Slow Dancing in the Big City

Slow Dancing in the Big City
Original theatrical poster
Directed by	John G. Avildsen
Produced by	Lloyd Kaufman
Written by	Barra Grant
Starring	Paul Sorvino Anne Ditchburn Nicolas Coster Anita Dangler Thaao Penghlis
Music by	Bill Conti
Cinematography	Ralph D. Bode
Edited by	John G. Avildsen
Production company	CIP
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	November 8, 1978 (1978-11-08)
Running time	110 mins.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$7 million
Box office	$1,576,500

Slow Dancing in the Big City is a 1978 film directed by John G. Avildsen. It stars Paul Sorvino and Anne Ditchburn. This was the first film made by Avildsen after 1976's Rocky won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director. It has never been released on video or DVD.

Lou Friedlander (Paul Sorvino) is a popular columnist for the New York Daily News, writing about the little people of bustling New York City while befriending a street boy named Marty (Adam Gifford). His life changes dramatically upon falling in love with neighbor Sarah Gantz (Anne Ditchburn), a young ballerina who had just discovered she is stricken with a debilitating condition that will eventually force her to quit dancing.

Several cameos are made by the filmmakers: including Avildsen, writer Barra Grant, producer Lloyd Kaufman, composer Bill Conti, as well as Avildsen's sons Anthony and Rufus.

""My dramatic acting on stage has been limited strictly to dance... When I first read the scene, my inexperience showed. But John filmed me over and over again, and gradually I improved."
—Ditchburn commenting on her audition.

In casting the film, actor Dustin Hoffman was initially interested in portraying the Jimmy Breslin-esque Lou Friedlander, though he could not do so due to obligations of his First Artists company, and Paul Sorvino was cast in his place, marking his second collaboration with Avildsen after 1971's Cry Uncle. At the time working for the National Ballet of Canada, ballerina and choreographer Anne Ditchburn was cast after Avildsen screen tested over 400 dancers for the part of Sarah Gantz. The director then viewed and photograph of Ditchburn choreographing several dancers which, sensing her energy, caused his first hand witnessing of it during a tour of the foreign company at the Metropolitan Opera House. He then invited her to audition, which she later described as a "disaster", though she improved with lessons. Actor Hector Mercado was also a prominent dancer before filming, having appeared in many Broadway productions. The male dancer was initially auditioned due to his affiliation with another United Artists picture Hair, which was filming at the same time as Slow Dancing as well as a Broadway production of Box. He later went on to say of his juggling of performances that "luckily the shooting of Hair was all before and after Slow Dancing, and the producers of Box allowed me to fit both of them in my schedule."