What is this dance musical movie scene?

April 23, 2023 6:12 PM

I watched this once at 3 am, and my Google-fu is failing me, details below the fold

I vaguely remember first finding this when I was reading some online thread about either gay men dancing in musicals or really good dancing in musicals. All I remember is some really muscled men dancing in sailor outfits and there was a lot of jumping off of roofs, and apparently the whole town was also out too? But I don't have enough other information to figure out what it is.

posted by yueliang to Media & Arts (17 answers total)

Sorry published too early -- will definitely be grateful for any leads!
posted by yueliang at 6:12 PM on April 23, 2023

Is it the Channing Tatum dance scene from Hail, Cesar?
posted by sardonyx at 6:15 PM on April 23, 2023

I am not gonna threadsit after this answer, but no, it is not a recent movie at all and no Channing Tatum-- I also don't think they were wearing traditional white sailor suit outfits either, more like workmans clothing in a more muted tone. The roof and jumping around town part is really the most crucial part.
posted by yueliang at 6:21 PM on April 23, 2023

The chimney sweeps from Mary Poppins?
posted by Melismata at 6:23 PM on April 23, 2023

Don't worry about threadsitting. That additional information is really helpful in narrowing down suggestions. Era, style, costume details are all clues. I didn't think it was the clip I posted, but I was hoping to get you to tell us why it wasn't. And it seems to have worked just a little bit, so if you think of anything else, fire away.
posted by sardonyx at 6:25 PM on April 23, 2023

Oh okay that works, thank you -- what I mostly remember is that there were several furious dance scenes all chained together, maybe one with three men as well, and then there were women who also joined in (I think they were eyeing the men and looking either over a fence or a house or a roof?) and then they went into a dance sequence where they danced together. What I remember the most was that the whole sequence seemed remarkably long, and the clip I saw on Youtube definitely was not in HD quality, and it didn't seem like a super popular Golden Age Hollywood movie either, but the quality of the dancing was extremely high. It totally is not West Side Story and it is not Bollywood/Tollywood, and it definitely was not made anywhere in the last 30 years.
posted by yueliang at 6:30 PM on April 23, 2023

On the Town? I’ve never seen it but it’s from the late 40s, about sailors on shore leave.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 6:47 PM on April 23, 2023

This clip from On The Town could have been part of it https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=acimnQLBUo8
posted by raccoon409 at 7:01 PM on April 23, 2023

Very much not On the Town either. They are not wearing traditional sailor uniforms in the clip I saw! Maybe they weren't sailors but I remember reading in the internet comment saying they were sailors...
posted by yueliang at 10:22 PM on April 23, 2023

“June is Bustin’ Out All Over” from the movie Carousel
posted by Hypatia at 3:47 AM on April 24, 2023

The 12-minute tap dance in Anything Goes?
posted by hessie at 5:21 AM on April 24, 2023

Can you remember when (in what time period) the movie was supposed to take place? When you say on the roofs, was it in a big city, or a smaller town?
posted by Mchelly at 7:37 AM on April 24, 2023

Broadway’s Eamon Foley celebrates World Pride with a new Everyday Rapture-inspired music video. Up The Ladder To The Roof
posted by theora55 at 7:53 AM on April 24, 2023

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers?
posted by JanetLand at 7:55 AM on April 24, 2023

Glad somebody found it for you, Hypatia.

I've never seen that clip before. Man oh man are there a lot of Eastern European (Ukrainian, Russian, etc.) dance moves in the sequence, not to mention some real German folk dance bits. It boggles the mind that this was ever considered wholesome "American" dancing suitable for a musical at that time.
posted by sardonyx at 1:50 PM on April 24, 2023

Never seen that before - amazing - and so fascinated by your comment sardonyx - never occurred to me to think about the migration of dance & choreography like that
posted by melisande at 2:26 PM on April 24, 2023

There's also plenty of ballet and some steps from the UK (Scottish or Irish folk dancing I think but I'm not as familiar with those regional dances). But it's really the Eastern European stuff that jumps out just because of how much those cultural elements were derided in the US at the time, thanks to the Cold War.
posted by sardonyx at 2:32 PM on April 24, 2023