Movie Musicials: Good, Bad, or just plain Ugly?

Relique du Madde · Nov 11, 2008

Villano said:
I don't usually watch musicals, so I can't really comment on the worst one, but one of the best has to be The Blues Brothers.

Doh! I totally forgot about Blues Brothers (which is strange since I watched it last night).

Fallen Seraph · Nov 12, 2008

Ugh it is hard to pick a favourite, lots to choose from.

For worst though it would have to be the Disney ones, and even more specifically those High School Musical ones *shudders*

Wombat · Nov 12, 2008

Musicals...

Umm, sometimes they are good, often they are bad. For example, I have never been fond of Rogers & Hammerstein ... or Stephen Sondheim ... or Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Gilbert & Sullivan are fine on stage, but screen? Nah, not yet.

Now I did like My Fair Lady on the screen, and Rocky Horror Picture Show was fun, but I think it was more as an experience than necessarily as a musical film.

As for Dr. Horrible -- I liked the first two segments, but the third went off in a different (and non-enjoyable) direction. On that level, I prefer Dr. Steel.

Oh, but I did enjoy Hairspray, pretty much in all incarnations.

Hand of Evil · Nov 12, 2008

Best Musical: Day at the Opera, it is not just a musical but a comedy with the Marx Brothers. Others of note: Chicago, Moulin Rouge, Singing in the Rain, Brigadon, Wizard of Oz.

Worst Musical: Paint Your Wagon, great movie but Clint singing! Glitter was horrid.

Deset Gled · Nov 12, 2008

Regarding sci-fi musicals, there was an off Broadway musical version of The Last Starfighter. I didn't get to see the play, but I have to OCR. It sounds like it was a pretty decent play.

Afrodyte · Nov 12, 2008

Wombat said:
Rocky Horror Picture Show was fun, but I think it was more as an experience than necessarily as a musical film.

Bah!

I bought the soundtrack, thank you!

Brown Jenkin · Nov 12, 2008

My favorite Sci-Fi musical was The Planet of the Apes staring Troy McClure.

Mallus · Nov 12, 2008

Afrodyte said:
Bah!

I bought the soundtrack, thank you!

My friends and I in high school were singing along with the original cast album from The Rocky Horror Show long before we saw the movie. The songs rock.

"Michael Rennie was ill the day the earth stood still
But he told us where we stand
And Flash Gordon was there in silver underwear
Claude Raines was the invisible man
Then something went wrong for Fay Wray and King Kong
They got caught in a celluloid jam
Then at a deadly pace it came from outer space
And this is how the message ran..."

Knightfall · Nov 12, 2008

The thing that made me decide to start this thread a movie musical that I partially watched on TV the other day. It was bad and stupid.

It starred Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton. Burt should never sing and Dolly couldn't act her way out of a cardboard box. Painful. :rant: