Sunday, October 02, 2005

When music meets movies -- our favorite musical moments in film

Kat and Jess love music. Betty loves movies. Surely there's something there? Movie musicals. What's your favorite moment in a movie musical, we wondered? Participating in this discussion are The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Jess, Ty, Ava and Jim, Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Betty who was on the verge of starting Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man, C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review, Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills), Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Mike of Mikey Likes It!, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz,

Dona: I'll kick things off. The opening of On A Clear Day You Can See Forever. While Barbra Streisand holds her watering can and sings to the plants, there's something very magical about that moment. "Rise up, geraniums . . ." and the plants start blooming and shooting up.

Kat: "Hurry! It's Lovely Up Here" is the name of the song.

Dona: Great song. And it's such a magical moment. Then Yves Montand comes along to drag the film down. But I love the opening and bits elsewhere. I'm not big on musicals. But that's a scene that I can watch late at night and just fall asleep smiling.

Rebecca: Evita. It's the one that stands out for me. Both for promise and disappointment. My favorite moment is when they're being sexists about Evita and all singing some song. I could care less about the song but then we see the little sexists, the young men. They're singing and soaping up in the shower. If the camera would move in closer, if the scenes had lasted longer or if the young men, all adults, hadn't been wearing boxers while taking a shower, it would be my favorite movie musical scene. As flawed as it is, it's still the one that comes to mind when I think of movie musicals. I'm awaiting the musical version of Tango & Cash where Ike Barinholtz and
Antonio Sabato Junior re-enact the shower scene.

Ty: There making a musical of that film?

Rebecca: Only in my dreams.

Ty: Okay, Debbie Gibson. My choice would be any scene with Catherine Zeta Jones in Chicago. I think she made the movie. Queen Latifah was great but hardly on. Richard Gere looked way too old and no one had the guts to say that. Renee Zellwigger seemed like Ginger Rodgers and that's not intended as a compliment.

Jim: What is the deal with Renee? I always think of that scene in Me, Myself and Irene where Jim Carey's going on about her squinty, little eyes and all her other faults and wonder what's so appealing about her? She does nothing for me.

Dona: Good to know, and favorite scene in a musical?

Jim: What's her name. In Gene Kelly's An American in Paris.

C.I.: Leslie Caron?

Jim: Yeah, she's in that movie Promise Her Anything with Warren Beatty. I can watch her in anything.

Kat: I'll go with anything starring Gene Kelly. I find him very hot onscreen. He's got a great butt. The sailor uniforms he, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin wear at the beginning of On The Town really show that off. There's also a scene in Summer Stock that nicely showcases his butt as well, he's in the kitchen singing. I'm going with On The Town before Dona asks. I've always loved Gene Kelly, his singing, his dancing, his acting and his rear end. Sinatra's great in On The Town and Betty Garrett is hilarious.

Betty: As a Betty, I'll go next. For me, that's hard. I like musical scenes in a lot of films but there aren't a lot with stories that I care for. Just for a scene? I guess I'd go with Diana Ross in The Wiz singing "Is This What Feeling Gets?" because that's such an overlooked song and I think it's one of her best performances. She always grabs me with that song. I'm sure no one here knows it.

C.I.: "Is this what feeling gets? A hope for happy endings. Alone and scared something I don't want to be. What did he see when he looked inside of me? If this is just a dream . . ."

Betty: I am impressed.

C.I.: Written by Nicholas Ashford, Valerie Simpson and Quincy Jones. Written for the film The Wiz, so no one write in saying, "That's not in the play!"

Betty: Quickly, I should have noted this in the entertainment report earlier, they're doing a musical production of The Color Purple. Sorry.

Dona: Nothing to be sorry about. Let's go with Cedric next so he can go ahead and get some sleep since he has church in a few hours.

Cedric: Thank you. I would've picked The Wiz too but let me think of something different. I know I'm supposed to love Sparkle because everyone raves over it, but I don't think it's all that and prefer Aretha Franklin's version of the songs to anything the actors sing in the movie. Oh, Singing in the Rain with Kat's dream boy. The scene where they sing "Good Morning, Good Morning" or the scene, the famous one, where Gene Kelly sings the title song and dancing through the streets. There's a lot of excitement in that scene partly due to the story and partly due to the excitement in Kelly's movements.

Kat: Good pick.

Dona: We spoke to Ruth earlier today and asked her what her pick would be. She selected Funny Face with Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire. She said she loves all the songs including "Think Pink" but her favorite moments are in the bookstore with Hepburn and when Astaire finds Hepburn in the cafe in France. Ruth found Hepburn's dance in the cafe both graceful and humorous and noted how difficult that can be to pull off.

Jess: Guys and Dolls. Sinatra's perfect as Nathan Detroit and you get "Luck Be A Lady." Vivian Blaine is funny and you've got Marlon Brando as Sky Msterson. There's always something happening onscreen and you really need to watch it in the letterbox format. Everyone's on the take and running some scam, very New York City. And take the opening scene. There's not one of the stars in the film but you can't stop watching because they've got so much going on, con games, pick pockets, you name it. By the time the guy starts singing "I got the horse right here" I'm hooked.

Mike: I don't know that movie. I almost went with The Wizard of Oz because I was having a hard time thinking of a musical I really loved but then I remembered Moulin Rouge. I love the scene where Nicole Kidman is singing that song made up of bits of all the other songs. I like the way it moves so quick and you're not waiting for something to happen. I get bored when someone breaks out into song for no reason and they're just standing there looking at the moon or whatever. And Nicole Kidman is really hot in that movie.

Elaine: My pick would be Yentl which I think is an amazing movie. Barbra Streisand worked hard, and worked years, to bring that to the screen. The film uses the music to reveal Yentl's thoughts. Favorite moments are numerous including "Tomorrow Night" which moves at such an amazing pace both in terms of the song's rhythm and the action on screen. "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" causes me to tear up because I lost both my parents at an early age. Yentl has a thirst for knowledge and along the way ends up falling in love with Mandy Patinkin.

Rebecca: We see his butt! I wish I'd remembered that.

Elaine: (Laughing) Yes, we see his butt. Amy Irving is very moving. The film's got a beautiful look and is one of my favorites. I think Barbra Streisand did an amazing job directing it. There's the song where she's with Amy Irving that's so perfect for that scene and, sadly, so true in many situations. I can't think of the title.

C.I.: "Who wouldn't want someone who fusses and flatters" is "Tomorrow Night."

Elaine: Right. But the one about the baked apple.

C.I.: "No Wonder."

Elaine: Yes. I love the way that works with the music, the singing and the dialogue. And the film closes with "No Matter What Happens." I just love everything in that movie. The musical elements and the non-musical ones. Streisand really is amazing as an actress but she is also a very talented director.

C.I.: Lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman, music by Michael Legrand.

Ava: I went with Allison Anders' Grace of My Heart which stars Illena Douglas as a singer-songwriter in the sixties. There are a lot of wonderful songs in the film including "God Give Me Strength" by Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello. But I also love "Man From Mars."

C.I.: Written by Joni Mitchell.

Ava: I did not know that. Douglas is playing a Carol King type singer-songwriter who can't get much work as a singer but finds success as a songwriter and then teams up with Eric Stoltz, whom her character marries, in a version of Carol King's partnership with first husband and lyricist Gerry Goffin. Patsy Kensit is really strong in the film. I love the music. My favorite moment is probably Douglas at the microphone with "God Give Me Strength." Second favorite moment, Bridget Fonda's scenes with "My Secret Love."

Dona: Now that we've picked over everything, have we left you with anything, C.I.?

C.I.: I'm surprised no one said Judy Garland doing "Get Happy" in Summer Stock since it's a really famous scene. But I'll go with Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell singing "When Love Goes Wrong" from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The obvious choice is probably "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend," performed by Monroe, from that film, Jane Russell also sings it later in the film. But I think "When Love Goes Wrong" advances the plot and really has some interesting camera work and interesting choreography. Written by Harold Adamson and Hoagy Carmichael.

Dona: And "When Love Goes Wrong" was turned into "When Judy Goes Scoop" "nothing goes right" at The Common Ills. So those were our picks for music meets film's finest moments. Readers have been e-mailing and requesting more musical features so we are trying to address that and we will continue to attempt to do so.

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