Please don't gay-bash me, but...

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...I'm developing an interest in classic musicals. So far I've enjoyed to various degrees "An American in Paris" "The Band Wagon" "Singin' in the Rain" and "Les Parapluies de Cherbourg"

Of course I've seen "The Wizard of Oz" a bunch of times on TV when I was a kid, and have pretty good memories of that. Also, I have negative memories from the same period of "The Sound of Music" "Brigadoon" "Gigi" and "My Fair Lady."

I think what I'm responding to most strongly are song and dance scenes that are expressionistic in that they reveal the personality and emotions of the characters, and what I'm reacting most negatively to is sitcommy plots, creepy sexist bullshit (although I know it's par for the course in a lot of old pictures) and above all, dumb corny humor.

So, recommend me some stuff.

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Sunday, 25 June 2006 22:39 (nineteen years ago)

"Oliver". If "Where Is Love?" and "Who Will Buy?" don't tug at your heartstrings at least a little, then you probably hate kittens, sunny days, and ice cream, too.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Sunday, 25 June 2006 22:42 (nineteen years ago)

my fair lady is a great musical, but an admittedly not-quite-great film (i like audrey hepburn as a rule, but the absence of julie andrews in that movie remains one of hollywood's great crimes). still worth it for rex harrison and stanley holloway.

search: meet me in st. louis.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Sunday, 25 June 2006 22:44 (nineteen years ago)

The Music Man is one of my favorites; love Fiddler on the Roof, though it's quite different from the stuff you're enjoying; don't miss Sondheim, though again, that's modern stuff & I don't know how many film versions there are of his stuff, I usually go directly to the soundtrack. Back on the old-school front, Meet Me in St. Louis is corny as hell but Judy Garland gives some really amazing performances in it...I, too, was completely bowled over by "The Wizard of Oz" when I was a kid and "Meet Me in St Louis" is a still-youthful Garland punching a lot of the same sentimental buttons.

Also Guys & Dolls, that thing is solid gold.

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Sunday, 25 June 2006 22:44 (nineteen years ago)

Please don't gay-bash me, but...

There is no unacceptable genre of music on ILM. Period. For better or for worse.

― Shoes say, yeah, no hands clap your good bra. (goodbra), Sunday, 25 June 2006 22:46 (nineteen years ago)

How can you not like "The Sound of Music"?

― Mark (MarkR), Sunday, 25 June 2006 22:48 (nineteen years ago)

How can you not like "The Sound of Music"?

I dunno. I kinda prefer The Sound of Drills or The Sound of Unwashed Dishes Crashing to the Floor.

― Shoes say, yeah, no hands clap your good bra. (goodbra), Sunday, 25 June 2006 22:50 (nineteen years ago)

guys and dolls is good, true, but it definitely shows the limits of brando's voice. still fun to see him singing and dancing.

xpost: i don't like the dramatis personae in sound of music, the whole thing's cloying. but it does have some classic tunes.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Sunday, 25 June 2006 22:50 (nineteen years ago)

There is no unacceptable genre of music on ILM.

strongo deletes all my polka threads before anybody gets a chance to respond

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Sunday, 25 June 2006 22:50 (nineteen years ago)

also in re: guys & dolls, Brando's cool but Sinatra in that thing is just on FIRE

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Sunday, 25 June 2006 22:51 (nineteen years ago)

NB: That's not meant to be a comment on The Sound of Music so much as the SOUND of music.

― Shoes say, yeah, no hands clap your good bra. (goodbra), Sunday, 25 June 2006 22:51 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I like what I've heard of Sondheim pretty well - Sweeny Todd, Into The Woods, the Seurat thing - all just on soundtrack, though, except for "West Side Story" (I like that one a lot, too.) And I have seen "Fiddler" and liked it, but again, long ago.

The gay-bash thing was just a joke, Shoes. I'm about as straight as can be, but there's a funny stereotype about men who enjoy this material.

Anyway, "Meet Me in St. Louis," Check. My viewing tonight will include "Daddy Longlegs," btw.

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Sunday, 25 June 2006 22:52 (nineteen years ago)

Oklahoma!! West Side Story! Sweet Charity! Threepenny Opera!

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Sunday, 25 June 2006 22:54 (nineteen years ago)

THE PIRATE is a fine, fine Judy Garland musical. Also w/ Gene Kelly.

THE YOUNG LADIES OF ROCHEFORT - Jacques Demy, very much in the vein of UMBRELLAS; perhaps better. Also w/ Gene Kelly

ALSO: SONDHEIM! Go to the soundtracks!

I'll return when I think of some others (what are your opinions on Bollywood?).

― Richard Baez (Johnny Logic), Sunday, 25 June 2006 22:56 (nineteen years ago)

"Paint your wagon" - Lee Marvin Sings!

― Bucky Fullminster (vincent spano), Sunday, 25 June 2006 22:56 (nineteen years ago)

My opinion of Bollywood is that I'm very curious to see more than just the occassional short clip, but for some reason haven't acted on that yet.

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Sunday, 25 June 2006 22:57 (nineteen years ago)

Gene Kelly is just about my favorite thing in any of these that I've seen so far, btw, so Young Ladies of Rochefort - CHECK!

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Sunday, 25 June 2006 22:58 (nineteen years ago)

Oklahoma! man. For real. It's the best Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, IMO.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Sunday, 25 June 2006 23:00 (nineteen years ago)

Unfortunately, I think I am prejudiced against Rodgers and Hammerstein. But we will see, I suppose.

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Sunday, 25 June 2006 23:02 (nineteen years ago)

AVOID ZIEGFIELD FOLLIES!!! (I imagine you knew this)

― Richard Baez (Johnny Logic), Sunday, 25 June 2006 23:03 (nineteen years ago)

Sondheim...

don't forget Bugsy Malone OST

― beeble (beeble), Sunday, 25 June 2006 23:04 (nineteen years ago)

Hmm...I'd like to know more about Sweeney Todd, and I'd like to see the film of Guys and Dolls because I starred in a high school production of it.

― Vampire Business (Bimble...), Sunday, 25 June 2006 23:05 (nineteen years ago)

THE YOUNG LADIES OF ROCHEFORT - Jacques Demy, very much in the vein of UMBRELLAS; perhaps better. Also w/ Gene Kelly

Definitely...the sister film to "Parapluies de Cherbourg". Vivid colors, gorgeous music by Michael Legrand (although there are spoken parts in this, unlike Cherbourg) and great acting and dancing.

― musically (musically), Sunday, 25 June 2006 23:05 (nineteen years ago)

RE: Jacques Demy non-musicals

Have you seen LOLA? It's a something of a prequel to UMBRELLAS and a fine movie, despite the lack of dancing and only one semi-musical scene. It's one of the few films I'd describe as genuinely Nabokovian.

― Richard Baez (Johnny Logic), Sunday, 25 June 2006 23:06 (nineteen years ago)

I'm reasonably certain that "Umbrellas" is the only Demy flick I've ever seen. I suppose that better change, too.

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Sunday, 25 June 2006 23:15 (nineteen years ago)

BOLLYWOOD (I'm not THAT familiar; here's what I've enjoyed)

PYAASA - Practically operatic melodrama, wherein a poet (played by writer/director Guru Dutt) becomes something of a martyr for the poor (I think...). I can't remember much, but it was awesome.

AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY - Utterly nuts comedy about three brothers separated when young into three separate households - one's hindi, one's muslim, and one's christian. Wackiness ensues when they find their way towards one another as grown ups; has scenes where each religion's deities prove worthy of miracles. ACE!

― Richard Baez (Johnny Logic), Sunday, 25 June 2006 23:16 (nineteen years ago)

I'm reasonably certain that "Umbrellas" is the only Demy flick I've ever seen. I suppose that better change, too.

Tells the tale of the rich fella Catherine Deneuve marries in UMBRELLAS. Needless, to say, he wasn't always blessed with weatlth...

― Richard Baez (Johnny Logic), Sunday, 25 June 2006 23:18 (nineteen years ago)

There's what's called "the Bollywood Gone With The Wind," Mother (of?) India; I've only seen big chunks of it, on Turner Classic Movies, but seems awesome to Bollywood-igno (and Hollywood-musical-avoiding)me. The heroine does struggle like Scarlett, but is not so mercurial/audacious with the moods and morals (but she's still pretty watchable).

― don (dow), Sunday, 25 June 2006 23:40 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.queenzone.com/multimedia/pictures/images/Freddie_Mercury/26220042554.jpg

― Marmot 4-Tay: forth-coming, my child. forth-coming most righteous champion (mar, Sunday, 25 June 2006 23:44 (nineteen years ago)

Any of the Gilbert and Sullivan stuff any good? I know enough to hum Major General, but being curious about comic opera is something I've never acted on.

― J Arthur Rank (Quin Tillian), Monday, 26 June 2006 01:13 (nineteen years ago)

Guys liking musicals?!? WHOA NELLY.

http://www.pappayon.com/handbill/big/i/in_and_out.jpg

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 26 June 2006 01:16 (nineteen years ago)

RE: Gilvert And Sullivan

'S good. Light and fun - one of my best friends can sing all of Penzance. She's insane.

Movie-wise - my, TOPSY TURVY is a heck of a movie. There are only various clips from a performance of The Mikado which dot the film, but really - it's a damn fine portrait of the creative process.

― Richard Baez (Johnny Logic), Monday, 26 June 2006 01:19 (nineteen years ago)

Say, that bare-chested mirror jumpsuit is pretty sharp! Where can I get one of those?

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Monday, 26 June 2006 01:20 (nineteen years ago)

I could wear it on job interviews and such.

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Monday, 26 June 2006 01:21 (nineteen years ago)

RE: us manly men and our love for musicals

Well, despite my heterosexuality, I don't think I have an ounce of testosterone in my body...

― Richard Baez (Johnny Logic), Monday, 26 June 2006 01:22 (nineteen years ago)

Show tunes are for fags!

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Monday, 26 June 2006 01:24 (nineteen years ago)

THERE IS NO SUBTEXT IN THIS PHOTO WHATSOEVER

― Richard Baez (Johnny Logic), Monday, 26 June 2006 01:25 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/forumfun/gay2.jpg

― Marmot 4-Tay: forth-coming, my child. forth-coming most righteous champion (mar, Monday, 26 June 2006 01:40 (nineteen years ago)

I could wear it on job interviews and such.

It's an ensemble! Don't forget the hat or else you'll look ridiculous!

― Richard Baez (Johnny Logic), Monday, 26 June 2006 01:42 (nineteen years ago)

And the Superman guy! You have to enter the interview on Superman guy's shoulders or it just won't work.

― Marmot 4-Tay: forth-coming, my child. forth-coming most righteous champion (mar, Monday, 26 June 2006 01:47 (nineteen years ago)

Please don't gay-bash me butt

― PappaWheelie 2 (PappaWheelie 2), Monday, 26 June 2006 02:00 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.themorningnews.org/images/summer_lucky.jpg

― Marmot 4-Tay: forth-coming, my child. forth-coming most righteous champion (mar, Monday, 26 June 2006 02:03 (nineteen years ago)

I love "The Pajama Game"

I saw it recently and was blown away. I also own an older version, and love it too.

― silence dogood (catcher), Monday, 26 June 2006 02:06 (nineteen years ago)

Is this Arnold Adenoid who started this thread?

(Just search for "his" threads on ILE if you want a laugh)

― San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Monday, 26 June 2006 02:39 (nineteen years ago)

I CAN'T BELIEVE: I forgot to mention LOVE ME TONIGHT! It closely resembles many of the musicals (THE MERRY WIDOW, etc.) Lubitsch made at the time (down to the cast and directorial style), but it just happens to be better. Don't worry: Maurice Chevalier isn't too annoying and Jeanette MacDonald hasn't had the kiss of death from Nelson Eddy yet (I IMPLORE YOU TO AVOID ANY EDDY/MACDONALD COLLABORATIONS). So yeah - git!

― Richard Baez (Johnny Logic), Monday, 26 June 2006 02:51 (nineteen years ago)

Sorry, Donut. I'm only me and have never heard of this other fellow you mention.

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Monday, 26 June 2006 02:53 (nineteen years ago)

Oh yeah, Daddy Long Legs was pretty great, but the "Something's Gotta Give" number fucking slays.

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Monday, 26 June 2006 02:54 (nineteen years ago)

try "Footlight Parade" or "Yankee Doodle Dandy". both star james cagney and both kick major ass.

― candice (divifold), Monday, 26 June 2006 03:37 (nineteen years ago)

James Cagney, eh? How about some with Edward G. Robinson?

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Monday, 26 June 2006 09:49 (nineteen years ago)

Amber was going to be doing "Consider Yourself" for a dance medal (in the end she's doing some wispy irish theme dance), so we dug up a video of the film.

Enjoyed all the songs, performances etcet but GOD! OLIVER HIMSELF IS CONSIDERABLY TOO WET!

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 26 June 2006 10:03 (nineteen years ago)

Search : Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (the songs are much better in the Gene Wilder version if you ask me).
Destroy : anything with Sonja Henie in. Actually, fuck it, search for those too, they're pretty funny. Destroy At Long last Love!

― Matt #2 (Matt #2), Monday, 26 June 2006 10:45 (nineteen years ago)

There are a couple of great modern musicals that deserve mention:

Caroline, Or Change (Heavily doo-wop oriented, full of social commentary on the lives of two New Orelans families shortly after JFK's assassination)
The Light In The Piazza (Completely heart-rending coming-of-age story with hands-down the most substantive music composed for a musical in the past 25 years at least, plus half of it is in Italian)

― Jesus Dan (Dan Perry), Monday, 26 June 2006 13:32 (nineteen years ago)

Unfunny old pictures of crap that supposedly represent The Gay are the best internet meme of all time, right?

I mean, we see that picture, and we all think, "Oh, boy! it's Richard Simmons! Again! AH-HA-HA-HA-HA! He is just SO FUCKING FUNNY!!! Slap me five, bro..."

I don't know about you, but man, I NEVER get tired of that shit. It's just as funny now as it was in 1997. That's the best thing about comedy: you can tell the same joke over and over, THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF TIMES, and it never gets even a little bit less funny.

Thank god for Richard Simmons.

― fuckfuckingfuckedfucker (fuckfuckingfuckedfucker), Monday, 26 June 2006 13:41 (nineteen years ago)

I feel like I mention the 'Umbrellas' score on ILM a lot. YESYESYES JACQUES DEMY.

On The Town is fantastic and Gene Kelly stars/directs
An American in Paris is excellent.
Funny Face (Audrey Hepburn / Fred Astaire)

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers / Oklahoma! / Fiddler On The Roof all seem kind of kitchy to me now but they are very good.

Bollywood recommendations:
Hum Aapke Hain Koun...! is one of the my favorite recent Bollywood films.
Sholay - like a buddy film-western-musical-romance-thriller-comedy; (Still?) the highest-grossing Bollywood film ever
"the Bollywood Gone With The Wind" mentioned above is called Mother India and is really good but a little weird in terms of the way it uses musical space; i.e. song and dance numbers about famine and destruction are a long way from traditional Hollywood storytelling strategies

when you're ready to have Hollywood musical deconstructed by a master:
Godard's 'A Woman Is A Woman'

Its not a musical but The Red Shoes is a film that uses dance the way that some of these films use musical numbers.

hope that helps; I'm sure i'm not the only filmmaker on ILM but I've got lots more if those work out so let me know.

― davelus (davelus), Monday, 26 June 2006 19:03 (nineteen years ago)

I was listenong to some of this stuff just last night, coincidentally.

And so ILX continues its aimless walk down the dirt road that is male homosexuality, knowing not where it leads but enjoying every minute of the journey regardless.

― Cunga (Cunga), Monday, 26 June 2006 19:17 (nineteen years ago)

Fuck, I need to pick up that Umbrellas of Cherbourg soundtrack on CD. I've had the vinyl for a while but would really like something I could copy to mp3.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 26 June 2006 19:20 (nineteen years ago)

You know what's good? Sondheim's A Little Night Music -- best known for "Send in the Clowns" but there's better fare on there, too. The entire score is in 3/4 (waltz time).

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 26 June 2006 19:21 (nineteen years ago)

Unfunny old pictures of crap that supposedly represent The Gay etc etc

Yeah, no one ever posts those pics with any kind of self-awareness. I myself AM SO FUCKING STUPID that I thought I was being hee-lariously original posting that! Have a nice day.

― Marmot 4-Tay: forth-coming, my child. forth-coming most righteous champion (mar, Monday, 26 June 2006 19:36 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I know. I got it, eventually. But by then I'd already gone on my cranky-ass little tirade.

Still, you get to have the last laugh. That's gotta be worth something, right?

― fuckfuckingfuckedfucker (fuckfuckingfuckedfucker), Monday, 26 June 2006 19:48 (nineteen years ago)

http://www5c.biglobe.ne.jp/~kantaku/mk/gazou/emu/friendship01.jpg

― Marmot 4-Tay: forth-coming, my child. forth-coming most righteous champion (mar, Monday, 26 June 2006 20:08 (nineteen years ago)

And there ya go.

― fuckfuckingfuckedfucker (fuckfuckingfuckedfucker), Monday, 26 June 2006 20:22 (nineteen years ago)

(stolen from ILG)

― Marmot 4-Tay: forth-coming, my child. forth-coming most righteous champion (mar, Monday, 26 June 2006 20:26 (nineteen years ago)

I should also have mentioned that I really liked "The Singing Detective" and "Pennies From Heaven" (both versions, but the Bob Hoskins even more than the Steve Martin) although that's once again pretty far afield of the MGM 30s-50s style.

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Monday, 26 June 2006 20:43 (nineteen years ago)

dammit, i can't believe i missed this thread after being gone all weekend! i love musicals! everything i'd suggest has already been suggested, but i gotta give a shout out to my old pals rogers and hammerstein. "carousel", especially. also, the new revival of "the pajama game" brought my attention to the musical, which as it turns out is just delightful.

― Emily B (Emily B), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 03:22 (nineteen years ago)

try "Footlight Parade" or "Yankee Doodle Dandy". both star james cagney and both kick major ass.

James Cagney, eh? How about some with Edward G. Robinson?

This is bullshit, as Cagney danced even when he walked. He's a nonstop blast in Footlight Parade. Most of the dialogue scenes in YDD are toxic (the treatment is bland and reverent), but the dancing's great.

I wouldn't watch The Sound of Music again without insulin. Alas, most of the movie versions of Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals were elephantine and tedious.

Search Vincente Minnelli in general (MM in St Louis and give Gigi another go). Love Me Tonight seconded, also the '30s Show Boat w/ Irene Dunne & Paul Robeson (directed by James Frankenstein Whale).

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 13:19 (nineteen years ago)

James Cagney was in Archie Bell and the Drells!??!

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 13:31 (nineteen years ago)

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