He should’ve been nominated for the Golden Globe award or for an Oscar for this role.., because he was very much worthy of this performance in a musical film…
The only problem was, the movie never made to the big screen. Black folks protested the film saying it depicted black men as weak. It was only shown on TV. I love this movie
Mom thought this was so important that she let us stay up late and see it when we were kids, and it was the Late Show on TV that night; all the next day we were both singing "It Ain't Necessarily So!" 😄
I would love to own a copy of this great movie with Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis Jr. Sidney Poitier, Pear Bailey, and Diahann Carroll. This is a classic. It needs to be restored in UK/Blu Ray. Imagine what this would sound like in surround sound. A great treasure.
I would love to see this film remastered (4K/UHD etc.) and aired on TCM. Watching his _American Masters_ story a few months back brought me here. And on the eve of his 95th birthday. #RIPSammyDavisJr
Sammy Davis Jr., Afro-Cuban brother from Harlem was a triple threat before the phrase was coined, He sang, Danced and Acted like no one else could, ABSO FUKIN LUTELY Fabulous ✊🏾✌🏾🤎
Written by George Gershwin, an American composer, Gershwin also composed "Rhapsody in Blue" in 1924. This song by Sammy Davis Jr. comes from the Gershwins' opera "Porgy and Bess" where it is sung by the character Sportin' Life, a drug dealer.
The role Sammy Davis was born to play. He was robbed of The right to perform on the sound track recording, a best selling album because of contract obligations. Now the film was withdrawn and has been publicly shown only rarely.
Sammy Davis Jr so owned this part to the point where I think some of his mannerisms have slipped into most if not all interpretations of the role since - which is all the more impressive when you realize that this movie his been off the market and inaccessible to mainstream audiences for decades.
I was thinking, "Wait a minute, what about Gene Kelly?" But Sammy was a much better singer and actor, IMO. As far as dancing is concerned, I would feel foolish trying to make a choice at that level of mastery.
The Gospel According to Sporting Life is rather colorful. When you hear that entrance music, you know there's trouble brewing in the form of a dancing con artist.
Great scene! Sammy Davis Jr does an excellent job as Sportin Life, acting as the living embodiment of Temptation. Singing, dancing and swaying the crowd towards sin! With the children being the first among them to be led astray.
The ONLY BLACK DANCING JEW in Hellyweird.Sammy is a CROWD PLEASING PERFORMER even to this day cause he DiD EVERTHING,sing,dance act & knows a good pUBLICITY move when he saw IT still here during Rona lockdown in 2021 to stave off boredom
Could somebody please say what is the source of this clip? Name of the movie (I presume "Porgy and Bess" but what year / producer / director ... ) please?
I'm surprised that white actors and dancers weren't blackfaced in this production. But I remembered my elementary school on the 1970s showed this movie during an assembly. It was a mixed race progressive school(blacks,whites,Hispanics, and asians)
Why are you surprised? Minstrel shows and the like were just one genre of “entertainment” among many and had all but died out by then anyway. Meanwhile, there was no shortage of renowned Black American actors at the time, several of whom had been starring in Hollywood films for decades by then. (As opposed to say, Asians and Native Americans for example, who were often played by white actors in the starring roles instead.) Porgy and Bess was a first with its exclusively black cast but it’s not as though all the black characters had been played by white people prior to that… In 1940, Paul Robeson even took the starring role in a film that was set in a Welsh mining village! (“Proud Valley”)
As great as Sammy Davis was, it seems to me that Cab Calloway was born for this part -- especially this song. At 52, Maybe Calloway was too old for the part. Or maybe he wasn't a good enough actor.
