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Why Watch That

There were too many movie musicals to discuss for only one episode. So, we’re back with a second episode about these films. During this episode, the Critic and the Referee continue their colorful conversation about this genre. Sometimes they’ll make you laugh, and sometimes they’ll make you cry; but, they’ll always make you sing. Enjoy part two of this discussion.

Movies

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is a 1982 American musical comedy film about a Town Sheriff (Burt Reynolds) and regular patron, who fights to keep a historical whorehouse open when a TV preacher targets it as the Devil’s playhouse.

Singing in The Rain is a 1952 American musical comedy film about Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly), a popular silent film star with humble roots as a singer, dancer and stuntman. Don barely tolerates his vapid, shallow leading lady, Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), though their studio, Monumental Pictures, links them romantically to increase their popularity. Lina is convinced that they are in love, despite Don’s protestations otherwise.

Oklahoma! is a 1955 musical film based on the 1943 stage musical of the same name. In the Oklahoma territory at the turn of the twentieth century, two young cowboys vie with an evil ranch hand and a traveling peddler for the hearts of the women they love.

Rocky Horror Picture Show is a 1975 musical comedy horror film that tells the tale of the newly engaged couple Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon), who find themselves lost and with a flat tire on a cold and rainy late November evening. Seeking a telephone, the couple walk to a nearby castle where they discover a group of strange and outlandish people who are holding an Annual Transylvanian Convention. They are soon swept into the world of Dr. Frank N. Furter, a self-proclaimed transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania.

Fame is a 1980 American musical film that chronicles the lives of several teenagers who attend a New York high school for students gifted in the performing arts.

Polly is a musical television movie that originally aired in November 1989 on NBC, adapted from the book Pollyanna. The film is set in Alabama during the 1950s and focuses on Polly Whittier (Keshia Knight Pulliam), an orphan who is sent to live with her aunt Polly Harrington, who is a descendant of the founding family of a small Southern town during the Segregation Era.

Sweeney Todd is a 2007 musical horror film starring Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd/Benjamin Barker, a barber who sets up his shop in London and enters into a sinister partnership with his fellow tenant, Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter).

Robin Hood: Men in Tights is a 1993 French-American musical adventure comedy film and a parody of the Robin Hood story. Robin Hood (Cary Elwes) is captured during the Crusades and is imprisoned at Khalil Prison in Jerusalem. With the help of fellow inmate Asneeze (Isaac Hayes), who is in for jaywalking, he escapes and frees the other inmates.

Guys and Dolls is a 1955 musical film starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, and Vivian Blaine. In order to finance a crap game, a gambler (Frank Sinatra) bets that he’ll be able to convince a female missionary to travel with him from New York to Havana, Cuba for dinner. Despite the odds, they eventually fall for each other.

Carousel is a 1956 film adaptation of the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical of the same name. Carousel barker Billy Bigelow (Gordon MacRae) meets, falls in love with, and eventually marries mill worker Julie Jordan (Shirley Jones). Before their marriage, they are each fired from their jobs. After the marriage, Billy becomes embittered by his inability to find work. During a botched robbery attempt, he accidentally falls on his own knife. Before he dies, Julie rushes to his side as he says his last words. Fifteen years later, he is granted permission to return to Earth to make amends. He discovers that he has a daughter who, along with her mother, has been experiencing problems since his death. He eventually assures them that he loves them, giving them the confidence that they need to move on.

Dreamgirls is a 2006 musical drama starring Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé Knowles, Eddie Murphy, and Jennifer Hudson. It follows the history and evolution of American R&B music during the 1960s and 1970s through the eyes of a Detroit, Michigan girl group known as the Dreams and their manipulative manager.