Delia Deetz (Jeffrey Jones and Catherine O’Hara)? Michael Keaton’s Betelgeuse is hired to sabotage the dinner party by making the Deetzes and the snobbish guests dance uncontrollably in a comical manner to Harry Belafonte’s “The Banana Boat Song” (Day-O). You see. . . Adam and Barbara Maitland, a deceased married couple, and now ghostly apparitions (Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis), want to scare the new owners from their home but, in the process, befriend Deetz’s Gothic teen girl Lydia (Winonaryder). In Tim Burton’s late 80s comedy-freak show, the Maitlands regret enlisting the Betelguese to scare off the unwanted intruders. He does a lot of harm to Lydia (Winona Ryder) and her insufferable family. |
| #7 “CHARLIE’S ANGELS (2000) FEATURING NATHALIE COOK |
| Diaz’s jiggly Angel, Natalie Cook, certainly took her bouncing and trouncing to a whole new level when she strutted her stuff on the “Soul Train” dance floor in front of a mostly astonished black crowd that finally fell for her infectious booty-shaking antics as they chanted “Go white girl!” Natalie “doing” her thing on the stage, while her enthusiastic boyfriend Peter (Luke Wilson), looks on proudly and chats with the expressionless bulky bouncers in the skyscraper. Definitely.”) The whole dance sequence is hysterically funny but oddly spirited. The background beat of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Return” as Natalie performs Robot and other dance movements marks this fun-filled distraction as a quirky whirlwind. |
| #6 “GHOSTBUSTERS”, 1984, FEATURING GHOSTBUSTERS JR. |
| , let’s get the backlash out of the way before we go any further with the selection of the “Ghostbusters” music video that showcases the film’s stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson dancing and singing in unison with singer Ray Parker Jr. Sure, the free-wheeling dancing was done in the official music video and NOT the movie, but who are you gonna call . . . a lawyer? I’m not scared of any criticism, let alone ghosts. The actors in Ghostbusters gear in Times Square, New York, side-stepping dance steps is pure satirical symmetry. (Watch for Murray hamming up at the end of the video). Add celebrity cameos, who answer Parker’s musical query by saying “Ghostbusters”, to the pulsating 80s finger snapping tune. Oh, don’t you miss the fun of silly 80s sci-fi comedies that made you laugh? |
| #5 “NAPOLEON DIANAMITE” (2004) FEATURING NAPOLEON DIANAMITE |
| “And up next I hope you’ll enjoy a skit from Pedro Sanchez,” mentions the Preston High School principal in the coming-of-age sleeper comedy “Napoleon Dynamite.” Napoleon Dynamite’s (Jon Heder), a bespectacled geek, performed a bizarre but hypnotic and ambitious dance routine. Napoleon, with his “Vote FOR Pedro” T-shirt, lopsided haircut and black space boots needed to come up something to make his friend Pedro (Efren Romirez) stand out from the crowd to win over the snobbish Summer Wheatly, (Haylie Duff). He did, and it was an impromptu dance to Jamiroquai’s song “Canned Heat” that did the trick. The lanky Napoleon saved not only Pedro but also all underdogs who wanted to groove without apology. |
| NOLA IS PART OF #4 “NOLA & THE CLONES”, 2016 |
| filmmaker Graham Jones’ indie feminist drama “Nola and the Clones” is a moving story that combines psychological plight through the perspective of a young hooker Nola, played by Caoimhe Cassidy. Her encounters with male clones on the street (all played Joseph Lydon) lead to self-discovery and reflection. The audience senses a special kind of liberation for the film’s embittered heroine towards the end of the film when Nola — “borrowing” the clothing from someone’s random clothes line — frequents a local dance club and just methodically sways to the music in solitude among the other clubbers who have a home (and certain future) to retreat to when the dance club comes to a close. Nola’s isolation is a symbol of her letting go her frustrations and personal demons, with men. She has no emotional support, comfort, or a structured future. |
| “PEE-WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE”, (1985), FEATURING PEE-WEE HERMAN |
| man-child and his red bike. Paul Reubens’ wacky and witty Pee Wee (Paul Reubens), however, was the only one who could take this simple premise and turn into a cultural phenomenon in the mid-80s. The Pee Wee Dance was the first time since the 1960s when “Batman’s” Caped Crusader performed the campy “The Batusi,” that a fictional character had become so popular with dance moves. This was largely due to Reubens’s infantile comedic antics. In this case, we find Pee Wee, surrounded with blood-thirsty bikers, in a smoky pub, dancing erratically in clunky platform shoes to the Champs “Tequila Song”. One did not know which was the most surreal — Pee Wee’s spastic dancing on the bar top or the whole movie project being directed by the twisted creative mind of Tim Burton. Herman was a hipster, and it’s never boring to watch the lanky simpleton rock to his own demented beat. |
| #2 “PULP FICTION” (1994) FEATURING MIA WALLACE AND VINCENT VEGA |
| stands out in filmmaker Quentin Tarantino’s compellingly absurdist crime noir “Pulp Fiction”? Let’s check it out. . . The sadomasochist masked Gimp, his racist hillbilly associates; trivial discussions on foot massages, cheeseburgers, and the metric system; gunshot brain matter splattered while driving during the daytime hours; divine intervention; a sloppily-executed lunchtime diner robbery and a syringe to the heart drug overdosing are just a few examples. Nothing was more spontaneous than John Travolta’s hitman Vincent Vega twirling around Uma Thurman’s gangster muse Mia Wallace at a retro 50’s restaurant to the rocker Chuck Berry’s ‘You Never Can Tell’ (C’Est La Vie). Vincent and Mia dancing to the tune of Chuck Berry’s “You Never Can Tell (C’Est La Vie)” in the midst of offbeat turbulence was one of the off-balanced vignettes which interestingly composed Tarantino’s toxic crime odyssey. |
| #1 “TROPIC THUNDER”, 2008 FEATURING LES GROSSMAN |
| took rather convincing makeup to disguise pretty boy Tom Cruise as the puffy-looking, bald-headed, middle-aged shady Hollywood studio executive Les Grossman in the Ben Stiller-directed war satire, “Tropic Thunder.” Cruise’s doughboy Tinseltown hotshot gets down to Ludacris rap anthem, “Get Back,” in his velvet-blue lit office during the film’s final scene. Cruise’s jamming Les Grossman, with his flashy, frolicking and frenetic nature, is unctuous in its cool. This guy is the bomb, as they used to say in the old days. Grossman’s surprisingly deft performance puts Cruise’s “Risky Business”, strutting peacock Joel Goodson to shame. |
