beyond fred, ginger & gene

Herbert Ross' collaboration with Nora Ephron, "My Blue Heaven" (1990) - about the uneasy relationship between a big-living hood and an uptight FBI agent - stands as one of Steve Martin's most underrated films.

And even if the film was as disappointing as the critics said (and it isn't), a delightful dance number - titled “Merengue!” - certainly redeems it.

For good measure, Ross (a former dancer and choreographer himself) had it staged twice.

The number: “Merengue!”

The composer: Ira Newborn

The choreographer: Lynne Taylor-Corbett

The dancers (the initial performance) : Steve Martin, Rick Moranis, Lesley Cook and Melissa Hurley

The dancers (the encore) : Moranis, Joan Cusack and Bill Irwin

The cinematographer: John Bailey

The editors: Robert Reitano and Stephen A. Rotter

The production designer: Charles Rosen

beyond fred, ginger & gene

Ah, the days when filmmakers had to be creative.

I'm not talking about cinematics but content. However, in this case, cinematics and content are irrevocably intertwined. In bringing William Inge's seminal play of longing to the screen (by way of Daniel Taradash's fine screenplay), director Joshua Logan faced the challenge of having the piece's star-crossed lovers - stumble-bum Hal and small-town queen Madge - be intimate with actually showing them engaging in sex.

He shrewdly solved the problem with a dance that has become an iconic screen moment, even though is lasts only a few minutes.

Swooning and gyrating to "Moonglow" and "The Theme from 'Picnic,'" expertly intertwined by composer George Duning, stars William Holden and Kim Novak seem to be improvising their choreographed sex act. But, in actuality, the dance was overseen by the very clever choreographer, Miriam Nelson, who for some bizarre reason was never credited.

Nevertheless, what she created in 1955 fairly drips with passion.

The number: “Moonglow”/”Theme from ‘Picnic’”

The composer: George Duning

The choreographer: Miriam Nelson

The dancers: William Holden and Kim Novak

The cinematographer: James Wong Howe

The film editors: William A. Lyon and Charles Nelson

The production designer: Jo Mielziner

beyond fred, ginger & gene

Has there ever been a dance routine in a movie as funny as the one that climaxes the high-school reunion in David Mirkin's loopy lark, “Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion” (1997)? I think not.

Loopy is also the word for the inventive dance itself, performed gamely - and with much eccentricity - by Alan Cumming, Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino.

The number: “Time After Time”

The composers: Cindi Lauper and Rob Hyman

The singer: Lauper

The choreographer: Smith Wordes

The dancers: Alan Cumming, Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino

The cinematographer: Reynaldo Villalobos

The editor: David Finfer

The production designer: Mayne Berke

beyond fred, ginger & gene

Vincente Minnelli's “Bells Are Ringing,” made in 1959 and released in 1960, is something of a transitional musical film. The genre was already starting to wane at the time and Minnelli, seemingly aware of this, made inventive decisions to accomodate the changing tastes of the moviegoing public.

For one, he abbreviated the Jule Styne-Adolph Green-Betty Comden score which, although wonderful on stage, would have been deadening on film. (The only real loss is the haunting ballad, "Long Before I Knew You.") Once the score was pared down, Minnelli came up with clever ways to stage the numbers, the best being Dean Martin's rushing rendition of "I Met a Girl," sung as passersby bump into and push him along Times Square.

For "Mu Cha Cha," he dropped the Comden-Green lyric, and had it staged as a casual, improvisatory number. On Broadway, "Bells Are Ringing" was co-choreographed by its director, Jerome Robbins, and Bob Fosse. For the film, Minnelli hired - and reportedly quickly fired - the estimable Hermès Pan, replacing him with the unknown Charles O’Curran. (Pan's only contribution that was retained in the finished film is the "Midas Touch" number, featuring Hal Linden, and Minnelli practically obscures it.)

On film, the "Mu Cha Cha" number is beautifully simplistic, with star Judy Holliday being taught the cha-cha-cha by Jimmy Ames (as a delivery kid) and Ruth Storey (as a colleague at the answering service where Holliday's Ella Peterson works). It boasts a pleasing, scratch-pad casualness.

The charming, low-keyed number, as noted, was choreographed by O’Curran and scored by Styne - and photographed by Milton Krasner and edited by Adrienne Fazan. Comden and Green's unused lyric isn't missed.

The number: "Mu Cha Cha"

The composer: Jule Styne

The choreographer: Charles O'Curran

The dancers: Judy Holiday, Jimmy Ames and Ruth Storey

The cinematographer: Milton Krasner

The editor: Adrienne Fazan

The production designers: Preston Ames and George W. Davis

beyond fred, ginger & gene

A tender, authentic moment in an otherwise synthetic, cloying film.

 The film: “The Sound of Music” (1965)

 The director: Robert Wise

 The number: “Laendler” ("The Lonely Goatherd")

 The composer: Richard Rodgers

 The choreograhers: Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood

 The dancers: Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer

 The cinematographer: Ted McCord

 The editor: Ted McCord

 The production designer: Boris Leven