The MoFo Top 100 Musicals Countdown

Easter Parade is my #6 and I'm so glad to see it here! "Steppin' Out With My Baby" is my favorite number in the film, with fast Fred going into slow motion while the dancers behind him remain in normal motion, and we get to see all of Fred's moves and cane twirls, etc. Just a phenomenon! "A Couple of Swells" is great fun with Judy and Fred playing bums among the hoi polloi and being hilarious even while they sing. The title song is classic and originally came from another film on my list, which probably won't make it. Love this movie.

Funny Girl is great fun but, strangely enough, I like the sequel, Funny Lady, with James Caan as Streisand's leading man, even better. Still, I can see why it's held in such high regard. Neither of the "Funny" girl/lady films made my list.





So far:
#1. On the Town #93 (list proper)
#6. Easter Parade #78 (list proper)
#10. Gigi #85 (list proper)
#12. Calamity Jane #84 (list proper)
#25. Neptune's Daughter (one-pointer).

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"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."

I think I know what movie you mean and it's on my list too. Fingers crossed that it makes it but it's iffy.

I think you are thinking of Funny Lady.

Yes! He's always dynamite.

For whatever reason, messaging won't let me reply to you. So, I'll just say, cool! And I have that certain film on DVD in b&w.

Nice to see some love for Funny Lady. I think the movie gets a bad rap and is not nearly as bad as its reputation.

We used to jam out to his greatest hits at a restaurant I worked at years ago and I kind of warmed up to a small portion of his music and still enjoy it. So the fact that I watched this for the first time today was shocking to me. It's shaky in places through out but the music and just seeing Prince as a main attraction in a 80s movie none the less was enough to keep me engaged. They also managed to slip in a story about a father and a son that caught me off guard and paid it off with a great performance of the title track. Good to see Morris Day and Apollonia was very easy on the eyes.

78. Easter Parade (1948) - The older musicals are dominating here! I have only one film on my list that's pre-1961 (one that's going to show up perhaps in the top 10) but I've seen a few older musicals. I've seen Easter Parade, and I loved it. Wrote this on Letterboxd : "The technicolor filming process makes Easter Parade look extremely beautiful - every frame seems to please the eye like nothing else in cinematic history - and the music and songs are catchy and fine. Of course, like in Funny Face 9 years later Fred Astaire's love interest in Judy Garland is over two decades his junior and he's twice her age. Gene Kelly was originally cast, but he broke his ankle and had to be substituted. Judy Garland looks good in this, and she doesn't seem as ravaged by booze, drugs and hard work as she does in later years. By 1948 however, she'd already had a slew of abortions, a nervous breakdown, a suicide attempt, a failed marriage (she was already into a second, troubled marriage to Vincente Minnelli), and had been a star for a decade. It was around this time the drug taking started, and over the next couple of decades (leading to her untimely death) she'd age at double the rate. You wouldn't know it by watching her in this - and the film's two stars sing and dance in style. I love those long shots, where in my head (and as Astaire dances a complicated routine) I watch and think, "It's still going....it's still going..." until eventually there's a cut." I'll have to put it on again one day soon. Not on my list though - a rewatch might have brought it close.

77. Funny Girl (1968) - Aww - for a moment I thought that was Funny Face, which I've seen. I haven't seen Funny Girl, so I don't have anything to say about it. I'm not a big Barbara Streisand fan.

Seen : 15/24

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While we wait, here is one of my favorite numbers from The Band Wagon...



Someone posted one of the numbers from the last act, the noir-inspired one, which is a great one... but this is the one that won me over. This one and the iconic "That's Entertainment" one.

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You're welcome. It was my number 21.

I just love how they slowed down Fred Astaire in "Steppin' Out With My Baby" and also you're right about the "A Couple of Swells" being wonderful.

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"A candy colored clown!"
Member since Fall 2002
Top 100 Films, clicky below

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any more movies today?

Seen neither. Wish to see neither. I also never understood the love for Babs.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.