SHALL WE DANCE: Part 2

From the New York Times this morning: Since George Floyd’s death last May, dozens of states and local governments have changed their laws about police behavior. And yet police officers continue to kill about three Americans each day on average, nearly identical to the rate of police killings for as long as statistics exist.

From Allen J. Beck, Ph.D., Bureau of Justice Statitistics:  In 2018, based on data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, black people were overrepresented among persons arrested for nonfatal violent crimes (33%) and for serious nonfatal violent crimes (36%) relative to their representation in the U.S. population (13%).  While police accountability is on trial throughout the nation, the fundamental problem of why Blacks commit crimes needs serious addressing. 

Much of this has to do with family stability, education and economics.  Here is where government needs to place priorities for the long term.  Of course arguments can be made that this is exactly what has been occurring for more than half a century since the Civil Rights Act.  Perhaps, but there clearly needs to be a fundamental re-thinking, for the problem could well be worsening.

Then too, maybe a few galvanizing examples could be skewing the reality, for our police force has significantly reduced targeting unarmed Blacks:

But you never see this form of information in the media.

When will the Derek Chauvin trial be determined?  The jury is deliberating and can reach a conclusion anywhere from immediately to weeks.

For those who missed Part 1 of SHALL WE DANCE, here is why I have a Part 2.

There are three films with almost the same title:  Shall We Dance. 

• The difference is that the earliest in 1937 featuring Rogers/Astaire (they made ten films), had no question mark and no connection with the  tune itself, for the song came from the 1951 Oscar Hammerstein and Richard Rogers Broadway show and movie The King and I.  
• The first of the other two began with a 1996 Japanese film titled Shall We Dance? 
• Then Richard Gere, who had previously starred in Hachiko:  A Dog's Story, another re-make, in 2004 with Jennifer Lopez, followed with the third Shall We Dance?

The first Shall We Dance in 1937 featured music from George and Ira Gershwin.  George was already suffering from his brain tumor and died soon thereafter.

While not that song from The King and I, Gershwin did write something called Overture to Shall We Dance for this film.  One of the more memorable sequence came with They Can't Take That Away from Me, which was nominated for an Oscar.  There was also a major cruise scene.  This (Rotten Tomatoes 88/85) was the seventh in the Roger/Astaire series, said to rank #3 to the 1935 Top Hat (100/91) and the 1936 Swing Time (97/86).  Their first was in 1933 in Flying Down to Rio (83/49) here dancing the Carioca.

In 1996, Japan produced Shall We Dance?, staring Koji Yakusho.  He was a successful salaryman with a house in the suburbs and was happily married.  However, he felt that his life had lost meaning and became depressed.  One day, while going home on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line, he spots a beautiful but melancholy woman (Tamiyo Kusakari) looking out from a window of a dance studio.  While he becomes infatuated with her, he learns that it is ballroom dancing that gave him his meaning of life.  

At the Japanese Academy Awards, it won 14 awards, including Best Film, Best Actor and Best Actress.  Rotten Tomatoes gave it 91/89 scores.

To quote Roger Ebert:

As for the happy ending: Well, of course there is one. And it is happy not just for the characters in the movie, but for me, as well, because I imagine the mysterious woman will again appear at her place in the window, gazing out, lost in thought, an inspiration to us all.

The American Shall We Dance? in 2004 stars Richard Gere as a successful lawyer with a charming wife (Susan Sarandon).  Gere feels something is missing in his life, and like the Japanese film, sees the equivalent (Jennifer Lopez) gazing out the window while he is returning home on a train.  Pretty much the same script.  Stanley Tucci is in the film, and he is currently terrific on his CNN series about Italian cuisine.  Great soundtrack, but Rotten Tomatoes only gave it 47/57 ratings.

With all that dancing, had to watch the 1985 That's Dancing!, the third installment of the That's Entertainment! series.  However, unlike the first two, TD!, in addition to MGM films, also included the best from other studios.  Another highlight was the complete dance routine by Ray Bolger for his If I had a Brain from The Wizard of Oz.  It was not rated by Rotten Tomatoes reviewers, but audiences gave it a 72 score.  I enjoyed it.

Want to win $2500 for free?  Enter the CBS Sports Golf Props of the Zurich Golf Classic.  How?  Click here.  I checked on how I did for the Masters, and came out #83 out of 88,358 entries.  Great huh?  Nope, that was 83 places from the bottom, for I got 2 out of 15 questions correct.

Here are three animal photos sent to me:

Two more.  First, the opening of my third calamansi season, and there are 37 of them, followed by the final Honohono blossom:

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