Dear Musical Fans,
Get ready to either sing our praises, or start singing the blues.
As we continued our Greatest Movies A-Z series with WatchMojo, we had to do a Musical video. It’s being posted on their MsMojo page, where we hope to get a standing ovation for our choices. Enjoy.
Again, we gave ourselves some guidelines:
- One film per letter
- Articles don’t count (the, an, a, etc.)
- Final list should encapsulate the genre
The last rule dictated a lot of our hardest decisions. And it’s also worth remembering that these are best movie musicals, not broadway musicals. So lackluster adaptations into the new medium won’t make the grade (sorry, Rent).
Anyway, here’s some take-aways from our decision-making process. If your favorite movie isn’t in our final video, there’s a very good chance it’s a decision, and not an omission.
LESSONS FROM MUSICAL A-Z
TOP DECADE: 1970s
When you think Musicals, you probably think of the golden age of Hollywood, which pretty much died in the late 60s. And yet, the musical lived on - dare we say thrived - through the counterculture era of the 70s. It certainly had a revival in the 2000s after nearly going extinct in the 90s, and still manages to put out big hits every year today.
HARDEST LETTER: M
You’ve got My Fair Lady, which won eight Oscars. Mama Mia!, the most successful musical movie of all-time. Les Misérables, which was a huge critical and commercial hit of the most beloved broadway musical of all-time. And then there’s Moulin Rouge, which single-handedly revived the entire Musical genre in the 90s. But in the end, there’s just no toppin’ Poppins. Hopefully a spoonful of sugar will help that medicine go down.
CHEATED IN: Quartet
Initially, qwe had The Who’s Quadrophenia here. Perfect, we thought! Then we actually watched it… and it’s not a musical. It’s based on an album by The Who, and only later got turned into a musical. So we emergency switched in Quartet. Which is about music and features singing, but not exactly in the spirit of a true musical (we know).
BEST BATTLE: West Side Story vs The Wizard of Oz
Two titans of the genre. And if you’re voting for the best movie, you’re going with The Wizard of Oz. But for the best musical movie… we snapped our fingers and went to the other (possibly wrong) side of the tracks. It’s just too influential of a musical movie not to make the list. And we have another video coming soon that Dorothy will land in, not to worry.
SPECIAL CONSIDERATION: Purple Rain
The only other real option here was Pennies From Heaven. That might fit the mold a bit more cleanly of a true musical, but we aren’t being purists with the inclusion of Quartet anyway. And let’s be honest, we can all use a little more Prince in our lives. Always.
Think your list would be better? More balanced? Less heart-breaking? Let us know.
Sincerely,
Dear Cast & Crew
