Rob Larsen

Not to be confused with The Sword Stained With Royal Blood (this is DrunkenFist.com, after all),
Royal Wedding is a wonderful, later film featuring the talents of Fred Astaire. Well acted, funny and featuring just a bit more plot than the average Astaire film, Royal Wedding is an easy film to like. It's especially noteworthy for two memorable Astaire numbers- "Sunday Jumps", in which he partners with a coat rack and "You're All The World To Me", where Astaire dances up the walls and on the ceiling.

Worth it for those two numbers alone.

The Big Sleep is an insanely cool movie. The plot is somewhat convoluted, but at the end of the day it doesn't really matter because in this movie Bogart fully illustrates the style and screen presence that made him a mega star. It doesn't hurt that he's joined in this task by Lauren Bacall, of course. A real classic.

the one thing I knew about On the Town before watching it was this number:

After watching it I now know that there are a lot of great numbers dotting the film's 95 minute running time. At times surreal, occasionally beautiful and almost always fun, On the Town is a thoroughly enjoyable musical.

Yeah, I watched Casablanca twice this year.

C'mon, if there's any movie to watch a couple of times in a year, Casablanca is the one.

Especially when the second viewing takes place on an exhausted Christmas night. After a day of festivities and driving to and from those festivities, finding Casablanca just starting up on TCM was an easy stopping point. Alsoa no-brainer was DVRing the African Queen and the Big Sleep for later consumption…

More on those soon, I imagine.

If you've ever wondered what the fuss was with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Swing Time is as good a place to start as any. Featuring some classic songs by Jerome Kern ("A Fine Romance", "The Way You Look Tonight","Never Gonna Dance","Pick Yourself Up") some great dance numbers and charming interplay between the two leads, Swing Time is a perfect example of the magic they brought to the screen.

This following number is the first between the pair in this film. It's my favorite from the film and is hilarious in the flow of the film.