The MoFo Top 100 Musicals Countdown

*cough Into the Woods cough*

It wasn't about The Sound of Music, so nothing like that. And a "political statement" in the context of our rules is a value-neutral term that means anything that tends to cause arguments or invariably escalates.

I think I realized at some point in my life, I have not seen The Sound of Music.


Um, I like the rendition of Some of my Favorite Things in Dancer in the Dark as well, and well, Dancer in the Dark was on my ballot.


My current impression of the movie is one that doesn't interest me. Maybe something will come along that'll change my interest in it at some point in my life, but that's where it currently resides.

Haven't seen The Sound of Music. Big blind spot for me.


Here's where I stand...

SEEN: 36/98
MY BALLOT: 17/25

We were debating whether or not the Nazis truly did dress real snazzy and were true fashionistas! Also whether or not the hills being alive only was true in the springtime and if that included Germany too.

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I should and probably do consider it a blind spot too as I've only seen it once and that was back in 2008. Maybe it was the uncertainty or tone that did it for me, or my inability to see it as a something of a light hearted kids film vs a drama about Nazi occupation. It's due for a rewatch that's for sure that way I could give it a fair evaluation.

I love Bye Bye Birdie. It was #10 on my list.

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Going back and reading several of these posts... honestly, yeah, from what I remember of something feeling off about the film, that might have been it. It's just been so long ago.

Seen West Side Story, I think? Don't remember it.
Started The Sound of Music. Never finished it.

I know they're the defacto musical classics, but they just haven't appealed to me.

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I love the songs in The Sound of Music, but the movie is just okay for me. It's one of the few musicals that I would prefer to listen to the soundtrack over actually watching the movie.

Sweet Charity, Popeye, and Bye Bye Birdie were three films that at the beginning I was sure would make the Top 100. I still think they got stiffed. But because I thought they'd make it, I selfishly voted for my own films that didn't make it. Because the Top 2 will be released next, I might as well show the part of my list that, again, didn't place. The following are those:

#11. The Court Jester (DNP). I love this film as a comedy as much, maybe more than a musical. But I voted for anyway. I can watch this one anytime and be happy, filmwise.
#13. Kiss Me Kate (DNP) Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel are fine as the leads in this musical retelling (sort of) of "The Taming of the Shrew." But I like the supporting cast including Ann Miller and especially Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore as two gangster types hanging around who break into my favorite song in the movie, "Brush Up Your Shakespeare." Bob Fosse, Bobby Van, and Tommy Rall do a fun dance including Ann Miller. Lots of good stuff.
#19. Words and Music (DNP) Film about the real-life songwriting partners Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, played by Tom Drake and Mickey Rooney, respectively. Their songs are played out in musical segments by an all-star cast. My favorite bit is the song, "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue," played out by Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen (who is as slinky and sexy as I've ever seen her in a movie!). Lots of familiar songs done up well by the great cast.
#20. The Pirate (DNP) First of two Gene Kelly/Judy Garland pair-ups that I listed. A fun adventure-musical with Kelly at his acrobatic best as he poses as the title pirate to win over Judy. Wonderful music and eye-popping color.
#21. Swing Time (DNP) I couldn't pick which favorite among the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers pairings so I flipped a coin. But this one really has lots of great music and some outstanding set design. It's also got the dance where Fred is swinging Ginger over some low-level office railing.
#22 In the Good Old Summertime (DNP) This is a musical remake of The Shop Around the Corner with Judy Garland and Van Johnson working in the same music shop and romancing each other unknowingly (just like the original movie and the other remake You've Got Mail). The ending has a baby Liza Minnelli being held by Judy.
#23. Silk Stockings (DNP) Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse are awesome in this remake of Ninotchka, especially Charisse as the Russian woman who is an ice maiden who is slowly wooed by Astaire's charms. Great Cole Porter songs including "I've Got You Under My Skin."
#24. Summer Stock (DNP) My second Judy Garland/Gene Kelly musical (I liked them together, what can I say) where Judy owns a farm that gets overrun by a musical trouple practicing their next show on the farm, having been invited by Judy's sister. Lots of fun, and it features one of Judy's most famous and iconic song and dances, "Get Happy," where she has the hat tipped below one of her eyes and she's wearing a coat and stockings and not much else. Great stuff.

The Sound of Music made my list at #16. Love it and know practically every song by heart. Another musical soundtrack that my 6th grade music teacher played over and over for the whole class. I thought I'd be sick of it and never want to see it but when the chance arrived, I started and I was hooked by the music I knew. I could now see the songs set to film scenes and it was great! Julie Andrews was a powerhouse in this and it's a great movie.

#1. On the Town #93 (list proper)
#2. Holiday Inn #109 (NEAR MISS)
#5. The Blues Brothers #19 (list proper)
#6. Easter Parade #78 (list proper)
#7. Grease #9 (list proper)
#8. Meet Me in St. Louis #33 (list proper)
#9 Yankee Doodle Dandy #32 (list proper)
#10. Gigi #85 (list proper)
#11. The Court Jester (DNP)
#12. Calamity Jane #84 (list proper)
#13. Kiss Me Kate (DNP)
#14. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers #71 (list proper)
#15. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory #5 (list proper)
#16. The Sound of Music #3 (list proper)
#17. Mary Poppins #8 (list proper)
#18. The Muppet Movie #45 (list proper)
#19. Words and Music (DNP)
#20. The Pirate (DNP)
#21. Swing Time (DNP)
#22. In the Good Old Summertime (DNP)
#23. Silk Stockings (DNP)
#24. Summer Stock (DNP)
#25. Neptune's Daughter (one-pointer)

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"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."

Been on my "must watch" list for quite a while now - I've heard a few of the songs and seen some clips. It might have had some help from me if I'd finally seen it.

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3. The Sound of Music (1965) - This is the movie that was on my ballot for the longest time before falling off at the very last second. I needed spots for musicals I didn't want to leave out, and The Sound of Music was always going to be up there so I left it to everyone else. I was with my Dad a few weeks ago and The Sound of Music started to play on television - it's surprisingly quiet and eerie as the camera swoops over desolate crags and we were wondering what it was. It looked so eerie! Sounded like a horror movie. He said "I think this is The Sound of Music" and I started saying "Oh, I guarantee you, this isn't The Sound of Music." I kept on going on about how it couldn't be. And then Julie Andrews ran through some grass and started singing "The hills are alive..." and I was left red-faced - my normal ability to guess movies every time having been exposed as completely fallible! Anyway - the songs in this one are perhaps some of the best ever used in service to a story and cinema. Amazing movie. It nearly had to be on my list, but it was easy to leave off because I knew everyone else would vote for it.

Seen : 68/98

My #18 was Help! - Yep, I voted for three Beatles films. After Yellow Submarine made it, I thought Help! had a real chance. Then A Hard Day's Night showed, and I knew that was generally considered to be the superior one of their live-action movies. Still...I hoped and clung to that hope until late in the game...



You can't fault the music, and while the plot is cartoon stuff John, Paul, George and Ringo still have charm enough to carry this silly movie easily. I love it.

Annette was #10 of 18 on my ballot. It didn't quite fully land for me, but was interesting.


Popstar - didn't cross my mind as a musical. Still not sure it does. Granted, a couple of months later, I am now going, "yeah, I should have included Inside Llewyn Davis on my ballot."

I technically voted for a Muppet movie, but mine stars characters that live on a certain street featured on PBS.

I wasn’t particularly fond of either version of Hairspray, but I maintain that the original is not a musical.

I considered voting for The American Astronaut, but there were too many qualifying movies that I liked more. If I had voted for it, it would have been towards the end and I don’t think it would have made a difference. I’m still a bit surprised that Stingray Sam made the top 50. I never imagined that would happen.

I haven’t seen the other movies you mentioned.

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Here's the highest ranked film on my ballot which won't make the final list:

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1. All That Jazz
2. Dancer in the Dark
3. Le Million
4. The Burden
5. Cabaret
6. Inside Llewyn Davis
7. The Young Girls of Rochefort
8. Top Hat
12. Duck Soup
15. My Fair Lady
16. Meet Me in St. Louis
17. The Music Man
18. Mary Poppins
20. The Nightmare Before Christmas
22. The Rocky Horror Picture Show

My number 3 - The Broken Circle Breakdown - was also my highest placed movie that didn't make the cut. I kind of knew it wouldn't, but I'm still sad it didn't place. On my last rewatch, I actually rated it higher than my number 2 movie (Charlotte's Web), but placed it lower because it's not an easy watch and I wanted to give my childhood favorite the extra point.

Still, The Broken Circle Breakdown is a beautiful and devastating movie. If and when I eventually redo my personal top 100, it will certainly place high on it.

Here's my recent review of it:

My number 3 is Miklós Jancsó's The Confrontation, a movie that is... surprisingly hard to get good clips of with English subtitles.





I was going to say, "if you're familiar with Jancsó's other films, such as The Red and The White," but then I went back and checked and saw that didn't make the top 100 War Movies Countdown (granted, I'm also tried to find a youtube video of its famous, long, opening scene, and only got a very abbreviated clip of it, often at low quality. All this technology and I can't get that). His movies have long takes as the camera, often shifting from who it follows in a given moment, emphasizing a shift in power dynamics, switching what loyalties the viewer might have with a viewer. The Red and The White and The Round-Up are his well known films that are generally bleak (and in black and white).

The Confrontation has a much more light-hearted veneer to it. Students (or possibly just young people) are staging a singing protest against... stuff. Some government, military-aligned figures that they want to join their protest, that shifts to a seminary school, where they want to convert people more over to religion. As the students at the school resist, the protestors shift tactics, internal divisions and politics shifts power dynamics amongst them, questionable tact is used (threats of physical coercion and ostracization), all accompanied by singing and dancing that is more folk dancing in nature than Hollywood choreography (which goes down easier for me). As stated, the veneer of being more light-hearted, as a lot of the power-dynamic themes that are present in The Red and The White also feel present here, despite the claims for unity, and the movie has darkly comic moments undercutting this.

And if my summary was incorrect, my apologies, I watched it in early 2023. I meant to rewatch it again before giving my write up here, but I've been busy with other things, such as getting more film noir in for this November season. Plus the holidays and all.

The past few posts makes it seem like #3 is the cursed spot on people's ballots.