Gateway Drugs: Musicals

One of my biggest cinematic regrets is that I waited so long to see West Side Story. Lots of people (my wife included) have grown up with this film, I didn't see it until about two years ago. When I finally did see it I was blown away. Of course the songs are great, but what really got me was the sheer visual power of it all. The colors, the camera movement and the choreography are all unparalleled.

So what was it that kept me away from musicals for so long? Like many in my peer group I grew up on animated Disney films which by and large are musicals. I had no problem with those films. Maybe it had something to do with most musicals being 'old' movies, or maybe the fact that they were 'kissing movies'. I'm not really sure what it was. So what changed you ask? Well one fateful Halloween evening, teenage Craig decided to stay in and watch this movie he'd been hearing so much about from some of his more adventurous friends. It was a little film called The Rocky Horror Picture Show and it was airing on VH1! Nothing like bawdy humor and young Susan Sarandon in a bra to change a young man's opinion of a genre! Here's a list of some other movie musicals that might just open your mind...

The Blues Brothers

I've said it before and I'll say it again: THE BLUES BROTHERS IS THE GREATEST MOVIE MUSICAL EVER MADE! It has everything! Car chases, car crashes, a bazooka, explosions, dirty words, bumbling Nazis, and James Brown. What's not to love?

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

If the Rocky Horror Picture Show spoke to you, then Hedwig most assuredly will as well. Though made in the early 2000s and set in the early 90s, this rock musical about an Eastern European transexual's search for love in the American midwest has deep roots in the holy trinity of Iggy, Lou and Bowie.

Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead

With over-the-top gore, crappy special effects and ludicrous dialogue, Troma movies are meant to make you aware you're watching a movie. Adding musical numbers to the equation was just the next logical step! So much is going on that you might not even be aware that you're watching a scathing attack on the processed food industry!

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Some might not consider this a musical, but it absolutely is. There might not be much in the way of choreography, but there sure is plenty of singing. The main characters sing, the sirens sing, even the Klansmen sing! Make no mistake, this here's a bona fide good time at the pictures!

Little Shop of Horrors

While this film is easily the most stylistically conventional of the list, its actual content is pretty far from conventional. I defy you to find another  musical with either a man-eating plant, a masochistic dentist or a lyric about bashing in a pussycat's head. I love that someone at Disney saw this show and chose to hire the guys responsible to write the music for The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast!