Tough Guys Don't Dance (film)

Tough Guys Don't Dance (film)

Tough Guys Don't Dance is a 1987 crime mystery comedy-drama film written and directed by Norman Mailer based on his novel of the same name. It is a murder mystery/film noir piece that was scorned by audiences and critics alike. It was screened out of competition at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival.

The script had revisions done by Chinatown and Last Woman on Earth scribe/script doctor Robert Towne. The title comes from an anecdote told to Norman Mailer by a prizefighter named Roger Donahue: Frank Costello, the Murder Inc. honcho, and his gorgeous girlfriend greet three champion boxers in the Stork Club. Costello demands that each, in turn, dance with the woman, and each nervously complies. The last, Willie Pep, suggests that Mr. Costello dance. Costello replied, "Tough guys don't dance."

Read more about Tough Guys Don't Dance (film):  Plot, Cast, Reception, Awards

Famous quotes containing the words tough, guys and/or dance:

    Relying on any one disciplinary approach—time-out, negotiation, tough love, the star system—puts the parenting team at risk. Why? Because children adapt to any method very quickly; today’s effective technique becomes tomorrow’s worn dance.
    Ron Taffel (20th century)

    In time, after a dozen years of centering their lives around the games boys play with one another, the boys’ bodies change and that changes everything else. But the memories are not erased of that safest time in the lives of men, when their prime concern was playing games with guys who just wanted to be their friendly competitors. Life never again gets so simple.
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    When my old wife lived, upon
    This day she was both pantler, butler, cook,
    Both dame and servant, welcomed all, served all,
    Would sing her song and dance her turn, now here
    At upper end o’the table, now i’the middle,
    On his shoulder, and his, her face afire
    With labor, and the thing she took to quench it
    She would to each one sip.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)