How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying is one of the funniest movies ever made.  Made for the big screen in 1967, this musical has it all--the music, the humor and the whole array of characters.  Robert Morse plays a man named Finch who buys a book entitled --what else?--"How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying".  He goes to work for a large company--the Worldwide Wicket Company--and quickly advances up the ranks in the company by applying the advice he reads in his book.  Do not live your life without ever having seen this musical.  As some of the critics said of it--IT IS NEAR PERFECT!!!  Well it's... Been a Long Day and I Believe In You (we gotta stop that man...cold!) are two of my favorite songs from this flick.  Starring a charming Michele Lee and Rudy Vallee; along with a brilliant supporting cast.

Paint Your Wagon features the famous songs--They Call the Wind Maria and Wand'rin' Star (one of the top songs of all time).  If you always wondered what it would look like seeing and hearing Clint Eastwood sing in a musical, then here's your chance:  I Still See Elisa and I Talk To The Trees (Eastwood solos).  Paint Your Wagon toggles back and forth between hilarious and very serious.  But the situations created in the movie are funny, even when the actors are in serious attire.  I appreciate this movie more each time I watch it.  If you liked Lee Marvin in the western "Cat Ballou", then you will like his role acting in this musical.

Paint Your Wagon is about a town established around land with gold to be mined.  The town continues to grow larger with people.  A problem becomes evident when a Mormon man rides into their camp/town with his TWO WIVES and one baby.  The men are just a little perturbed that this man has two wives and all the people in their town are men! (not another woman in town).  He agrees to sell one of them (Jean Seberg) to the highest bidder and Lee Marvin happens to be the wealthiest miner in the community.  To top it off, Eastwood is Marvin's "pardner" (that's how Marvin pronounces it).  And pardners share everything!  You can't get all the humor out of the movie by only a half dozen viewings.  It takes several.

Billboard, the music industry leader in keeping the charts on the sales and rankings of top musical pieces rated the top 100 pop albums from 1955 to 1996, based on the number of weeks the album held the #1 position.  Listed below are the ones that were musical soundtracks or original cast recordings and where they ranked on the Billboard list:

In my opinion, some of these musicals, like Man Of La Mancha were not good stories on the big screen.  In the case of Man Of La Mancha, the story is quite corny or in the case of Hello Dolly, Barbara Streisand is pretty good as Dolly (Carol Channing's live stage performance was more enjoyable for me compared to Streisand's movie adaptation--but Channing had perfected the role).  However, after watching the movie version again recently, I did find Streisand's performance exceptionally funny, the music is superb and seeing Louis Armstrong sing "Hello Dolly" is worth viewing this delightful musical.  There are some fine scores in Hello Dolly, such as Put On Your Sunday Clothes and Hello Dolly, just to mention two. Man Of La Mancha had some beautiful music such as The Impossible Dream, Dulcinea, I'm Only Thinking Of Him, and I Really Like Him.  Peter O'Toole was totally miscast as Don Quixote--the man of La Mancha.  Stick to the audio soundtracks with Richard Kiley as Quixote and Carol Channing as Dolly, but be sure to watch Streisand's Hello Dolly at least once.

A Hard Day's Night with the Beatles is actually a very entertaining piece of film.  It gives a real good inside view of the chaps themselves, before they became really famous.

Great Balls of Fire showed how Sun Records was looking for someone to replace Elvis, whom they had lost to a larger label.  Jerry Lee Lewis (played by Dennis Quaid) was to be the next Elvis, but Lewis complicates his life and misses the opportunity to fill the king's shoes.  Good music scores with Great Balls Of Fire and Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On.

Sweet Dreams takes a look at Patsy Cline's short career with Sweet Dreams, Crazy and I Fall To Pieces as some of the bigger numbers.  Jessica Lange plays Patsy.

The Buddy Holly Story is full of great Buddy Holly tunes including That'll Be the Day, It's So Easy, and Peggy Sue.  Gary Busey was one of the nominations for an Oscar for his portrayal of Buddy Holly.

Gigi (1958) stars Leslie Caron, maurice Chevalier, and Louis Jourdan.  The music from this musical is absolutely soothing, sentimental and wholesome.  A great sexual battle is going on in the minds and hearts of the lead characters.  The plot and it’s outcome is what you hope for throughout the whole film and would not expect it if it were made today in Hollywood.  Gigi was the winner of 9 Oscars and one viewing of this classic musical will show you why.

The other musical is My Fair Lady (1964).  Audrey Hepburn (one of my favorite actresses) stars with Rex Harrison in a delightful tale of a Cockney flower lady out of the streets, who speaks gutter English, who is turned into a lady by a linguistics teacher Rex Harrison, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of ‘Enry ‘Iggins (Henry Higgins).  You will recognize many of the songs and marvel that they are all together in one grand musical.

The next musical that I watched on the big screen was Camelot, with Richard Harris (as King Arthur), Venessa Redgrave (as Queen Guenevere), and Franco Nero (as the Frenchman Sir Lancelot).  Camelot had quickly become my favorite movie of all time.  I love every song in this film and I enjoy watching each one performed in the screen setting.  Beginning with I Wonder What the King Is Doing Tonight (King Arthur), The Simple Joys Of Maidenhood (Guenevere), Camelot (King Arthur and mixed chorus), C'est Moi (Lancelot), The Lusty Month Of May (Guenevere and chorus), How To Handle A Woman (King Arthur), Take Me To the Fair (Guenevere and the 3 Knights), If Ever I Would Leave You (Lancelot), What Do the Simple Folk Do? (Arthur and Guenevere), I Loved You Once In Silence (Guenevere & Lancelot), Guenevere (mixed chorus), and the Finale Ultimo.  The story should be familiar to most everyone--King marries queen, queen falls for King's best friend, and through all of this, King must try to remain Kingly in the dilemma of having his two best friends betraying him behind his back.

Singin' In the Rain would be in my top five if I had to list my favorites in order.  Made in 1952, it is the oldest musical in my favorite dozen.  Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds delight the viewing audience throughout this whole musical with a number of cute songs that tie together the story of film going from the silent movies to the "talkies".  The beautiful Cyd Charisse has a dance number in a dream sequence from this musical that is delightful to say the least.  Along with Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly was the king of dance in the movies.  The Kelly dance routine with the umbrella in the rain puddles is priceless.  This movie will give you a lift every time you watch it.  Some of the songs from this musical are:  All I Have to Do Is Dream of You, Make 'Em Laugh (great acrobatics and singing by Donald O'Connor), Good Morning, SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, and Would You?.

Speaking of Fred Astaire, one of my other favorite musicals is Finian's Rainbow.  This musical displayed a young and vibrant Petula Clark (the voice of "Downtown" and "Don't Sleep In the Subway") along with Tommy Steele playing a leprechaun.  Keenan Wynn plays a bigoted Senator in the south who is transformed into a black man and begins to see the other side of race issues.  There are several reasons this musical is one of my favorites.  Irishman Astaire and his daughter Clark come to America looking for the pot of gold.  They start looking near Fort Knox.  A lot of beautiful outdoor scenery and music in this one.  This musical is full of great songs, such as:  How Are Things In Glocca Morra, Look To the Rainbow, Old Devil Moon, Something Sort Of Grandish, If This Isn't Love, That Great Come-And-Get-It-Day, When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich, The Begat, and When I'm Not Near the Girl I Love.

Grease is the word.  Growing up with Frankie Vali and the 4 Seasons as my favorite musical group (when I first heard "Rag Doll" and "Silence Is Golden"), I was very pleased to see a musical featuring vocals by Frankie Vali singing the main song Grease.  I know there are still people who have not yet seen the musical Grease, but it is their loss.  This is a great nostalgia piece that takes one back to high school and displays all the various characters, teachers and hoods that were there for all of us.  This film made stars out of John Travolta as Danny and Olivia Newton John as Sandy. Summer Nights, Hopelessly Devoted To You, You're the One That I Want, Sandy, Greased Lightnin', Look At Me I'm Sandra Dee (by Stockard Channing - a great actress), Beauty School Drop-Out (by Frankie Avalon) and several numbers by Sha-Na-Na make this an audio listening experience.  WELCOME TO RYDELL HIGH.  Very funny flick as well.

Burt Reynolds, Dolly Parton, Dom Deluise, Charles Durning  and Jim Nabors supply the chemistry to make Best Little Whorehouse In Texas a catchy musical.  The songs in context are downright funny, when you think of all these folks doing something that they know is wrong, or know that others know is wrong.  They are all just sneakin' around until watchdog (Dom Deluise) exposes the whole community for putting up with the CHICKEN RANGE, as the house is so colorfully tagged.  This one does have some brief frontal nudity and sexual situations are implied throughout.

Two years later, Footloose profiles another town that has banned dancing.  An outsider Kevin Bacon moves to town temporarily from Chicago and starts spreading the dance fever.  The PK (preacher's kid) Lori Singer is infected with the fever and her father, a very well played roll by John Lithgow (star of "Third Rock From the Sun") is totally opposed!  The songs from Footloose get you up out of your chair and dancing along with the cast.

In 1999, Andrew Lloyd Webber helped to put the first musical he created onto film many years later after writing it.  Tim Rice was Webber's partner in musical creations (Webber was responsible for Jesus Christ Superstar and "Phantom Of the Opera").  Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a musical that was written in the late sixties as a 15 minute end of term school concert.  The film features Donny Osmond as the Biblical character Joseph who was sold to Egypt by his other 11 brothers.  Every style of music is displayed in this delightful musical.  The songs include Any Dream Will Do and Close Every Door, made famous by the live circuit performer Jason Donovan, an Australian native.  The narrator is played by Maria Friedman and she nearly steals the show.  Go, Go, Go Joseph is another of several great songs from this musical that make the entire play a wonderful viewing for the whole family.  It is a very moving story and the musical is a 5 star presentation.  Rent it immediately.  You won't be disappointed!

Seven Brides For Seven Brothers: I don't recognize any of the numbers from the songs listing, but this musical is delightful.  I need to watch it again before I list some of the songs.

Top Hat:  I don't recognize any of the numbers from the score, but this musical is also delightful in old glorious black and white.  I need to watch it again before I list some of the songs.

This Is Spinal Tap:  A rock-u-mentary I talk more about on my Comedy Film Reviews page. Hell Hole, Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight, Heavy Duty, Rock and Roll Creation, America, Cups and Cakes, Big Bottom, Sex Farm, Stonehenge, Gimme Some Money, (Listen To the) Flower People.

Best Little Whorehouse In Texas: This musical should probably be listed here only, but I found it so funny and entertaining, I had to list it in Wolf's Dozen, earlier on this page.  The songs: Watchdog Report, Texas Has A Whorehouse In It, and The Sidestep are real gems. If this musical is kept in context, viewed with a mature attitude and understood to be showing people engaging in an activity that is flat wrong; then watching them rationalize their sin away is down right hilarious!  Watchdog (Dom Deluise) is a bulldog media personality who gets paid for exposing the sins of others; and his character is captured for all time in this musical.