A few things I fully intend to write about at some point this week: the no longer disguised racism of the John McCain campaign, this weekend's wacky misadventures with Paul, still more thoughts on the greatness of Vincente Minnelli (prompted by a piece on Fred Astaire in last week's New York Times Book Review, just to make sure blame is properly assigned), and my disbelief that my list of favorite movies included nothing with Burt Lancaster. Seriously--The Sweet Smell Of Success, The Train, Ulzana's Raid, Atlantic City? How the hell did none of these make the cut? It's not always true (The Hallelujah Trail, for instance), but generally speaking, any movie with Lancaster is always worth seeing, and not too many stars with such lengthy careers could make that claim.
Anyway, that's the stuff I want to write about, but for right now, a clip to share. This is from Steve Martin's Best Special Ever, a 1981 reunion between Martin and many of the original players from Saturday Night Live's glory days--John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Larraine Newman. It aired live, and I haven't seen it since its original broadcast, but it seemed funny at the time. Unquestionably, though, the highlight was this, an amzing dance routine from Martin and Gregory Hines. Sure, Hines is clearly the better dancer, and he's clearly toning himself down so as to not upstage the host (kinda like when Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra would dance together), but Martin is pretty damned amazing for all that, and it's a nice reminder of what a physical performer he used to be--of course he could dance, because so much of his comedy was based on movement.
Incidentally, the movie Martin promotes here, Pennies From Heaven, also should have been on my list o' favorites, and ranked high. Maybe I should redo that list...
