The 50 Best Musical Numbers in Movie History

Don't even know how to begin to approach this tbh

lots of good stuff here; i voted

15. THE MUPPET MOVIE, The Rainbow Connection (1979)

Two that seem shockingly too low to me:

29. MULHOLLAND DRIVE, "Llorando" (2001)
30. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, "Make 'Em Laugh" (1952)

Criminally not included:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UN68ujZdTE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyXYPsDsOHY

how the hell did anything from Magnolia make it onto this list, let alone at #3

01. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, "Singin' In The Rain" (1952)
05. THE PRODUCERS, "Springtime for Hitler" (1967)
06. DANCER IN THE DARK, "I've Seen It All" (2000)
07. WEST SIDE STORY, "Tonight Quintet" (1961)
13. CABARET, "Cabaret" (1972)
15. THE MUPPET MOVIE, The Rainbow Connection (1979)
19. ERASERHEAD, "In Heaven"
20. LIFE OF BRIAN, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" (1979)
25. GREASE, "Beauty School Dropout" (1978)
30. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, "Make 'Em Laugh" (1952)
33. HAIRSPRAY, "Welcome to the 60's" (2007)

shortlist

No Aretha/"Think" from The Blues Brothers?

write in vote for:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc80tFJpTuo

09. PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE, "Somebody Super Like You" (1974)

Should really be 'Somebody Super Like You' and 'Life At Last' as one directly follows on from the other in the movie.

how are they gonna have shit like Once on here and completely ignore Purple Rain

absolutely loathe a bunch of these

esp Magnolia gtfo w that shit

and Eric otm re: All That Jazz! jfc people

That's a really dumb choice from Top Hat.

hmm probably 46

Some great dance moments omitted here, but then sometimes a truly amazing dance sequence will overpower the song/music it's set to, and that's not what they want to risk here.

Tempted by "In Heaven", though there are other contenders.

South Park merited placement over fucking Once, surely.

voted Muppets but would have preferred about half this list was replaced with random Disney, Todd Haynes, and Bob Fosse numbers

or Everybody Wants Some from Better Off Dead

looked immediately for Footlight Parade

there's an awful lot of crap displacing two other numbers from that movie, too.

Earth to film.com: West Side Story is a numbing movie of a great musical

basically half a list for ppl who hate movie musicals

"Over the Rainbow" too simple for em apparently

"By A Waterfall" by a waterfall

missing Nicholas Bros

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBb9hTyLjfM

moon river ffs

theres lots i think is missing here, but as long as make em laugh is on here, i wasnt ever going to vote for anything over that anyway, so

honestly think the best number in Singin in the Rain is the epic one towards the end but they're all pretty great. no false notes in that one.

The correct Top Hat number is "Cheek to Cheek", a bit of which is rotoscoped in "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", another contender.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrCsyN-fZ94
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJo6AQXrliQ

Make 'Em Laugh

"Make 'Em Laugh" is a complete ripoff of Cole Porter's "Be a Clown". It's probably the single most blatant example of plagiarism I can think of in popular music. I always wondered how they got away with that.

wgheres the mfin lion king!!!!!!!!!!!

Voted "Beetlejuice" cos that movie changed my life and that musical part is just so strange and fun and brilliant.

Also assuming Winona dancing in mid-air at the end of the film w ghost football player backing dancers is implied in that vote.

beetlejuice dinner scene is deffo the apex of burton's career

it's a shame The Band Wagon or An American in Paris has nothing to match the Top Gun bar singalong.

Lotsa people who hate actual musicals checking in.

GF:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/334/arent-the-show-tunes-be-a-clown-and-make-em-laugh-suspiciously-similar

1. "Dues," 2. "More Than This," 3. "Moon River" (assume they mean Hepburn on the window ledge). Also love the much reviled "Wise Up." Not a fan of musicals.

guess i'll vote for 'gold diggers of 33,' though they chose the wrong song. would take pretty much every song from 'wizard of oz' over like half of this list.

Mustang sally in the commitments would prob want to be here someplace

Pity brando's sky masterson was so limp, guys and dolls coulda/shoulda been a great movie musical

No joke but the singalong in the park in enchanted prob should be high up in this too imo

the commitments is an abomination

You dont know man you werent there

No Uncle Fucker?

I know I'm probably alone in this but I love that musical scene from Southland Tales.

Also no Gremlins 2: The New Batch NY,NY? Fuck this list.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybxJ6g5oVgY

voted gold diggers but so many missing!!
oh well

is one to vote for best song or best use of song in context

i don't really care, just asking

Got to Tropical Malady and thougth 1) no chance I'm voting for anything but that and 2) Only God Forgives was robbed!

Also, the right choice is Isn't It Romantic from Love Me Tonight. Or something from Singing in the Rain.

Agree about Cheek to Cheek >> Top Hat. I am a sucker for Astaire-Rogers. I would also give a strong mention to Let's Face the Music and Dance, from the end of Follow the Fleet, a much weaker movie than Top Hat, but that scene is dynamite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yltp45lQX0A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhjxJ7V0XEA

between "I'm Tired" and "Lili Marleen," that list sure is dancing around Dietrich in Destry Rides Again (I'll be generous and say bcz these numbers aren't on YT cept in audio)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O4Wr6c8o-U&noredirect=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVKsd8z6scw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VbeKstCPKg

"Cabaret" barely ahead of "Forgotten Man"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPQXzdx06Wk

the immortal Hans Conried sings Seuss

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLldzheKJkA

"Gondola no Uta" just edging out "Remember My Forgotten Man".

No Bollywood at all in this list, but room for Magnolia/40YOV/&c?

Had forgotten about how great "Linda Linda" is!

voted Judy & Margaret O'Brien btw

no 'hard day's night' either -- crazy!

Look, can we all agree this is a pretty stupid listicle, if you try to swallow it whole?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVJ8DxWHChU

not the greatest movie ever or anything but ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYmMagkfjfI

Some of the stuff being mentioned on this thread didn't qualify b/c dance numbers that don't also feature singing were not eligible, I think.

But yeah, nothing from Purple Rain is disappointing given the presence of Once, Lost in Translation, et al.

"Uncle Fucka"

No "Umbrellas of Cherbourg"?! At first I thought this was one of those lists where "movies" = "American movies", but they do have Ikiru there... Pretty weird that that's the only token non-American entry.

Um, except for Dancer in the Dark, Once, Shame, Linda Linda Linda, Tropical Malady, Talk to Her, and maybe others? I mean, it's definitely too American and Umbrellas of Cherbourg should be on there, but there is more than one non-american film.

Whoops, sorry, should've read the list better!

Much better in context, but:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPdYX5NxG0U

If this had been a Time Out NY list, I'm almost positive that would've made it.

write-in vote for Marlene Dietrich "Falling in Love Again" sequence from The Blue Angel

I would have chosen "(What's So Funny About) Peace, Love and Understanding" rather than "More Than This" (great as it is). Find "Tiny Dancer" an odd choice--it's people singing along with a song. There are excellent musical interludes in Band of Outsiders and L'Eclisse, but they're dance numbers, no singing, so I'm not sure if they count. I guess "Jaan Pehechan Ho" in Ghost World doesn't count, but I sure would list the song from its original source.

I thought of something that isn't on the list

enbb obv otm re gremlins 2

God, the "Tiny Dancer" is like the worst part of a terrible movie.

By a Waterfal

By a Waterfall

where is Oscar Isaac singing "Hang Me O Hang Me"?

Donald O'Conner doing Make'Em Laugh has to be one of the most amazing performances in cinematic history, polling it against something from the The 40-Year-Old Virgin just seems cruel.

(NB I've never seen The 40-Year-Old Virgin, so sorry if the Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In sequence is actually better than Make 'Em Laugh.)

For me (even though I don't consider it a "musical number"), "Tiny Dancer" was the highlight of a sometimes clumsy, sometimes surprisingly good film--either that or the kid flipping through his older sister's albums.

Strictly speaking, a classic "musical number" should involve several principals or a chorus or dancers, like that long setpiece w/ Cyd Charisse near the end of Singin', "Born in a Trunk," or the cut/restored "Happy Endings" in New York New York.

Oh, I've got one! Ligne de Chance from Pierrot le Fou!

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Oh, I've got one! Ligne de Chance from Pierrot le Fou!

Good call whoever posted the Zatoichi-goes-Stomp! number upthread. One of my favorite endings ever.

Would vote for any one of these tbh:

08. NASHVILLE, "Dues" (1975)
13. CABARET, "Cabaret" (1972)
14. THE GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933, "Remember My Forgotten Man" (1933)
16. BEFORE SUNSET, "Let Me Sing You a Waltz" (2004)
22. MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (1944)
23. A STAR IS BORN, "The Man That Got Away" (1954)
26. HISTORY OF THE WORLD: PART I, "The Inquisition" (1981)
29. MULHOLLAND DRIVE, "Llorando" (2001)
30. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, "Make 'Em Laugh" (1952)
35. THREE AMIGOS, "My Little Buttercup" (1986)
36. SHAME, "New York, New York" (2011)
37. GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES - "Ain't There Anyone Here For Love" (1953)
38. TALK TO HER, "Cucurrucú Paloma" (2002)
46. BEETLEJUICE, "Day-O" (1988)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Needs more Cry Baby and Little Shop of Horrors

And Hedwig, for that matter

How the bloody 'ell did South Pacific not make the list? Criminal.

it's a shame The Band Wagon or An American in Paris has nothing to match the Top Gun bar singalong.

― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Monday, 25 November 2013 21:54 (four years ago) Permalink

Kelly's I've Got Rhythym tap dance in AMiP is just joyful but guess that doesn't qualify as a musical number does it?

I was struggling to think of any musical numbers released in past five years that would have a chance of making this list now? For better or worse I'm sure La La Land would get an entry (Someone in the Crowd?).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm8PwXOHNPs

How did no one mention Harold Lloyd, Jr.'s rendition of 'A Special Date' from Frankenstein's Daughter, u monsters.

(I wish I understood video editing technology because there are a good number of inexplicable-yet-amazing musical and dance performances in '50s sci-fi movies and basically none of them are on YouTube.)

i've never seen the film of South Pacific, which looks like a mounted-and-stuffed dutiful adap and makes no lists of movie greats

i've never seen the film of South Pacific, which looks like a mounted-and-stuffed dutiful adap and makes no lists of movie greats

― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, April 17, 2018 4:21 PM (forty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Lots to love for me - superb musical numbers, the sound is superb, Mitzi Gaynor is fab. Okay the pacing is off and some numbers drag but it's an enjoyable affair.

Ofc the colour filters are downright awful in some scenes, and the studio/director definitely regretted them, but otherwise Shamroy's cinematography is lovely (see it in Blu-Ray!).

how tf was this not mentioned

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCZHHLFU-2Q

South Pacific 1958 gets the romantic longing right and it's a beautifully shot film. low point is Brazzi, what a bore.

Eh, a bit of a dogs dinner for the most part. If it were an option i'd pick the Bye Bye Love/Life finale from All That Jazz. As it isn't, i will settle for Cabaret.

I see a Hairspray number from the remake; they should have had "Madison Time" from the original instead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54iR0xFkEfQ