DOX MUSICAL

NO. 2

musical CINEMA

ISSUE NO. 2 MUSICAL MASTERPIECES In the second issue of ‘Splendor Pelicula’, we take on a genre that quite literally sings and dances; the musical.

In this issue we present to you the ultimate list of musical masterpieces and try our best to convince you that just because a character is bursting into song, doesn’t detract from the quality of the finished article.

In Memoriam Judy Garland 1922-1969 pg. 14

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

A HISTORY:

CAREER PERSPECTIVE, VINCENTE MINELLI:

18 OF THE BEST:

Everything you could ever need to know about movie musicals.

In depth analysis of the director famed for musical masterpieces such as Meet Me in St. Louis, The Band Wagon and An American in Paris.

Includes a filmography, interview excerpts & more.

A compilation of the most renowned movie musicals.

Includes plot summaries, cast notes, year of release, trivia tidbits, quotes & more.

CHAPTER ONE A HISTORY: Everything you could ever need to know about movie musicals.

jazz hands and fosse fists

A BRIEF HISTORY INTRODUCTION The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film’s characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate “production numbers”. A subgenre of the musical film is the musical comedy, which also includes a strong element of humor.

The musical film was a natural development of the stage musical after the emergence of sound film technology. Typically, the biggest difference between film and stage musicals is the use of lavish background scenery and locations that would be impractical in a theater. Musical films characteristically contain elements reminiscent of theater; performers often treat their song and dance numbers as if there is a live audience watching. In a sense, the viewer becomes the deictic audience, as the performer looks directly into the camera and performs to it.

THE FIRST MUSICALS Musical short films were first made by Lee De Forest in 1923. After this, thousands of Vitaphone shorts (1926–30) were made, many featuring bands, vocalists and dancers, in which a musical soundtrack played while the actors portrayed their characters just as they did in silent films: without dialogue. The Jazz Singer, released in 1927 by Warner Brothers, was not only the first movie with synchronized dialogue, but the first feature film that was also a musical, featuring Al Jolson singing “Dirty Hands, Dirty Face;” “Toot, Toot, Tootsie”, “Blue Skies” and “My Mammy”. Historian Scott Eyman wrote, “As the film ended and applause grew with the houselights, Sam Goldwyn’s wife Frances looked around at the celebrities in the crowd. She saw ‘terror in all their faces’, she said, as if they knew that ‘the game they had been playing for years was finally over. Still, only Jolson’s sequences had sound; most of the film was silent.

In 1928, Warner Brothers followed this up with another Jolson part-talkie, The Singing Fool, which was a blockbuster hit. Theatres scrambled to install the new sound equipment and to hire Broadway composers to write musicals for the screen. The first all-talking feature, Lights of New York, included a musical sequence in a night club. The enthusiasm of audiences was so great that in less than a year all the major studios were making sound pictures exclusively. The Broadway Melody, 1929, had a show-biz plot about two sisters competing for a charming song and dance man. Advertised by MGM as the first “All-Talking, AllSinging, All-Dancing” feature film, it was a hit and won the Academy Award for Best Picture for 1929. There was a rush by the studios to hire talent from the stage to star in lavishly filmed versions of Broadway hits.

The Jazz Singer The original Broadway stage production of “The Jazz Singer” opened at the Fulton Theater on Sunday, September 14th, 1925 and ran for 303 performances.

Trivia Hollywood released more than 100 musical films in 1930, but only 14 in 1931.

Joan Blondell as Carol King Warren William as J. Lawrence Bradford

Warner Brothers produced the first screen operetta, The Desert Song in 1929. They spared no expense and photographed a large percentage of the film in Technicolor. This was followed by the first all-color, all-talking musical feature which was entitled On with the Show, 1929. The most popular film of 1929 was the second all-color, all-talking feature which was entitled Gold Diggers of Broadway, 1929. This film broke all box office records and remained the highest grossing film ever produced until 1939. Suddenly the market became flooded with musicals, revues and operettas. The following all-color musicals were produced in 1929 and 1930 alone: The Show of Shows, Sally, The Vagabond King, Follow Thru, Bright Lights, Golden Dawn, Hold Everything, The Rogue Song, Song of the Flame, Song of the West, Sweet Kitty Bellairs, Under A Texas Moon, Bride of the Regiment, Whoopee!, The King of Jazz, Viennese Nights and Kiss Me Again.

By late 1930, audiences had been oversaturated with musicals and studios were forced to cut the music from films that were then being released. For example Life of the Party, 1930, was originally produced as an all-color, all-talking musical comedy. Before it was released, however, the songs were cut out. The same thing happened to Fifty Million Frenchmen, 1931, and Manhattan Parade, 1932. Marlene Dietrich sang songs successfully in her films, and Rodgers and Hart wrote a few well-received films, but even their popularity waned by 1932. The public had quickly come to associate color with musicals and thus the decline in their popularity also resulted in a decline.

1960 TO 1979 In the 1960s, 1970s and continuing up to today the musical film became less of a bankable genre that could be relied upon for sure-fire hits.

Audiences for them lessened and fewer musical films were produced as the genre became less mainstream and more specialized.

THE 1960’S In the 1960s the best success of the films West Side Story, The Music Man, My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music suggested that the traditional musical was in good health. However popular musical tastes were being heavily affected by rock and roll and the freedom and youth associated with it, and indeed Elvis Presley made a few movies that have been equated with the old musicals in terms of form.

Most of the musical films of the 1950s and 1960s such as Oklahoma! and The Sound of Music were straightforward adaptations or restagings of successful stage productions. The most successful musical of the 1960s created specifically for film was Mary Poppins.

Despite the success of these musicals, Hollywood also produced a series of musical flops in the late 1960s and early 1970s which appeared to seriously misjudge public taste. The commercially and/or critically unsuccessful films included Camelot, Finian’s Rainbow, Hello Dolly!, Sweet Charity, Doctor Dolittle, Star!, Darling Lili, Paint Your Wagon, Song of Norway, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Man of La Mancha, Lost Horizon and Mame. Collectively and individually these failures crippled several of the major studios.

THE 1970’S In the 1970s, film culture and the changing demographics of moviegoers placed greater emphasis on gritty realism, while the pure entertainment and theatricality of classical era Hollywood musicals was seen as old-fashioned. The 1973 film of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar was met with some criticism by religious groups, but was well received. By the mid-1970s filmmakers avoided the genre in favor of using music by popular rock or pop bands as background music, partly in hope of selling a soundtrack album to fans. The Rocky Horror Picture Show was originally released in 1975 and was a critical failure until it achieved cult status in 1985.

The 1978 film version of Grease was considered a smash hit; its songs were original compositions done in a 1950’s pop style. Films about performers which incorporated gritty drama and musical numbers inter-weaved as a diegetic part of the storyline were produced, such as All That Jazz, Saturday Night Fever, and New York, New York. Some musicals released in the New Hollywood period experimented with the form, such as Bugsy Malone and Lisztomania. The film musicals that were still being made were financially and critically less successful than in their heyday. They include The Wiz, A Little Night Music and Hair amongst others.

Grease Hopelessly Devoted To You was written and recorded after the movie had wrapped. The producers felt they needed a strong ballad and had Olivia Newton-John come back to film her singing this song. This song ended up receiving an Academy Award nomination.

Victor Victoria Director Blake Edwards admitted in an interview that he chickened out, and added the scene in which King Marchand discovers that Victoria is indeed a woman.

Originally he was to fall in love with Victoria before he was sure about her gender.

Julie Andrews as Victoria Grant

1980 TO 1999 By the 1980s, financiers grew increasingly confident in the musical genre, partly buoyed by the relative health of the musical on Broadway and London’s West End. Productions of the 1980s and 1990s included Annie, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Victor Victoria, Little Shop of Horrors, Absolute Beginners and Evita. However, Can’t Stop the Music, starring The Village People, was a calamitous attempt to resurrect the old-style musical and was released to audience indifference in 1980. Little Shop of Horrors was based on an off-Broadway musical adaptation of a 1960 Roger Corman film, a precursor of later film-tostage-to-film adaptations, including The Producers.

Many animated movies of the period - predominately from Disney included traditional musical numbers. Howard Ashman, Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz had previous musical theatre experience and wrote songs for animated films during this time, supplanting Disney workhorses the Sherman Brothers. Starting with 1989’s The Little Mermaid, the Disney Renaissance gave new life to the Film Musical. Other successful animated musicals included Aladdin, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Pocahontas from Disney proper, The Nightmare Before Christmas from Disney division Touchstone Pictures, The Prince of Egypt from DreamWorks, Anastasia from Fox and Don Bluth, and South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut from Paramount. Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King were adapted for the stage after their blockbuster success.

2000 TO 2012 In the 2000s, the musical film began to rise in popularity once more, with new works such as Moulin Rouge!, Across the Universe, and Enchanted; film adaptations of stage shows, such as Chicago, The Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Fame, Repo! The Genetic Opera, Dreamgirls, Sweeney Todd, and Mamma Mia!; and even film versions of stage shows that were themselves based on non-musical films, such as The Producers, Hairspray, Reefer Madness, and Nine. Whereas Across the Universe, Moulin Rouge!, and Mamma Mia! continued the trend of incorporating familiar hit songs in the sub-genre known as jukebox musicals.

RENT Taye Diggs (Benny), Wilson Jermaine Heredia (Angel), Jesse L. Martin (Collins), Idina Menzel (Maureen), Adam Pascal (Roger), and Anthony Rapp (Mark) are all from the Original Broadway Cast of Rent in 1996 and play their original roles.

Under the mainstream radar, there have also been acclaimed independent musical films, such as Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Dancer in the Dark; and foreign musical films, such as 8 Women, The Other Side of the Bed and Yes Nurse! No Nurse!.

Some musicals films of the decade became successes without receiving a theatrical release, like the first two made-for-television High School Musical films and the web series Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. In 2004, the New York Musical Theatre Festival presented a weeklong festival of modern movie musicals that included 10 independent features made since 1996, as well as several programs of short movie musicals.

In contrast to the 1990s, fewer major animated features of the 2000s included musical numbers, as the success of Pixar and DreamWorks computer animated non musical films upset Disney’s dominance. The 2009 film The Princess and the Frog was considered a throwback to the Disney musical style.

BOLLYWOOD INFLUENCE An exception to the decline of the musical film is Indian cinema, especially the Bollywood film industry based in Mumbai, where the majority of films have been and still are musicals. The majority of films produced in the Tamil industry based in Chennai and Telegu industry based in Hyderabad are also musicals.

In the 2000s, Bollywood musicals played an instrumental role in the revival of the musical film genre in the Western world. Baz Luhrmann stated that his successful musical film Moulin Rouge!, 2001, was directly inspired by Bollywood musicals. The film thus pays homage to India, incorporating an Indian-themed play based on the ancient Sanskrit drama The Little Clay. The Bollywood musical Lagaan, 2001, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film; two other Bollywood films Devdas, 2002, and Rang De Basanti, 2006, were nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Slumdog Millionaire Even Danny Boyle’s Academy Award winning film features a Bollywood style song and dance number during the film’s end credits.

‘I was born at the age of twelve on a Metro Goldwyn Mayer lot.’

Judy Garland 1922 - 1969

Trivia Mother of Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft, and Joey Luft.

Her record ‘Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall’ garnered five Grammy Awards and remained at the top of Billboard’s charts for two months.

The day she died, there was a tornado in Kansas.

JUDY GARLAND Born June 10, 1922 Grand Rapids, MN

EARLY LIFE Born Frances Ethel Gumm, the youngest daughter of vaudevillians Frank and Ethel Gumm. Her mother, an ambitious woman gifted in playing various musical instruments, saw the potential in her daughter at the tender age of just 2.

THE WIZARD OF OZ In 1939, Judy shot immediately to stardom with The Wizard of Oz, in which she portrayed Dorothy, an orphaned girl living on a farm in the dry plains of Kansas who gets whisked off into the magical world of Oz on the other end of the rainbow. Her poignant performance and sweet delivery of her signature song ‘Over The Rainbow’ earned Judy a special juvenile Oscar statuette on 29th February 1940 for Best Performance by a Juvenile Actor.

DEATH It was during a concert in Chelsea, London that Judy stumbled into her bathroom late one night and died of an overdose of barbiturates, on the 22nd of June 1969 at the age of 47.

The Wizard of Oz 1939 Dorothy Gale Ziegfeld Girl 1941 Susan Gallagher Meet Me in St. Louis 1944 Esther Smith The Clock 1945 Alice Mayberry The Pirate 1948 Manuela A Star is Born 1954 Vicki Lester / Esther Blodgett

CHAPTER TWO CAREER PERSPECTIVE; VINCENTE MINELLI: In depth analysis of the director famed for musical masterpieces such as Meet Me in St. Louis, The Band Wagon and An American in Paris.

Includes a filmography, interview excerpts & more.

‘I seem to be drawn to things that actually happen.’

Vincente Minelli, Personal Quote

VINCENTE MINELLI Born February 28, 1903 Chicago, IL

EARLY LIFE Born as Lester Anthony Minnelli in Chicago, he was the youngest of four known sons, only two of whom survived to adulthood, born to Marie Émilie Odile Lebeau and Vincent Charles Minnelli. His father was musical conductor of Minnelli Brothers’ Tent Theater. Minnelli’s Chicago-born mother was of French Canadian descent with a strong probability of Native American lineage included via her Mackinac Island, Michigan born mother. The family toured small towns primarily in before settling permanently in Delaware, Ohio.

Paternal grandfather Vincenzo Minnelli and great-uncle Domenico Minnelli, both Sicilian revolutionaries, were forced to leave Sicily after the collapse of the provisional Sicilian government that arose from the 1848 revolution against Ferdinand II and Bourbon rule. Domenico Minnelli had been Vice-Chancellor of the Gran Corte Civile in Palermo at the time he helped organize the January 12, 1848 uprising there. After the Bourbon return to power Vincenzo reportedly hid in the catacombs of Palermo for 18 months before being successfully smuggled onto a New York-bound fruit steamer. While traveling as a piano demonstrator for Knabe Pianos, Vincenzo met his future wife Nina Picket during a stop in Delaware, Ohio. Although there’s no confirmation of Vincenzo working at Ohio Wesleyan University, he was indeed a music teacher and composer. Both the US Library of Congress and the Newberry Library in Chicago, IL have Vincenzoe Minnelli compositions in their collections.

CAREER Following his high school graduation, Minnelli moved to Chicago, where he lived briefly with his maternal grandmother and an aunt. His first job was at Marshall Field’s department store as a window dresser.

He later worked as a photographer for Paul Stone, who specialized in photographing actors from Chicago’s theater district. His interest in the theater grew and he was greatly interested in art and immersed himself in books on the subject.

Minnelli’s first job in the theater was at the Chicago Theatre where he worked as a costume and set designer. Owned by Balaban and Katz, the theater chain soon merged with a bigger national chain of Paramount-Publix and Minnelli sometimes found himself assigned to work on shows in New York City. He soon left Chicago and rented a tiny Greenwich Village apartment. He was eventually employed at Radio City Music Hall shortly after its 1932 opening as a set designer and worked his way up to stage director. He was also tasked to serve as a colour consultant for the original interior of the Rainbow Room.

Trivia He named his daughter Liza Minnelli after the Gershwin song Liza.

Trivia Minelli invented the crab dolly, a camera dolly on wheels that can move the camera in any direction.

After leaving Radio City Music Hall the first play Minnelli directed was a musical revue for the Shuberts titled At Home Abroad which opened in October 1935 and starred Beatrice Lillie, Ethel Waters, and Eleanor Powell. The revue was well received and enjoyed a two year run.

Minnelli later worked on The Ziegfeld Follies of 1936, Hooray for What!, Very Warm for May, and The Show is On. Minnelli’s reputation grew and he was offered a job at MGM in 1940 by producer Arthur Freed.

With his background in theatre, Minnelli was known as an auteur who always brought his stage experience to his films. The first movie that he directed, Cabin in the Sky (1943), was visibly influenced by the theater.

Shortly after that, he directed Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), during which he fell in love with the film’s star, Judy Garland. The two had first met on the set of Strike Up the Band (1940), a Busby Berkeley film for which Minnelli was asked to design a musical sequence performed

by Garland and Mickey Rooney. The two began a courtship that eventually led to their marriage in June 1945. Their one child together, Liza Minnelli, grew up to become an Academy Award-winning singer and actress. The Minnelli family is thus unique in having father, mother and child who all won Oscars.

Though widely known for directing musicals, including An American in Paris (1951), Brigadoon (1954), Kismet (1955), and Gigi (1958), he also directed comedies and melodramas, including Madame Bovary (1949), Father of the Bride (1950), Designing Woman (1957) and The Courtship of Eddie’s Father (1963). His last film was A Matter of Time (1976). During the course of his career he directed seven different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Spencer Tracy, Gloria Grahame, Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Arthur Kennedy, Shirley MacLaine and Martha Hyer. Grahame and Quinn won Oscars for their performances in one of Minnelli’s movies. He received an Oscar nomination as Best Director for An American in Paris (1951) and later won the Best Director Oscar for Gigi (1958). He was awarded France’s highest civilian honor, the Commander Nationale of the Legion of Honor, only weeks before his death in 1986.

Trivia He directed seven different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Spencer Tracy, Gloria Grahame, Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Arthur Kennedy, Shirley MacLaine and Martha Hyer. Grahame and Quinn won Oscars for their performances.

Minnelli’s critical reputation has known a certain amount of fluctuation, being admired (or dismissed) in America as a pure stylist who, in Andrew Sarris’ words, “believes more in beauty than in art.” His work reached a height of critical attention during the late 1950s and early 1960s in France with extensive studies in the Cahiers du Cinéma magazine, particularly by Jean Douchet and Jean Domarchi, who saw in him a cinematic visionary obsessed with beauty and harmony, and an artist who could give substance to the world of dreams. Minnelli served as a juror at the 1967 Cannes Film Festival.

DEATH Minnelli died in July 1986, aged 83, after struggling with emphysema and bouts of pneumonia that caused him to be repeatedly hospitalized in his final year. He was survived by his two daughters, two grandchildren, and his fourth wife, Lee. He was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

FILMOGRAPHY The Sandpiper 1965 Goodbye Charlie 1964 Two Weeks in Another Town 1962 Bells Are Ringing 1960 Home from the Hill 1960 Some Came Running 1958 The Reluctant Debutante 1958 Gigi 1958 Designing Woman 1957 Kismet 1955 Brigadoon 1954 The Band Wagon 1953 The Bad and the Beautiful 1952 An American in Paris 1951 Father of the Bride 1950 The Pirate 1948 Undercurrent 1946 Yolanda and the Thief 1945 Meet Me in St. Louis 1944 Cabin in the Sky 1943

selected filmography

Tagline ‘MGM’s glorious love story with music.’

Run Time 113 min Most Memorable Song ‘The Trolley Song’ Trivia Vincente Minnelli and Judy Garland met on this movie, and married soon afterwards.

Tagline ‘What a joy! It’s MGM’s Technicolor musical! ’ Run Time 113 min Most Memorable Song ‘I Got Rhythm’ Trivia The 17-minute dance sequence at the end took a month to film and cost half a million dollars.

Tagline ‘Thank heaven for Gigi.’

Run Time 115 min Most Memorable Song ‘I Remember It Well’ Trivia The film won all 9 Academy Awards that it was nominated for, more than any other film at that point in Oscar history.

MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS 1944 St. Louis 1903. The well-off Smith family has four beautiful daughters, including Esther and little Tootie. 17-year old Esther has fallen in love with the boy next door who has just moved in, John. He however, barely notices her at first. The family is shocked when Mr. Smith reveals that he has been transfered to a nice position in New York, which means that the family has to leave St. Louis and the St. Louis Fair.

AN AMERICAN IN PARIS 1951 Jerry Mulligan, a struggling American painter in Paris, is “discovered” by an influential heiress with an interest in more than Jerry’s art. Jerry in turn falls for Lise, a young French girl already engaged to a cabaret singer. Jerry jokes, sings and dances with his best friend, an acerbic would-be concert pianist, while romantic complications abound.

GIGI 1958 Weary of the conventions of Parisian society, a rich playboy and a youthful courtesan-in-training enjoy a platonic friendship, but it may not stay platonic for long. Gaston, the scion of a wealthy Parisian family finds emotional refuge from the superficial lifestyle of upper class Parisian 1900s society with the former mistress of his uncle and her outgoing, tomboy granddaughter, Gigi.

ESTHER SMITH PORTRAYED BY JUDY GARLAND IN ‘MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS’ 1944

LISE BOUVIER PORTRAYED BY LESLIE CARON IN ‘AN AMERICAN IN PARIS’ 1958

CHAPTER THREE 18 OF THE BEST: A compilation of the most renowned movie musicals.

Includes plot summaries, cast notes, year of release, trivia tidbits, quotes & more.

‘When you’re a Jet, you’re a Jet all the way!’

Riff, Russ Tamblyn

WEST SIDE STORY 1961 GENRE CRIME, DRAMA DIRECTOR JEROME ROBBINS & ROBERT WISE WRITER ERNEST LEHMAN An adaptation of the classic romantic tragedy ‘Romeo and Juliet’. The feuding families become two warring New York City gangs; the Jets, led by Riff, and the Sharks, led by Bernardo. Their hatred escalates to a point where neither can coexist. But when Riff’s best friend Tony and Bernardo’s younger sister Maria meet at a dance, no one can do anything to stop their love. Maria and Tony begin meeting in secret, planning to run away. Then the Sharks and Jets plan a rumble under the highway - whoever wins gains control of the streets. Maria sends Tony to stop it, hoping it can end the violence. It goes terribly wrong, tragedy strikes and doesn’t stop until the heartbreaking ending.

CAST Tagline ‘The most acclaimed motion picture of our time!’

Run Time 152 min Most Memorable Song ‘Somewhere’ Trivia Was the first film to win a Best Director Oscar for two directors. This would not happen again until 46 years later, when Joel Coen and Ethan Coen shared the award for ‘No Country for Old Men’.

Natalie Wood as Maria Nunez

George Chakiris as Bernardo Nunez

Richard Beymer as Tony Wyeck

Simon Oakland as Lt. Schrank

Russ Tamblyn as Riff

Ned Glass as Doc

Rita Moreno as Anita

William Bramley as Officer Krupke

‘Suddenly everybody wants to be in show business’

Tallulah, Jodie Foster

BUGSY MALONE 1976 GENRE CRIME, COMEDY DIRECTOR ALAN PARKER WRITER ALAN PARKER Here’s the basic ‘shtick’ of Bugsy Malone: it’s a gangster picture enacted by children. Acted out before scaled-down sets, the film details the career of Bugsy Malone, who rises to the top of the criminal ladder in 1920s New York. Whenever gunfire is called for, the kiddie crooks substitute whipped cream for bullets. Paul Williams contributes several songs, which are performed by adult singers and lip-synched by the pint-sized actors. The cast includes John Cassisi as diminutive Capone clone Fat Sam, and then-13-year-old Jodie Foster as the sultry nightclub thrush Tallulah.

CAST Tagline ‘Every year brings a great movie. Every decade a great movie musical!’

Run Time 93 min Most Memorable Song ‘Fat Sam’s Grand Slam’ Trivia Jodie Foster has admitted that she found many of the British cast terrifying because of the antics they would get up to.

Scott Baio as Bugsy Malone

Martin Lev as Dandy Dan

Florrie Dugger as Blousey Brown

Paul Murphy as Leroy Smith

John Cassisi as Fat Sam

Albin Humpty as Fizzy

Jodie Foster as Tallulah

Sheridan Russell as Knuckles

‘You can’t just walk out of a drive in’

Danny Zuko, John Travolta

GREASE 1978 GENRE COMEDY, ROMANCE DIRECTOR RANDAL KLEISER WRITER JIM JACOBS & WARREN CASEY A musical about teens in love in the 50’s! It’s California, 1959 and greaser Danny Zuko and Australian Sandy Olsson are in love. They spend time at the beach, but when they go back to school, what either of them don’t know is that they both now attend Rydell High.

Danny’s the leader of the T-Birds, a group of black-jacket greasers while Sandy hangs with the Pink Ladies, a group of pink-wearing girls led by Rizzo. When they clash at Rydell’s first pep rally, Danny isn’t the same Danny at the beach. They try to be like each other so they can be together.

CAST

Tagline ‘Grease is the word.’

Run Time 110 min Most Memorable Song ‘Summer Nights’ Trivia Henry Winkler, who became a sensation as Fonzie on ‘Happy Days’, was considered for the role of Danny Zuko. However, he turned down the role for fear of being typecast.

John Travolta as Danny Zuko

Jamie Donnelly as Jan

Olivia Newton John as Sandy Olsson

Barry Pearl as Doody

Jeff Conaway as Kenickie

Michael Tucci as Sonny

Stockard Channing as Betty Rizzo

Kelly Ward as Putzie

Didi Conn as Frenchy

Eve Arden as Principal McGee

Dinah Mahoff as Marty

Frankie Avalon as The Teen Angel

‘I wouldn’t kick Mick Jagger out of my bed. but, I’m not a homosexual’

Woof Daschund, Don Dacus

HAIR 1979 GENRE COMEDY, DRAMA DIRECTOR MILOS FORMAN WRITER GEROME RAGNI & JAMES RADO Milos Forman’s adaptation of the tribal rock musical Hair stars John Savage as Claude, a quiet young man from the Midwest who becomes friendly with a group of New York hippies on his way to begin basic training in the military. The repressed Claude is quite taken with Berger and the group of freedom seekers who reside in Central Park. The group encourages Claude to go after a debutante named Sheila. Legendary choreographer Twyla Tharp masterminded the dances, which attempt to flow from the natural settings of the film.

The film includes most of the more famous songs from the original play, including ‘Donna’, ‘Aquarius’, ‘Easy to Be Hard’, ‘Let the Sunshine In’, ‘Good Morning Starshine’ and the title number.

CAST Tagline ‘Let the Sun Shine In.’ Run Time 121 min Most Memorable Song ‘Aquarius’ Trivia George Lucas was offered the chance to direct this movie in the early 1970s, but turned it down because he was developing American Graffiti.

John Savage as Claude Bukowski

Annie Golden as Jeannie Ryan

Treat Williams as George Berger

Dorsey Wright as LaFayette ‘Hud’ Johnson

Beverly D’Angelo as Sheila Franklin

Nell Carter as ‘White Boys’

Don Dacus as Woof Daschund

Cheryl Barnes as Hud’s Fiancée

‘I am the ruler of all the ocean!

The waves obey my every whim!’

Ursula, Pat Carroll

THE LITTLE MERMAID 1989 GENRE ANIMATION, FANTASY DIRECTOR RON CLEMENTS & JOHN MUSKER WRITER RON CLEMENTS & JOHN MUSKER Loosely based upon the story by Hans Christian Andersen. Ariel, youngest daughter of King Triton, is dissatisfied with life in the sea. She longs to be with the humans above the surface, and is often caught in arguments with her father over those “barbaric fish-eaters”. She goes to meet Ursula, the Sea Witch, to strike a deal, but Ursula has bigger plans for this mermaid and her father.

CAST Tagline ‘Love has no boundaries.’

Run Time 83 min Most Memorable Song ‘Under the Sea’ Trivia The character of Ursula was based on Divine. Her personality and some of her actions were also largely inspired by a previous Disney villain, Madame Medusa from Disney’s The Rescuers.

Jodi Benson as Ariel

Jason Marin as Flounder

Christopher Daniel Barnes as Prince Eric

Kenneth Mars as King Triton

Pat Carroll as Ursula

Buddy Hackett as Scuttle

Samuel E. Wright as Sebastian

Ben Wright as Grimsby

‘God has brought you here. Take the hint.’

Reverend Mother, Maggie Smith

SISTER ACT 1992 GENRE COMEDY, CRIME DIRECTOR EMILE ARDOLINO WRITER JOSEPH HOWARD Sister Act is about a Reno lounge singer named Deloris Van Carter who witnesses her mobster boyfriend killing an employer. She is then hidden in a convent under a witness protection program. She soon makes friends with the nuns especially Sister Mary Robert, Sister Mary Lazuras and Sister Mary Patrick. After the Mother Superior catches Deloris going out to a bar in the night time followed by Mary Robert and Mary Patrick she orders her to join the church choir. Only to find her coaching the choir and turning them into swingin’ singin’ sisters. The choir proves to be a big success with the surrounding neighborhood, but will Deloris’ boyfriend track her down?

CAST Whoopi Goldberg as Delores van Cartier

Mary Wickes as Sister Mary Lazarus

Tagline ‘No Sex. No Booze.

No Men. No Way. ’

Maggie Smith as Reverend Mother

Rose Parenti as Sister Alma

Kathy Najimy as Sister Mary Patrick

Harvey Keitel as Vince LaRocca

Run Time 100 min

Wendy Makkena as Sister Mary Robert

Bill Nunn as Lt. Eddie Souther

Most Memorable Song ‘My Guy (My God)’ Trivia The film was later turned into a stage musical.

Whoopi Goldberg appeared in a limited run of the London performance, this time playing Mother Superior.

‘It’s a full moon tonight.

That’s when all the weirdos are out.’

Dani Dennison, Thora Birch

HOCUS POCUS 1993 GENRE COMEDY, FANTASY DIRECTOR KENNY ORTEGA WRITER DAVID KIRSCHNER & MICK GARRIS The people of Salem capture and execute three witches for practicing witchcraft. Before their deaths, they vow to return to Salem 300 years on Halloween to exact their revenge. Three hundred years later, a skeptical, newly transplanted Californian, Max, explores the ruins of the legendary witches house and dares the witches to manifest themselves. Disregarding the warnings of his sister and girlfriend, Max lights the Candle of Black Flame. With that, the witches reappear to wreak havoc on the town. The kids take off with the witches spellbook.

The sorceresses, who will die by the morning light if they don’t recite the incantation for immortality, have to get the books by whatever means they can.

CAST Tagline ‘It’s a bunch of Hocus Pocus.’

Run Time 96 min Most Memorable Song ‘I Put A Spell on You’ Trivia The role of Max Dennison was originally offered to Leonardo DiCaprio, but was given to Omri Katz when DiCaprio turned it down to appear in ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape’.

Bette Midler as Winifred Sanderson

Vinessa Shaw as Allison

Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah Sanderson

Sean Murray as Thackery binx

Kathy Najimy as Mary Sanderson

Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson

Omri Katz as Max Dennison

Charles Rocket as Dave Dennison

Thora Birch as Dani Dennison

Stephanie Faracy as Jenny Dennison

‘Sometimes, I guess there just aren’t enough rocks’

Forrest Gump, Tom Hanks

FORREST GUMP 1994 GENRE DRAMA, ROMANCE DIRECTOR ROBERT ZEMECKIS WRITER ERIC ROTH Forrest Gump is a simple man with a low IQ but good intentions. He is running through childhood with his best and only friend Jenny. His ‘mama’ teaches him the ways of life and leaves him to choose his destiny. Forrest joins the army for service in Vietnam, finding new friends called Dan and Bubba, he wins medals, creates a famous shrimp fishing fleet, inspires people to jog, starts a ping-pong craze, create the smiley, write bumper stickers and songs, donating to people and meeting the president several times. However this is all irrelevant to Forrest who can only think of his childhood sweetheart Jenny. Who has messed up her life. Although in the end all he wants to prove is that anyone can love anyone.

CAST

Tagline ‘The Story of a Lifetime.’

Run Time 142 min Most Memorable Song ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ Trivia Bill Murray, John Travolta and Chevy Chase turned down the role of Forrest Gump. Travolta later admitted that passing on the role was a mistake.

Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump

Mykelti Williamson as Bubba

Robin Wright as Jenny Curran

Haley Joel Osment as Forrest Gump Jr.

Gary Sinise as Lt. Dan Taylor

Peter Dobson as Elvis Presley

Sally Field as Mrs. Gump

Dick Cavett as Himself

‘Mitchell’s the man. I’m the idiot.

You’re the screw up. And we’re all losers.’

Joe Reaves, Anthony LaPaglia

EMPIRE RECORDS 1995 GENRE COMEDY, DRAMA DIRECTOR ALLAN MOYLE WRITER CAROL HEIKKINEN A funky little record shop provides the setting for this youthful comedy that centers on the workers there as they try to help poor Joe, the manager who really wants to buy the place, recoup his losses after his well-meaning, but dim-bulbed employee Lucas steals his savings and loses it all in Atlantic City while trying to increase it two fold at the gaming tables. If they cannot come up with the loot, the mega-chain Music City will buy it.

CAST Tagline ‘Damn the man. Save the empire!’

Run Time 90 min Most Memorable Song ‘Money (That’s What I Want)’ Trivia A sign by the register that says “Have a nice daze” shows the logo for Dazed and Confused.

Rory Cochrane, who plays Lucas, played Slater in Dazed and Confused.

Anthony LaPaglia as Joe Reaves

Robin Tunney as Debra

Maxwell Caulfield as Rex Manning

Ethan Embry as Mark

Debi Mazar as Jane

Coyote Shivers as Berko

Renee Zellweger as Gina

Brendan Sexton as Warren

Rory Cochrane as Lucas

Liv Tyler as Corey

Johnny Whitworth as A.J.

Jame ‘Kimo’ Wills as Eddie

‘Ain’t no way to keep a band together.

Bands come and go.’

Del Paxton, Bill Cobbs

THAT THING YOU DO! 1996 GENRE COMEDY, DRAMA DIRECTOR TOM HANKS WRITER TOM HANKS Recounts a fable of a pop rock band formed a year after the Beatles took America by storm in early 1964. Jazz aficionado Guy Patterson, unhappily toiling in the family appliance store, is recruited into the band the Oneders (later renamed the Wonders) after regular drummer Chad breaks his arm. After Guy injects a four/four rock beat into lead singer Jimmy’s ballad, the song’s undeniable pop power flings the Wonders into a brief whirlwind of success, telling the tale of many American bands who attempted to grab the brass ring of rock and roll in the wake of the British Invasion.

CAST Tagline ‘In every life there comes a time when that dream you dream becomes that thing you do.’

Run Time 108 min Most Memorable Song ‘That Thing You Do!’ Trivia The bass player played

by Ethan Embry is never explicitly named. All references to him in the film are as, “the bass player”, and in the credits he is named as “T.B. Player”.

Tom Everett Scott as Guy Patterson

Liv Tyler as Faye Dolan

Johnathon Schaech as James Mattingley

Charlize Theron as Tina Powers

Tom Hanks as Mr. White

Bill Cobbs as Del Paxton

Steve Zahn as Leonard Haise

Giovanni Ribisi as Chad

Ethan Embry as T.B. Player

Obba Babatunde as Lamarr

‘They’ve got fire in their eyes, hunger in their bellies, and great big shoes on their feet!’

Clifford, Richard E. Grant

SPICEWORLD 1997 GENRE COMEDY DIRECTOR BOB SPIERS WRITER KIM FULLER Bob Spiers directed this feature-film debut of the five Spice Girls Posh Spice, Sporty Spice, Scary Spice, Ginger Spice, and Baby Spice - as the quintet challenges the London pop scene during five days before their first live performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Photojournalists follow as they travel from press conferences to practice sessions to photo ops, passing London landmarks in the comfort of their cavernous Spicebus and emerging in a musical cascade of color, trendy clothes, and blinding flashbulbs. Shot in 43 days, the film features cameos by everyone from Elton John and Elvis Costello, to Stephen Fry and Bob Hoskins.

CAST Victoria Beckham as Herself

Richard E. Grant as Clifford

Tagline ‘They don’t just sing.’

Melanie Brown as Herself

Claire Rushbrook as Deborah

Run Time 93 min

Emma Bunton as Herself

Roger Moore as The Chief

Melanie Chisholm as Herself

Meat Loaf as Dennis

Geri Halliwell as Herself

Alan Cumming as Piers Cuthbertson-Smyth

Most Memorable Song ‘Spice Up Your Life’ Trivia Gary Glitter filmed an four-minute cameo appearance as himself but shortly before the film was to be released he was arrested on child porn offenses . The Spice Girls and the production team agreed that his cameo should be deleted from the final print.

‘I am a golden god!’

Russell Hammond, Billy Crudup

ALMOST FAMOUS 2000 GENRE BIOGRAPHY, DRAMA DIRECTOR CAMERON CROWE WRITER CAMERON CROWE Elaine Miller is a bright, loving, but strict single parent whose distrust of rock music and fears about drug use have helped to drive a wedge between herself and her two children, Anita and William. Anita rebels by dropping out of school and becoming a stewardess, but William makes something of his love of rock & roll by writing album reviews for a local underground newspaper. The band ‘Stillwater’ are more than happy to chat with a reporter and William joins them on tour, where he becomes friendly with guitarist Russell Hammond and singer Jeff Bebe.

William also becomes enamored of Penny Lane, a groupie traveling with the band who is no older than William, but is involved with Russell.

CAST Tagline ‘Experience it. Enjoy it. Just don’t fall for it.’

Run Time 122 min Most Memorable Song ‘Tiny Dancer’ Trivia Penny Lane asks William if he’d like to go to Morocco with her. He says, “Yes... ask me again.” According to director Cameron Crowe, ‘ask me again’ was Patrick Fugit stepping out of character and asking Kate Hudson to repeat her lines for another take. But Crowe liked the take as-is and kept it in the final cut.

Patrick Fugit as William Miller

Zooey Deschanel as Anita Miller

Billy Crudup as Russell Hammond

Anna Paquin as Polexia Aphrodisia

Frances McDormand as Elaine Miller

Fairuza balk as Sapphire

Kate Hudson as Penny Layne

Philip Seymour Hoffman as Lester Bangs

Jason Lee as Jeff Bebe

Jimmy Fallon as Dennis Hope

‘The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.’

Toulouse Lautrec, John Leguizamo

MOULIN ROUGE! 2001 GENRE DRAMA, ROMANCE DIRECTOR BAZ LUHRMANN WRITER BAZ LUHRMANN & CRAIG PEARCE The year is 1899, and Christian, a young English writer, has come to Paris to follow the Bohemian revolution taking hold of the city’s drug and prostitute infested underworld. And nowhere is the thrill of the underworld more alive than at the Moulin Rouge, a night club where the rich and poor men alike come to be entertained by the dancers, but things take a wicked turn for Christian as he starts a deadly love affair with the star courtesan of the club, Satine. But her affections are also coveted by the club’s patron: the Duke. A dangerous love triangle ensues as Satine and Christian attempt to fight all odds to stay together but a force that not even love can conquer is taking its toll on Satine.

CAST Tagline ‘Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and above all things, Love.’

Run Time 127 min Most Memorable Song ‘Come What May’ Trivia Rowan Atkinson and Alan Cumming were considered for the part of Toulouse-Lautrec. John Leguizamo was originally considered for the role of The Argentinean.

Ewan McGregor as Christian

John Leguizamo as Henri de Toulouse Lautrec

Nicole Kidman as Satine

Jacek Koman as The Argentinian

Jim Broadbent as Harold Ziller

Garry McDonald as The Doctor

Richard Roxburgh as The Duke of Monroth

Kylie Minogue as The Green Fairy

‘This trial, the whole world. it’s all show business.’

Billy Flynn, Richard Gere

CHICAGO 2002 GENRE CRIME, COMEDY DIRECTOR ROB MARSHALL WRITER BILL CONDON In the mid-’20s, Roxie Hart is a small-time chorus dancer married to a well-meaning dunderhead. Roxie is having an affair on the side with Fred Casley, who insists he can make her a star. However, Fred strings Roxie along a bit too far, and when she realizes that his promises are empty, she murders Fred in cold blood. Roxie soon finds herself behind bars alongside Velma Kelly, a vaudeville star who used to perform with her sister until she shot them both dead. Roxie is just shrewd enough to realize that her poor fortune could also bring her fame, and Roxy and Velma are soon battling neck-to-neck over who can win greater fame through the headlines.

CAST Tagline ‘If You Can’t Be Famous, Be Infamous.’

Run Time 113 min Most Memorable Song ‘Cell Block Tango’ Trivia Miramax became involved in a new attempt to film the musical in 1994, and Larry Gelbart was brought in to work on a script, eventually turning out seven drafts while directors Milos Forman, Herbert Ross and Baz Luhrmann turned down the project.

Renee Zellweger as Roxie Hart

John C. Reilly as Amos Hart

Catherine Zeta Jones as Velma Kelly

Christina Baranski as Mary Sunshine

Richard Gere as Billy Flynn

Taye Diggs as The Bandleader

Queen Latifah as Matron ‘Mama’ Morton

Lucy Lui as Kitty

‘I have been touched by your kids. and I’m pretty sure that I’ve touched them.’

Dewey Finn, Jack Black

SCHOOL OF ROCK 2003 GENRE COMEDY DIRECTOR RICHARD LINKLATER WRITER MIKE WHITE Down and out rock star Dewey Finn gets fired from his band, and he faces a mountain of debts and depression. He takes a job as a 4th grade substitute teacher at an uptight private school where his attitude and hijinx have a powerful effect on his students. He also meets Zack, a 10-year-old guitar prodigy, who could help Dewey win a “battle of the bands” competition, which would solve his financial problems and put him back in the spotlight.

CAST Jack Black as Dewey Finn

Joey Gaydos Jr. as Zack Mooneyham

Joan Cusack as Roz Mullins

Miranda Cosgrove as Summer Hathaway

Run Time 108 min

Mike White as Ned Scneebly

Kevin Clark as Freddy Jones

Most Memorable Song ‘School of Rock’

Sarah Silverman as Patty Di Marco

Maryam Hassan as Tomika

Tagline ‘We don’t need no education.’

Trivia The idea for the movie came when writer Mike White moved into an apartment next to Jack Black. White would often find Jack Black running naked through the halls or blasting much of the music featured in the movie at full volume.

‘Give in to love or live in fear.’

Mimi Marquez, Rosario Dawson

RENT 2005 GENRE DRAMA, ROMANCE DIRECTOR CHRIS COLUMBUS WRITER STEPHEN CHBOSKY The film, based loosely on Puccini’s La Boheme, follows a year in the lives of seven friends living the disappearing Bohemian lifestyle in New York’s East Village. AIDS and both its physical and emotional complications pervade the lives of Roger, Mimi, Tom, and Angel; Maureen deals with her chronic infidelity through performance art; her partner, Joanne, wonders if their relationship is worth the trouble; Benjamin has sold out his Bohemian ideals in exchange for a hefty income and is on the outs with his former friends; and Mark, an aspiring filmmaker, feels like an outsider to life in general, always behind the camera recording the events but never playing a part.

CAST Tagline ‘No day but today.’

Run Time 135 min Most Memorable Song ‘Seasons of Love’ Trivia Anthony Rapp kept the famous scarf he wore as Mark in the original Broadway show. It could not be used in the film, however, because the white was too bright for the camera. Instead he wears a navy and light gray scarf.

Anthony Rapp as Mark Cohen

Wilson Jermaine Heredia as Angel Schunard

Adam Pascal as Roger Davis

Idina Menzel as Maureen Johnson

Rosario Dawson as Mimi Marquez

Tracie Thoms as Joanne Jefferson

Jesse L. Martin as Tom Collins

Taye Diggs as Benjamin Coffin III

‘Deena’s beautiful and she’s always been beautiful, but I’ve got the voice, Curtis!’

Effie White, Jennifer Hudson

DREAMGIRLS 2006 GENRE DRAMA DIRECTOR BILL CONDON WRITER BILL CONDON Detroit, the early 1960s. Curtis Taylor, Jr., a car salesman, breaks into the music business with big dreams. He signs a trio of young women, the Dreamettes, gets them a job backing an R&B performer, James “Thunder” Early, establishes his own record label and starts wheeling and dealing. When Early flames out, Curtis makes the Dreamettes into headliners as the Dreams, but not before demoting their hefty bigvoiced lead singer, Effie White, and putting the softer-voiced looker, Deena Jones, in front. Soon after, he fires Effie, sends her into a life of proud poverty, and takes Deena and the Dreams to the top. How long can Curtis stay there, and will Effie ever get her due?

CAST Tagline ‘All you have to do is dream.’

Run Time 130 min Most Memorable Song ‘And I’m Telling You’ Trivia Bill Condon scheduled “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” as the last scene to give Jennifer Hudson the most time possible to grow into her character.

Jamie Foxx as Curtis Taylor Jr.

Anika Noni Rose as Lorrell Robinson

Beyonce Knowles as Deena Jones

Keith Robinson as C.C. White

Eddie Murphy as James ‘Thunder’ Early

Sharon Leal as Michelle Morris

Jennifer Hudson as Effie White

Hinton Battle as Wayne

Danny Glover as Marty Madison

Loretta Divine as The Jazz Singer

‘I am now a checkerboard chick!’

Penny Pingleton, Amanda Bynes

HAIRSPRAY 2007 GENRE COMEDY, ROMANCE DIRECTOR ADAM SHANKMAN WRITER LESLIE DIXON Tracy Turnblad, an overweight teenager with all the right moves, is obsessed with the Corny Collins Show. Every day after school, she and her best friend Penny run home to watch the show and drool over the hot Link Larkin, much to Tracy’s mother Edna’s dismay. After one of the stars of the show leaves, Corny Collins holds auditions to see who will be the next person on the Corny Collins show. With all of the help of her friend Seaweed, Tracy makes it on the show, angering the evil Amber Von Tussle and her mother Velma. Tracy then decides that it’s not fair that the black kids can only dance on the Corny Collins Show once a month, and with the help of her friends she’s going to integrate the show, without denting her ‘do!

CAST Tagline ‘When you follow your own beat, the world will follow you.’

Run Time 117 min Most Memorable Song ‘You Can’t Stop the Beat’ Trivia Arvin Hodgepile and Franklin von Tussle, two characters from the 1988 film, do not appear in this version. The actors who played them died: Divine in 1988 and Sonny Bono in 1998.

Nikki Blonsky as Tracy Turnblad

James Marsden as Corny Collins

John Travolta as Edna Turnblad

Queen Latifah as Motormouth Maybelle

Michelle Pfeiffer as Velma Von Tussle

Brittany Snow as Amber Von Tussle

Christopher Walken as Wilbur Turnblad

Zac Efron as Link Larkin

Amanda Bynes as Penny Pingleton

Elijah Kelley as Seaweed J. Stubbs