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Music video: Jackson originally wanted to make the music video in the western genre, but he later decided after watching 'The Godfather' with director Colin Chilvers to change it to a 1930s gangster style.[10] Film was shot between mid-February and April 1987.[2]
Jeffrey Daniel of the soul music group Shalamar co-choreographed the "Smooth Criminal" video with Jackson and Vincent Paterson, who was a back-up dancer in "Beat It" and "Thriller". It was directed by special effects coordinator Colin Chilvers. The dance sequence of the video in the 1930s style lounge (and Michael's white suit and fedora) pays tribute to the Fred Astaire musical comedy film The Band Wagon. Currently there are four different versions of the video for "Smooth Criminal", as well as an additional vignette created for the 2009 This Is It concert series:
Original Moonwalker version - This is the version included in the Moonwalker film. While technically the whole "Smooth Criminal" segment is about 40 minutes long, the actual "Smooth Criminal" song section is only about ten minutes. It is generally the most complete version of the video and includes the unedited middle section of interpretive dance with the dancers but does not include the last six seconds where a flapper fans herself after the door is shut behind Michael. In comparison to the original song this version has two lines in the second stanza added: "Everytime I try to find him he's leaving no clues left behind him. And they have no way of knowing of the suspect, or what to expect."
Moonwalker edit - This version is included on History on Film, Volume II as well as Michael Jackson's Vision and it is basically an edited version of the ten-minute song section from the "Smooth Criminal" segment in the film Moonwalker. It is essentially the same, however it has some minor changes including: different opening music and no dialogue, the middle section with the dancers chanting has been truncated (some of the chanting has been shortened) and ends similarly to the original where Michael exits the club but with the addition of the lead flapper fanning herself.
Album version - This is the version of the video that is on Michael Jackson's official website, as well as his YouTube channel. It also appears during the end credits for Moonwalker and Number Ones and was included on the Visionary single and the bonus Target exclusive DVD of Bad 25. The video is a montage of clips from the original Moonwalker version, that have either been sped up, or slowed down, and glossed with an added blur effect, as well as some alternate angles. The video is four minutes and seventeen seconds long. Throughout the video, the regular version of the song is played.
Single version - This unreleased version is edited to be in sync with the single mix taken from the "Smooth Criminal" single released October 24, 1988. It excludes the added lyric and interlude. This video is four minutes and three seconds long. It is considered an MTV Base video.
This Is It vignette - 2009 video, shot in black and white and intended to be shown during the London O2 concert series. It runs three minutes and forty-two seconds and features Jackson in a reprisal of his Moonwalker character, digitally inserted in the 1946 film noir Gilda which includes the song "Put the Blame on Mame" along with a few shots/scenes of his film Moonwalker.
Anti gravity lean: n the music video, Michael Jackson and the dancers immediately around him perform a seemingly impossible forward lean; this illusion was created using strings and wires in the music video. To accomplish this manoeuvre in live shows, a hitching mechanism which Jackson co-patented was built into the floor of the stage and the performers' shoes, thereby allowing performers to lean without needing to keep their centers of mass directly over their feet. The system consists of pegs that rise from the stage at the appropriate moment and special shoes with ankle supports and cutouts in the heels which can slide over the pegs and be temporarily attached to the stage.
In the patent, it is stated that the illusion in the music video was achieved by means of harnesses and cables which had to be connected to and disconnected from the floor by stagehands
Live performances: The song was performed live on all of Jackson's tours.
Bad World Tour: During the second leg of Jackson's Bad World Tour (1988-1989), directed and choreographed by Jackson and Vincent Paterson. The performance featured a dance routine modeled after the scene from Moonwalker. This version of the song is available on the DVD Live at Wembley July 16, 1988. In this version, he wears the signature white suit coat with blue armband and pocket square and the white fedora over his normal outfit. Normally lip-synced, sometimes was sung live, such as in New York on March 5, 1988. The "Hotel" intro was performed, similar to the opening of This Place Hotel in the 1987 leg of the Bad Tour, containing a spoken introduction and Jackson's silhouette dancing behind a lit curtain.
Dangerous World Tour: By the time the 1992 Dangerous World Tour came around, this performance became a regular on Jackson tours. This time, the jacket and hat were put on top of the gold leotard. Also, the anti-gravity lean was introduced during this tour. During the Bad tour, the lean was a drop to the floor, but Jackson stopped himself before hitting it. The lean was pulled off using a special cut-out in the performers' shoes patented by Jackson that held them to the floor using nails while they leaned forward. This performance can be seen on the DVD Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour.
Part of the song was also briefly used in the middle of the live version of the song "Dangerous" since Jackson's performance at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards to the 2002 American Bandstand 50th Anniversary performance.
History World Tour: During the 1996-1997 History World Tour, the costume was the coat, hat and a blue shirt and a white tie over the gold pants. The "Hotel" opening was scrapped for a similar opening with no spoken line, instead showcasing the background dancers and a keyboard interlude of "Childhood" by Brad Buxer.
This Is It: The song was rehearsed for the This Is It concerts, which were scheduled to run from July 2009 to March 2010 before Jackson's untimely death in June 2009. Rather than featuring Jackson dancing behind a lit curtain, the performance would open with a 3-D vignette of Jackson being chased by several gangsters from early 1930s films, inserting him into the film noirs Gilda, The Big Sleep, and In a Lonely Place. The vignette would end with Jackson jumping out of a window as Humphrey Bogart shoots at him and onto the stage where he picks up a tommy gun and shoots out the lights of a marquee to spell "Smooth Criminal". Throwing the tommy gun aside, Jackson would then pause for a moment before cuing the band to start the song. The performance would have also featured the return of the anti-gravity lean and the inclusion of dancers descending from the ceiling inside chandeliers that they would blow out with tommy guns.