the end: beyond fred, ginger & gene

The final entry... Judy and Jack, as a divorced couple, bump into one another with their respective dates at a nightclub and try to outdo one another on the dance floor. Their dueling mambo is both hilarious and sublime.

 The film: “Phffft!” (1954)

 The director: Mark Robson

 The number: "Mambo!"

 The composer: Frederick Hollander

 The choreograher: Jack Cole

 The dancers: Judy Holliday and Jack Lemmon

 The cinematographer: Charles Lang

 The editor: Charles Nelson

 The production designer: William Flannery

beyond fred, ginger & gene

 Bogdanovich's elegant screwball-of-a-musical hit its first of many peaks with a loose-limbed rendition of a Cole Porter fave, sung "live," natch.

 The film: “At Long Last Love” (1975)

 The director: Peter Bogdanovich

 The number: “Friendship”

 The composer: Cole Porter

 The singers: Burt Reynolds, Cybill Shepherd, Madeline Kahn and Duilio Del Prete

 The choreograhers: Improvised by the cast, with coordination by Albert Lantieri and Rita Abrams

 The dancers: Reynolds, Shepherd, Kahn and Del Prete

 The cinematographer: László Kovács

 The editor: Douglas Robertson

 The production designer: Gene All

beyond fred, ginger & gene

 An eruptive moment from John Landis' best film (hands-down, friends) brought James Brown, the king of soul, together with two game white-boy wannabes and a chorus line that wouldn't sit down, shut up or let up.

 The film: “The Blues Brothers” (1980)

 The director: John Landis

 The number: “Old Landmark”

 The composer: James Brown

 The singers: Brown and chorus

 The choreograher: Carlton Johnson

 The dancers: The ensemble

 The cinematographer: Stephen M. Katz

 The editor: George Folsey Jr.

 The production designer: John J. Lloyd

beyond fred, ginger & gene

 "Again! Again! Again!," Paul Wallace shouts to Natalie in this arousing choreographed sex act designed by Jerome Robbins for the legendary Broadway original and, thanks to a very smart Mervyn LeRoy, recreated for the screen by Robbins' stage assistant, Robert Tucker.

 The film: “Gypsy” (1962)

 The director: Mervyn LeRoy

 The number: “All I Need Is the Girl”

 The composers: Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim

 The singer: Paul Wallace

 The choreograher: Jerome Robbins, recreated by Robert Tucker

 The dancers: Wallace and Natalie Wood

 The cinematographer: Harry Stradling Sr.

 The editor: Philip W. Anderson

 The production designer: John Beckman

beyond fred, ginger & gene

 A number that was merely sung in the Broadway original is reconceived and redefined in an outlandishly stylish way for the screen by the ever-inventive Hermès Pan, who came up with a veritable choreographic reverie.

 The film: "Flower Drum Song" (1961)

 The director: Henry Koster

 The number: "Sunday"

 The composers: Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II

 The singers: B.J. Baker (for Nancy Kwan) and Jack Soo

 The choreograher: Hermès Pan

 The dancers: Kwan, Soo and company

 The cinematographer: Russell Metty

 The editor: Milton Carruth

 The production designers: Alexander Golitzen and Joseph C. Wright