A musical interlude of pretend babies

Much of the movie The Band Wagon is a series of loosely related clips, but the following is my favorite, and has been for a long time. When I was in middle school, I shared this song with two girls who either liked it or me enough to learn all the lyrics and sing the different parts with me as we walked around the schoolyard. For a time, we even called ourselves "The Triplets". (Those were some cool girls.)

Here's Fred Astaire, Nanette Fabray and Jack Buchanan as the battling babes:



And while I'm thinking of "children" in musical movies, I have to mention The Muppets Take Manhattan scene where Miss Piggy imagines what it would have been like if she and Kermit had known each other when they were younger. The song "I'm Gonna Always Love You" features baby Piggy explaining all the things she will do when she grows up (singing, flying a plane, neurosurgery) without losing her love for Kermit. This scene, which inspired the Muppet Babies cartoon, has got to be one of the cutest moments in movie musical history.

Month O' Musicals: That Thing You Do!

Vital Stats:
Year: 1996
Director: Tom Hanks
Stars: Tom Hanks, Tom Everett Scott, Johnathon Schaech, Liv Tyler, Steve Zahn, Charlize Theron, Ethan Embry, Giovanni Ribisi
Writer: Tom Hanks

(While not a film musical in the classical sense, there's so much music in it that I'm including it in my Month o' Musicals.)

Summary:
One-hit band The Wonders journey from obscurity to fame and back again with fun nods to the various musical styles of the 60s along the way.

Memorable Moments:
The catchy title song is played so repeatedly it's bound to get stuck in your head for a while after watching.

The first time the band members hear their song on the radio captures the excitement perfectly.

What I love about it:
Exclamation point in the title. Glimpses of Chris Isaak, Rita Wilson and Peter Scolari. But most of all, Steve Zahn. Who is Steve Zahn?


"Are you crazy? A man in a really nice camper wants to put our song on the radio! Give me a pen, I'm signing, you're signing, we're all signing!"

Month O' Musicals: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Vital Stats:
Year: 1964
Director: Jacques Demy
Stars: the beautiful Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon, Marc Michel
Music by: Michel Legrand
Language: French, with subtitles

Summary:
Genevieve, the daughter of an umbrella shop owner, and Guy, an auto mechanic, are in love. But can their love survive the separation forced upon them when Guy is drafted and goes off to war?

Memorable Moments:
As all the dialogue is sung, there are no musical numbers in the film, but one haunting recurring musical theme is the song "I Will Wait For You". Also notable: the film's use of gorgeous, vibrant colors.


What I love about it:
Even though every conversation is done in song, this never feels forced because the feelings expressed have a very natural flow. Here are two examples of how the lines go from one thought to another: "Guy, I love you./You smell like gasoline.", "Do you love me?/A mambo, let's go!/I should have changed shoes." I love the way this captures a sense of mundane reality even though everything is spoken musically.

Also interesting to me is the way Catherine Deneuve's character changes hair styles throughout the film. There's a study there as she progresses from an innocent young girl (hair pulled up and away from her face), to a wiser woman (hair done more naturally and covering more of her face), to an older woman of changed status (with an elaborate updo).

The whole movie is not only beautiful to the eyes but also a poignant, mesmerizing look at love and how it is impacted by outside pressures and circumstances. It's a work of art.

January, I dub thee... Month O' Musicals

Let me go on record about this: I am not a winter person. Cold, dark, snow, it's just not my thing. I'd love to spend the season hibernating, but instead I try to get by with fireplaces, hot chocolate, books, and of course, movies. And what type of movie is great for chasing the winter blues away? My vote goes to musicals!

Sure, not every musical tells an altogether happy story. But even in a darker musical, there is still a sense of unreality I find refreshing, cathartic even. (When is the last time you danced out your differences with someone, or put your deepest emotions into rhyming song?) And by and large, musicals are just peppy and silly and fun. If I turn one up loud enough, I can ignore the sound of the wind blowing the snow outside.

Therefore, I declare January to be my Month O' Musicals! My goal is not to create an all-encompassing list of musicals, but instead to look a variety from the genre. I want to watch and post about musicals both old and new, revisiting some favorites and maybe watching a new musical or two.

To start off, here's a scene from Gold Diggers of 1933. In my book, it doesn't get much better than this: crazy choreography by Busby Berkeley, a literal interpretation of the song's title for the costumes, and a super-cute Ginger Rogers inging-say. Here's "We're in the Money":

Thanks for the Melodies

The L.A.M.Blog_A_Thon kicks off this month with the theme "Who are you thankful for?", the idea being to show some appreciation for film professionals other than actors and directors. I've decided to focus on the people behind the music in movies.

It seems impossible to talk about movie music without mentioning John Williams. He's well-known, well-respected, and has written some very beautiful film scores. The musical themes Williams creates are memorable and always seem to strike the right emotional chord. Can you think of an Indiana Jones movie without having the music come to mind? I know I can't. Superman and Jurassic Park also have instantly recognizable themes. And can you imagine the Star Wars universe without the John Williams score? Funky 70s music could have easily sent the first film into camp instead of classic, but the music John Williams composed elevates the whole thing. Williams can also do a lot with only a few notes, as proved by Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I also love the music from Catch Me if You Can. Sample it in the wonderfully stylized opening title sequence.

Another film composer I like is Henry Mancini. He's probably best known for The Pink Panther's jazzy theme and Breakfast at Tiffany's "Moon River". For the latter he had the lyrical help of Johnny Mercer, who also penned the words to Mancini's "Charade" and "Days of Wine and Roses".

Johnny Mercer is probably my favorite lyricist ever. His songs show he really loved language, playing with words for some very clever lines. In addition to the songs mentioned above that he did with Mancini, he also wrote the words for many other great songs used in movies. Credit him for the lyrics to: "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening", "Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive", "Blues in the Night", "Hooray for Hollywood", "Too Marvelous for Words", "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby", "Come Rain or Come Shine", "Jeepers Creepers", "One For My Baby (and One More For the Road)", "Laura", and all the songs in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. He wrote both words and music for "Something's Gotta Give", "Dream (When You're Feeling Blue)", and "I'm an Old Cowhand". Although many of these songs were written for old movies, a quick look at Mercer's imdb page shows that his work has withstood the test of time, as his songs are still showing up in movies today. Way to go, Johnny.

While great movies need great writers, actors and directors, great music can really become an essential part of a film and enhance the movie-watching experience. So I'm grateful for movie music and the talented people that make it happen.