The MoFo Top 100 Musicals Countdown

Now what about the ones that didn't participate but was here until the end without a complaint just sucked it up and went with it, damn I feel left out lol

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They get honorable mention

Sounds fair

Glad to see Singin' in the Rain at number one and The Wizard of Oz at number two. Both are universal and have survived the test of time and reach out to musical fans as well as non-musical fans. Moreover both have really transcended the form and medium of film to become something more as cultural touchstones and a part of the Americana canon.

What I find particularity interesting, speaking to Singin' in the Rain placing number one, is how initially An American in Paris was generally regarded as the definitive Kelly musical and over the years that has shifted. This list here in the tiny corner of the interwebs at MoFo also reflects that trend as An American in Paris is all the way down on the list at 42 as Singin' in the Rain placed number one. I don't know why that switch happened culturally, other than perhaps Singin' in the Rain has a more positive tone to it whereas An American in Paris has a darker undercurrent despite being a musical with generally upbeat song and dance numbers with a dark underbelly. Of course An American in Paris was released in 1950, only five years removed from World War II and featured a character who was a GI that fought in the war and stayed in Europe and hasn't exactly acclimated well to a post war environment and could very possibly even have PTSD. Of course the subject of PTSD wasn't explored as heavily as it is today or it was written off as being "shell shocked." There were some films, The Best Years of a Our Lives perhaps being the most prominent one to touch on that issue. I imagine as we moved further away in time down the decades from WWII and being as how An American in Paris handling of that topic is more subtext and less blatant/straight forward than a modern direct WWII film like Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List, it's just kind of been forgotten about over the years and considered less essential viewing.

I put Singin' in the Rain at number three because I weighed two particular things heavily in my decision for its placement ahead of An American in Paris: 1. The fact it is such a cultural touchstone and essential viewing and 2. I knew there was no chance for An American in Paris to be in the top spot, and didn't think my number one My Fair Lady would get the top spot, so if there was any film that I really advocated for which did have a chance at number one it was Singin' in the Rain.

But if you were to do the "gun to the head" test and ask me which is the better musical and if I had to justify my answer, I would without hesitation say An American in Paris.

One last thing, which I'll likely get into more later, but The Pirate is a brilliant film which far too few people have seen or even know about. It's the best of the Gene Kelly and Judy Garland pairings and with Vincente Minnelli you have the best musical actor, the best musical actress, and the best musical director of all time working to create a great piece of art. The Cole Porter music is spectacular and the Carribean setting of the film just makes the technicolor pop beautifully. Oh, and Singin' in the Rain redid the "Be a Clown" number into "Make em' Laugh." The Pirate is also in my top 100 films of all time too. It's a film that takes a minute or two to lay the groundwork, but once it does, it takes off at an insane breakneck pace. The "Nina" song is hilarious and soooo cool and Garland's "Mack the Black" is pure frantic energy and the premise of it that her character is doing this completely unaware and under hypnosis is just wild and out of this world. The Pirate ballet musical number features Gene Kelly at perhaps his most acrobatic and athletic best in his career on film and the "Be a Clown" bit he does with the Nicholas Brothers is so wonderful too. Just a fun film and Gene Kelly is completely satirizing, but in a humorous and reverent fashion the old swashbuckling epics and yarns of Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn.



It's too bad so few people have seen The Pirate and it didn't make the list, but even at the time of its release it wasn't a hit either.

So by my count it looks like seven didn't appear on the list. All Dogs Go to Heaven was the only animated pick I had on my list, as I'll take ex-Disney album Don Bluth over the Mouse company any day of the week as his films (The Secret of Nimh, An American Tail, The Land Before Time, All Dogs Go to Heaven) seem more honest and less naive in how they present tragedy, death, etc in children's films than compared to Disney. They didn't have nearly the money, cultural clout, and resources that Disney had, but I think they're a better product. All Dogs Go to Heaven I figured would make the list, but perhaps very low on it. Sad to see it not show up.

Also I'm a big champion of Paint Your Wagon and Camelot, two Lerner and Loewe film musicals that don't get near the appreciation they deserve.

I understand the Red Shoes could be debated whether or not it counts as a musical, which I get, but I still had to put it on my list if there was even a chance it qualified as such, which I think it does.

Oh and Funny Face. I've already discussed it in this thread, but that Bohemian club jazz dance number thing Audrey does and the back and forth debating with Fred Astaire that leads up to it is about the best seven minutes or so of film you'll ever see. So there was no way I wasn't going to leave Funny Face off my list!



My ballot:

1. My Fair Lady (10)
2. Cabaret (7)
3. Singin’ in the Rain (1)
4. The Wizard of Oz (2)
5. West Side Story (1961, Robert Wise) (4)
6. Dancer in the Dark (20)
7. The Pirate (1948, Vincente Minnelli) - DNP
8. Umbrellas of Cherbourg (11)
9. Pennies From Heaven (56)
10. A Woman is a Woman (1961, Godard) - (near miss 102) - DNP
11. An American in Paris (42)
12. Fiddler on the Roof (1971, Norman Jewison) (24)
13. Yankee Doodle Dandy (32)
14. Duck Soup (65)
15. The Red Shoes - DNP
16. Nashville (39)
17. All Dogs Go to Heaven - DNP
18. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971, Mel Stuart) (5)
19. A Star is Born (1954) (67)
20. Paint Your Wagon - DNP
21. Easter Parade (78)
22. 42nd Street (76)
23. Camelot - DNP
24. Funny Face - DNP
25. The Smiling Lieutenant (1931, Ernst Lubitsch) (96)

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So, I guess a 90's redo is next??

From the look of the May 2024 poll, 90's refresh was in 2nd place on the poll, while Musicals was the winner.

Oh and yeah, I have been known to routinely, but also randomly, jump up on to light posts and do the Singin' in the Rain pose, as in the picture here from a couple years ago in Kansas City.

Maybe it should be open for discussion.

I'm good for whichever list we want to do. Has MoFo done a silent movies list or a sports movies list? I'm just trying to think of what ground maybe hasn't been covered.

At some point in my life I realized I had never seen The Wizard of Oz, which is one of those, somehow you know the plot without ever having seen it (probably due to all the parodies in children's cartoons or other renditions of the story. I mean, I've seen Wild at Heart). It didn't really even register in my head as a musical so it didn't even cross my mind it'd be in the countdown until people started making #1 predictions, back, halfway through.

It is currently in a weird spot of interest being - well, it sounds like it could be gonzo, some people love it, some people think it's mediocre, it seems to show up on a number of greatest films of all times list - it's #108 on the S&S critcs' 2022 poll. But I have also heard one person say, you have not truly seen it, until you've seen it on the big screen, for that transition to color. So, I'm kind of reserving watching it to, if there's an off chance it's showing at a repertory screening near me, I'll go to it with active curiosity, but also the knowledge I might actually hate it. I doubt I'll love it, but if one were to describe Singin' in the Rain, I'd also probably guess I wouldn't care for that.

However... if one were to think of what doesn't peak my interest in musicals, Singin' in the Rain seem to check all the boxes... and yet. It's fun, I like it, I enjoy. It's a romantic comedy, which I generally hate (there are some notable exceptions). It's got big musical performances. And yet... I laugh. It made me laugh (thinking about the romantic comedies I do like, it's the ones where I actually think the comedy lands for me). That's my best explanation. I think Stanley Donen might just have the right sense of humor for me, at least some of the time (I remember also enjoying his movie, Charade. I probably should have given Funny Face a shot). I think the montage of the rise of musicals was also Donen making of musicals of the previous era might be a sign of it (in an interview from much later in life, Donen said, he was immature at the time and felt they were silly movies and didn't give them much mind, but came to appreciate their artistry later in life. Maybe some day I'll become like that. But maybe not). So while I penalized it heavily on my ballot since I was trying to get musicals that people who normally don't like musicals might like (and also because I knew it wasn't going to need the love), there was no way it wasn't going to be on my ballot.

1. All That Jazz (1979) (#17)
2. Cabaret (1972) (#7)
3. The Confrontation (1969)
4. Phantom of the Paradise (1974) (#37)
5. The Lure (2015) (#51)
6. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (#14)
7. Dancer in the Dark (2000) (#20)
8. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) (#16)
9. Little Shop of Horrors (1986) (#18)
10. Annette (2021)
11. The Wicker Man (1973)
12. Tommy (1975) (#92)
13. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) (#15)
14. Singin' in the Rain (1952) (#1)
15. Once (2007) (#25)
16. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) (#11)
17. Sweet Charity (1969)
18. Red Psalm (1972)

I would say the traditional musicals on my ballot were: The Nightmare Before Christmas, Little Shop of Horrors, Singin' in the Rain, and Sweet Charity (especially the latter half).

This might be recency bias, but I feel like this is the most my ballot has overlapped with the final countdown despite (or maybe because of) sending in only a partial ballot. Especially when factoring in how much of my ballot was in the top 25.

I love parts in Singin' in the Rain... I'm not crazy about the whole of it.

MY BALLOT:

1. Once (2007) -
2. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
3. The Lion King (1994)
4. Alice in Wonderland (1951)
5. Corpse Bride (2005)
6. Anastasia (1997)
7. The Blues Brothers (1980)
8. Nashville (1975)
9. Velvet Goldmine (1998)
10. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
11. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
12. West Side Story (1961)
13. An American in Paris (1951)
14. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
15. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)
16. I'm Not There. (2007)
17. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
18. Pink Floyd - The Wall (1982)
19. Hamilton (2020)
20. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
21. All That Jazz (1979)
22. Moulin Rouge! (2001)
23. Chicago (2002)
24. The Producers (1967)
25. The Boy Friend (1971) - @ those who watched it based on my rec, hope you enjoyed it for what it was!

And thanks to @Thursday Next for doing this and everyone who contributed... this was a fun project to follow!

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HEI guys.

Once at #1? Seriously? That movie bored me to death.

No, they haven't done either of those, I don't think

Showoff

I love The Wizard of Oz. I recently revisited it with my kids and wrote something about it. Bottom line, it is a magical film full of great characters and wonderful songs. I had it at #3.

As for Singin' in the Rain, I like it a lot too. I do think the film feels like a set of vignettes and bits tied together, but they're all really fun vignettes and bits. The cast is great, the titular song is iconic, and the rest of the songs are catchy and fun. I had it at #8.

Here's where I stand...

SEEN: 38/100
MY BALLOT: 19/25



Will share the ones that didn't make it from my list later tonight.

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I will echo any gratitude and nice words said to @Thursday Next for a great work. And, as usual, to @Yoda for always keeping things running smoothly.

This is my favorite musical number from Singin' in the Rain. Also, can I say that, as great as Gene Kelly is, Donald O'Connor is just amazing here.

I would switch the two winners. Singin' in the Rain has a couple glaring continuity errors that put it at 99 instead of 100. But there's something else that Wizard has over Singin'. See, Singin' is timeless in the sense that it's an early piece of cinema that you go back on as a basic film buff. Wizard of Oz not only has music that holds up by today's standards, but special effects that use its dated charm as a modern cartoon revolution. That's a totally different level of timeless.

F*ck yes! The order I had guessed for and hoped for!

I also had Singin’ in the Rain at #1. Of course. Seen it many times and it’s only gotten better each time for me.

Gene Kelly was a genius and the film is just the perfect musical basically. Great and fun story paired with good songs and breathtaking dancing and choreography!

As for Wizard of Oz, it was my my #3. Another really great musical where the feel is just right. I do feel like Singin’ in the Rain is the stronger musical though, while this one is more a great family film with adventurous fun.

Overall, the perfect closing to another MoFo Top 100. Well done, @Thursday Next!

For what it's worth...

1. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
2. The Music Man (1962)
3. West Side Story (1961)
4. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
5. My Fair Lady (1964)
6. Oliver! (1968)
7. Grease (1978)
8. Cabaret (1972)
9. Cabin in the Sky (1943)
10. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
11. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
12. Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
13. The Blues Brothers (1980)
14. Camelot (1967)
15. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
16. The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967)
17. Mary Poppins (1964)
18. Oklahoma! (1955)
19. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
20. White Christmas (1954)
21. Boys Town (1938)
22. Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
23. Top Hat (1935)
24. Show Boat (1951)
25. Rock & Rule (1983)

Boys Town was a mistake it was supposed to be Going' My Way but I got the titles confused.
I chose between Top Hat and Swing Time and in retrospect I think I would have chosen Swing Time.

And thank you very, very much, Thursday Next.