Musicals That Are Worth Buying

It’s not often that a musical film is made that I would feel comfortable recommending to anyone. I love good music and I love great films so I don’t find it easy to relax my standards on either issue. This means most musicals don’t really float my boat.  So here’s my list of films which I can actually enjoy watching and qualify as musicals.

Before I go any further my definition of musical in this case only includes films that wouldn’t have a complete story if you removed the music. Guardians of the Galaxy is a great film and has an awesome soundtrack but it if you took the music out it’d still be a coherent story.

The main thing I’d say about buying a musical is that you absolutely shouldn’t unless you buy into the music itself. If you wouldn’t listen to a good chunk of the soundtrack on its own then don’t. If you don’t like my selections that’s fine, your personal taste in music is crucial and whilst you can argue about the plot of a film or its accuracy, the music is a little harder to pin down. Although if you like Into the Woods you’re probably not going to enjoy any of these films.

The Blues Brothers (1980)

The cast includes Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, John Lee Hooker, Ray Charles and James Brown. That’s not even scratching the surface of the talent in this film. Unusually the leads can actually sing too, that isn’t a given but Akroyd and Belushi do a great job with the music. It’s also got a great car chase that ends in what was, at the time, the largest car pile up in film history.

The Blues Brothers is a cult classic for a good reason and the music alone is worth the watch. The soundtrack alone is worth listening to and I’d heartily recommend adding it to your collection. That’s pretty crucial to a really good musical I think. If you can’t listen to the music on its own it’s going to have to really have something amazing to make it a worthwhile film.

South Park: Bigger, Longer And Uncut (1999)

Who doesn’t love an extended version of Kyle’s Moms A Bitch? What about the classic Blame Canada or the entirely vulgar, Uncle Fucka. As usual, South Park isn’t just about dick jokes and swearing. The film revolves around Terrence and Philip, the Canadian vulgarians whose potty mouths and juvenile humour makes Kyle’s Mom so enraged she persuades the US to invade Canada.

This is a show that continually references current affairs and provides a satirical outlook on them. The film goes for censorship, freedom of speech and honestly this stuff often falls on deaf ears. The most common complaints I hear about South Park bemuse me as they tend to be about it being infantile or rude or vulgar. I think it’s because they take it at face value which is weird because they often love the Simpsons and see through it’s much less complex and frankly fucking patronising jokes. The Simpsons is the Belgariad to South Parks Lord of the Rings.

Again, the soundtrack is worth listening to on its own.

Mamma Mia! (2008)

This is really one for people who like romantic comedies (which I do) and have grown up with a soft spot for ABBA (which I have). Firstly this is a happy film but there’s just enough conflict to make for a viable story. Secondly, it’s got a great cast who don’t let their singing ability hold them back when their turn to warble comes along. Thirdly the music is great (as long as you like that).

The stage play is reportedly such an amazing production that my father, who doesn’t like ABBA, was really impressed by it. It should be noted he’s got hearing problems so he might have been able to enjoy the spectacle and not had to suffer much from music he doesn’t like.

A young woman, living on an idyllic Greek island with her hotelier mother, is about to marry. She has never known her father and does not even know who he is. Having read her mother’s journals though she’s identified the three men it could have been and has written to them all asking them to come to the wedding. Without telling anyone. The men are Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard. You couldn’t ask for more suitable actors to play these roles.

Her mother, Meryl Streep, has two boisterous friends played by Julie Walters and Christine Baranski. She’s the relatively sensible one and they’re a couple of older ladies determined to relive their youth. They remind me a lot of Nanny Ogg now I think about it but Streep isn’t quite Mistress Weatherwax. She sings for one thing.

They manage to weave a good portion of the ABBA greatest hits album into the fabric of the story and because it’s essentially a multi-generational rom-com (there are several romances going on) it works beautifully. Not to mention they filmed it on an amazing location which is utterly gorgeous and makes a fantastic backdrop to a cheerful film.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Rocky Horror is a well-known cult classic about American tourists who end up trapped in the castle of Dr Frank N Furter who is a Sweet Transvestite. It’s got fucking Meatloaf in it for god’s sake. You couldn’t ask for better musical pedigree than that unless of course, you were watching Blues Brothers which clearly eclipses it for sheer, real world, musical talent.

But you know, the songs are fun and it’s completely silly and it causes people to attend cinemas at Halloween dressed in truly weird styles. Forty years later. People actually got to the cinema and sing along with this. Personally, I can’t think of anything worse than having a load of talentless mooks in the audience singing over a song I’m trying to enjoy but people seem to like it.

It’s weird and wonderful and completely silly and you should watch it at least once, even if it doesn’t appeal. This is one of those cultural touchstones you really ought to try so you know what people are talking about.

Grease (1978)

On the surface, Grease is just a film about a boy and girl who fell in love over the summer, had to part and then meet up again at high school. Needless to say, they play it cool as it was just a summer fling. There’s actually a rather shocking (for the 1958 period the film is set in that is) sub-plot about a teen pregnancy and the thrilling danger of hot rod racing in there as well. That’s why I’m not putting this in the kid’s category, teenagers certainly but this is definitely a film parents should watch first if their kids are young.

The first big number is Summer Nights which neatly skewers everything that’s wrong with relationships. Whilst Danny and Sandy are clearly in love they give their friends  contradictory accounts of the summer they spent at the beach. Danny’s is quite racy but he’s obviously lying and Sandy seems to be more realistic but a bit dreamy. Their friends are the revealing part, though, the only details they ask for are the entirely inappropriate ones such as “Does he have a car?” or “Did you get very far?”. They’re exactly as shallow as teenagers are (and to be honest, the less pleasant adults).

Musicals Suitable for Kids or Families

Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (1971)

This is an opportunity to introduce your kids to Gene Wilder. The story his horrifically violent so kids will love it. People who don’t know anything about you know, reality, are apparently unaware that Roald Dahl’s kids books are so nasty.

I don’t understand why this surprises people as he used to be a horror writer and the most famous fairy stories are incredibly unpleasant. If you think kids wouldn’t like that, I suggest meeting one and talking to them for a bit. Plus all the people getting really terrible things happen to them, are really terrible people. That’s the point. And it’s funny.

A bit of a shame that they didn’t just do it straight because Roald Dahl obviously didn’t write a musical and his books really don’t need the help. Still, the music in the film is enduringly popular and kids love it. Probably because they’re imagining what they’re seeing on screen happening to the little horrors who are bullying them at school.

Mary Poppins (1964)

With Julie Andrews playing the eponymous Mary Poppins you have a pretty well received musical performance and she even makes up for Dick Van Dyke. It’s also better than the terribly dull Sound of Music which is actually about real people. I know, right? How pointless is that?

Spoonful of Sugar features Andrews singing about the benefits of taking medicine which I’m sure many parents have appreciated although probably not so much the idea that your carers will magically clean your bedroom for you rather than make you do it. Also, see Bedknobs and Broomsticks for a pretty damned similar film.

Mary Poppins is a film so popular that they even did a biopic of, not Disney and P.L. Travers who wrote the books but of the film itself (maybe I got that a bit wrong but I think it’s true in spirit at least). You can’t beat  Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious although you do have to ignore Dyke’s standard setting, terrible accent. It was so bad that they decided to have Don Cheadle copy it just for a kind of in-joke in Ocean’s Eleven. Well, at least I’ve always hoped that’s what they were aiming for.

It has such an extensive soundtrack it even has a song called Sister Suffragette for pities sake and one called Fidelity Fiduciary Bank. They wrote a song about a bank. Seriously. You’re more likely to remember Feed the Birds and Chim Chim Cher-ee though.

Bugsy Malone (1976)

Most of the film is actual plot and the kids give much better performances than you’ll get from many adult actors. Weirdly they don’t sing the songs, they’re dubbed by adults. It features Scott Baio and Jodie Foster in some of the best roles they ever had. Standouts songs are Bad Boys (We could have been anything we wanted to be) and My Name is Tallulah.  Fun fact, it’s the first film from Alan Park and his best as well although I suppose you might be a big fan of Mississipi Burning if you’re of a miserable bent.

I just wish they’d got the Harry Potter cast on set doing one of the numbers. That would have been an awesome DVD extra.

The Jungle Book (1967)

This is just about the only Disney animated film I actually like but it’s mostly because of the soundtrack album that I listened to as a kid (yes an LP). That was before people had video recorders all over the place. You have the snake singing Trust in Me, The Bare Necessities from Balo the Bear and I Wan’na Be Like You from King Louie the incongruous Orangutan.

It is, however, a bastardization of Kipling’s two books so when the kids are older you should read those to them and impress on them that they’re better. King Louie is a silly character btw as he’s not in Kipling’s work and orangutan aren’t native to India. Which Kipling knew because he lived there.

Note: The blu-ray I’ve linked to is a boxed set of the 2016 live action film which you  may well want as well but I can’t comment on as I’ve not seen it (unsurprisingly it did well). You can just get the original 1967 film on its own of course.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

There’s precisely one important thing about this film. It was written by Ian Fleming who wrote the Bond books. What more could you possibly need to know? Ok well, it’s got a flying car and a child snatcher. Yes, it’s a horrible fairy tale. Well, of course, it is, it’s a kids film. The soundtrack is obnoxiously catchy and in the dim and distant past, we had it on an actual LP. That’s what we called records before they became CDs then MP3s and then people started calling them ‘vinyl’ for some unknown reason when the correct names are 45 and LP.

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

This is definitely not the best music on the list but it’s Tim Burton doing a stop motion film about the King of Halloween getting bored and taking over Christmas. It’s lovely animation and great fun. Well worth a watch if you’ve seen all the others.