At the height of his career, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson was the highest paid Black entertainer. He died penniless. Bojangles was considered the best dancer alive and his specialty was tap. He started in the black-face productions and shocked people when he worked as a solo act. He was a headliner in Canada which didn't have the same issues with racism as America. He starred on Broadway and then began making movies predominately appearing as the Butler to a white star, usually Shirley Temple. Bojangles was known as "The Man with the Smile" since the broad smile never left his face while he was dancing. Unfortunately this Showtime movie shows the pain and anger behind the smile. The pain that caused a young boy to assume the name of his brother in an attempt to hide from their grandparent, the pain that caused a string of broken marriages, and the pain that caused an incessant urge to gamble away his life savings. Gregory Hines portrays Bojangles. Hines is one of the premier tap dancers alive. Hines is an incredibly expressive actor without saying a word. His eyes can speak volumes of what is going through his soul and the percussive music from his taps tells a story all of their own.
The movie does drag at times and Bojangles isn't the easiest of characters to like. However the movie is more than worth renting just to watch all of Hines' tap sequences. The man is an incredible dancer. His heir apparent, Savion Glover, appears in one sequence that is truly phenomenal to watch.
