8 Comments

WOW! I thought Busby Berkeley was a director, I didn't realize that he was a choreographer, too. The clip you shared was ... I don't know how to categorize it. "interesting" doesn't cut it. "a little druggy without the drugs"? Maybe. Thanks, though.

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My favorite Busby Berkeley (I hope I'm not wrong!) was the scened that I believe he directed in the Judy Garland/Micky Rooney movie, the 7or 8 minutes version of I Got Rhythm....huge stage, the TommY Dorsey Orchestra and hundreds (it seems) o f others....It keeps getting removed from youtube. Who could ask for anything more? As for Don Cheadle, he's always enjoyable. One of my favorites with him is Boogie Nights. I liked him in the series Black Friday, even though I found the writing too over the top for my tastes.

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Sure, Cheadle is great in those movies, but I'll always think of him as the Pod leader in House Of Lies.

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How did I forget Cheadle played Mouse? He was amazing. Lisa Nicole Carson was in the movie, too. Her very promising career was derailed by bipolar disorder.

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Don't forget Carmen Miranda's amazing performance in "The Gang's All Here"

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Nov 30, 2023Liked by Ty Burr

Busby Berkeley is single-handedly responsible for getting me into (movie) musicals. It wasn’t an easy genre for me (as it isn’t for a lot of people) but his dance sequences were so utterly _cinematic_, I was instantly captivated. I’m still as a rule not a huge fan of musicals that are film adaptations of broadway shows, but I absolutely love Astaire/Rogers, Gene Kelly, and all the other true Hollywood musicals. And it all started with the Golddiggers of 1933.

And I absolutely love this description: “as if Berkeley had invented fractal geometry by studying an artichoke.” So good!

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Nov 30, 2023Liked by Ty Burr

Holy cow! I was already a fan of the Gold Diggers series, but the (new to me) Polka Dot Polka exceeds any of the numbers in those films for sheer WTF?-ness. (Having Technicolor contributed, I'm sure.) Happy birthday, Busby Berkeley! And thanks, Ty!

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Don Cheadle is a terrific actor. Why hasn't he gotten more recognition, after all those excellent roles? (Other than the most obvious reason- racism...) I love Walter Mosley's mysteries. Cheadle was perfect as Mouse. And whenever I think of the amazing Busby Berkeley, I also think of Mel Brook's parodies of his choreography ("Stick out your tush...")

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