Category Archives: Musicals

AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951)

A well-produced musical extravaganza starring Gene Kelly, with the music of George Gershwin, it still left me surprisingly cold.

ANIMALYMPICS (1980)

Our Virtual Film Festival continues with a movie seemingly made for me as a kid and absolutely no one else in the world.

SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937)

It is the original full-length animated movie, and helped to launch a media empire. For me it holds up today, um, intermittently?

1776 (1972)

Before Hamilton took Broadway by storm, there was another musical about the Founding Fathers, one that I love too much to be objective about.

WEST SIDE STORY (1961)

About three-quarters of my favorite movie all-time, but not quite. Still sort of elemental to where musicals have gone since then.

GOING MY WAY (1944)

Bing Crosby plays a laid-back, musical priest in this very laid-back musical that was a huge hit in the middle of World War II but mostly forgotten today.

HOUSE PARTY (1990)

A very fun teen time capsule from 1990 that has a lot on its mind but resists any major dramatics.

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (1973)

A very early-70s rock opera about the Crucifixion, complete with tanks, machine guns, and a dancing King Herod. Happy Easter.

YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942)

This “jukebox musical” of patriotic Broadway hits showcases James Cagney’s powerhouse performance, but that’s basically the only part of the movie that works for me.