Opinion: "Can't Stop the Music" is a very good mus

[Marcio**]

from
http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/movi...tstopmusic.htm


Can't Stop the Music was made by Allan Carr, who was also responsible for the mega-musical Grease, as a vehicle for the promotion of the Village People. It's a vibrant and uplifting musical . . . and probably the longest and most expensive television commercial ever made.

Idolized and applauded by children and adults of every age, language and cultural background (without the vaguest idea what they were singing about in gay pride songs like YMCA) the Village People cleverly fingered the pulse of a society immersed in rapidly changing values and made it dance along to a disco beat.

The people who made Can't Stop The Music cleverly incorporated many of the production values of the old MGM musicals and brought them up to date in a glittering package for the disco-centric demands of a contemporary society.

The result is a revolutionary kind of musical that explodes on the screen - Whatever else you think of the movie, you certainly won't be bored by the musical numbers.

The Village People can't act, but they are in excellent company here, since nobody else bothers to do much acting, either. Valerie Payne is in hot water the minute she tries to make something out of her role as a retired fashion model who plays den mother to the good-natured lunatics in her Greenwich Village neighbourhood.

Steve Guttenberg is her appealing house-sitting roommate who writes rock songs, the Village People are assorted characters recruited from various street comers to audition his songs for record mogul Paul Sand, and Bruce Jenner is a stuffy tax lawyer who gets involved in the madness when he delivers a cake.

Wafting in and out of all the imbecilic confusion are such grand old pros as Tammy Grimes, as an aggressive agent in the Eileen Ford mould who gets her false fingernails caught in the dials of phone booths trying to talk Valerie into a milk commercial; June Havoc, as Guttenberg's mother, who uses her training as a former chorus girl to outsmart record moguls in contractual negotiations, and Barbara Rush, as a rich society matron whose enthusiasm for the kinky kids provides them with a launching pad to stardom in the form of a charity show in San Francisco.

The kids who revelled in the gyrations of the Village People didn't seem to get the homosexual implications in everything the group (and the movie) stood for. They responded to the Village People the way they responded to Pee Wee Herman as grownups who dress up in their fantasies the way children do at birthday parties.

They didn't really have a clue what the big spectacular YMCA number was all about, with its quick shots of male full-frontal nudity as Valerie Perrine dances through the showers.

Every gay centrefold from Blueboy and Playgirl seems to have been recruited for this number, and on the day it was filmed every gay bar on Santa Monica Boulevard must have been empty.

Did the kids understand what's happening when Bruce Jenner attacks Valerie Perrine for hanging out with guys who are "weird," and she counters with "There's not a person alive without peculiarities and as long as they don't hurt anybody, it's none of my business"? Probably not. And later, when Jenner discards his three piece Bamey's suit and dances down Christopher Street in cut-offs to symbolize his own liberation, nine-year-olds still squealed with glee.

Frankly, none of this matters if you can break down your own uptight defences the way Jenner does and let Can't Stop the Music wash over you. It doesn't matter how hip you are to the gay scene to get the implicit humour in the Village People's dressing room when the leather man gets an attack of nerves and says "Leather men don't cry" and the cowboy, in an aside to the audience says, "Oh, yes they do!".

It doesn't much matter, either, if you don't know the Steve Guttenberg character is based on Paul Jabara, or the Paul Sand character is a combination of David Geffen and Neil Bogart. It's the spirit that counts, and Can't Stop the Music is loaded with it.

From the wonderful opening number (David London singing The Sound of the City) to the star-spangled finale, the music lifts you off your feet and keeps you moving. The choreography, by Arlene Phillips, is hot, the costumes sizzle, the photography by Bill Butler is eye-poppingly lush, the direction by Nancy Walker is as corny and awful and perfectly suited to the film's dopiness as all the stuff she learned in the old MGM days.

The yield is a purée of Technicolor musicals that combines the best of Busby Berkeley with the best of contemporary musical ideas. Perpetual motion is what Can't Stop the Music is all about. It's a glorious mess, but its feet never stop dancing.



The Cast
Alex Briley
(GI)
David Hodo
(Construction Worker)
Glenn Hughes
(Leatherman)
Randy Jones
(Cowboy)
Felipe Rose
(Indian)
Ray Simpson
(Cop)

Valerie Perrine
Bruce Jenner
Steve Guttenberg
Paul Sand
Tammy Grimes
June Havoc
Barbara Rush
Altovise Davis
Marilyn Sokol
Russell Nype
Jack Weston
Leigh Taylor-Young
Dick Patterson
Bobo Lewis
Paula Trueman
Portia Nelson
Selma Archard
Murial Slatkin


Director
Nancy Walker

:)

[BrunoRepublic]

Wow. That's got to be the most ridiculous review I've ever read. CSTM is hands-down, the WORST movie I have EVER seen. It is dreadful in all aspects: story, dialogue, acting, editing, you name it. I can't watch it for more than 15 minutes at a time. But what really gets me is this line: Whatever else you think of the movie, you certainly won't be bored by the musical numbers.

Ummm... I was bored to tears by the musical numbers, which consist of the worst material that Jacques Morali ever created. CSTM is unique in the sense that despite being incredibly silly and unintentionally absurd, it is also painfully dull. The only mercy in the entire film is the brief -- and completely inexplicable -- appearance by the Ritchie Family.

Also, the line It doesn't much matter, either, if you don't know the Steve Guttenberg character is based on Paul Jabara, or the Paul Sand character is a combination of David Geffen and Neil Bogart. is wrong. Guttenberg's character is based on Jacques Morali, hence the name Jack Morrell. Paul Sand's character is based soley on Neil Bogart, and there's an inside joke in the movie where he says "who does he think I am, Neil Bogart?" David Geffen had yet to launch his label when the movie was created.

[usagi-san]

My tastes are different in this regard, Graham; I was very impressed by the review, I thought the opening song was great and aside from a few perhaps slow places, enjoyed the movie overall a lot and thought the production and music numbers were a lot of fun.

[FlyRobinFly]

I remember being very disappointed in this movie back in 1980. I thought I was really going to see a good movie. And you're right the only thing worth seeing was the "very brief" appearance of The Ritchie Family.

[DiscoQueenForever]

I enjoy "Can't Stop the Music" for exactly what it is - a pop culture oddity. Where else could you see BRUCE JENNER and the VILLAGE PEOPLE in the same movie?? Basically, it goes in the "so awful it's great" category of camp classics.

A really great "Bad" double feature is "Can't Stop the Music" and "Xanadu"...and if you're up for a triple, throw in "Thank God It's Friday". Hours of mindless disco fantasy. Turn off your brain and jump on the boogie train.

[Nano]

I just saw the film a couple of weeks ago. A video-for-rent shop in my neighborhood has the U.S. edition of the DVD -there's no local edition- and I rented it. BTW, this edition has no subtitles of any kind; so much for their faith in worldwide markets :icon_lol:

Man the film was boring. It's two hours long; and they are realllllly lonnnnnggg. The film must be in total 80% dialogue (including silly attempts at comedy) and a mere 20% musical numbers, which are supposedly what the disco audience wanted. And those skits are soooo plain cheap. In the first one of the V.P. guys, the construction worker I think, does some awkward movements between 2 disco girls and some tinfoil. The song -and as a soloist he's a terrible singer- is called "I love you to death" and it certainly is being killed throughout. This happens at the, say, 15-minute mark. Then we have like 40 minutes of blah-blah before the V.P. band is even formed for the first time! With Valerie Perrine trying some old gag routines with athlete Bruce Jenner, who is tremendous. The script is long, tedious and old-fashioned even for musical standards.
In the second hour -if you're still there- there's a skid where the guys are in the studio "recording" a future hit called "Milkshake" -and there's no double-entendre about the milk-, then off to the Y.M.C.A. to do their most known real hit, basically Perrine watching the half-naked athletes strutting their stuff. (I think any gay meaning here lies in the mind of the viewers.) In fact if they had dared to enter gay territory maybe this movie would have been more entertaining, but obviously Mr. Morali or Mr. Carr didn't want to lose the crossover audience.
Near the end, the commented Ritchie Family skit -which is, yes, the only watchable musical moment- and then the grand finale with the band, Perrine, Jenner and leading boy Steve Guttenberg (who does what he can to make something of his ridicule DJ role) on the stage of some big theater intoning "Can't stop the music" for like 10 minutes, between glitter and clapping.
BTW, Alan Carr didn't direct "Grease" nor this movie, he was the screenwriter-producer. The directing job here belongs to some Nancy Walker who never ever direct anything else.
The DVD "extras" :icon_question: consist basically in a text biography of the band, so much over-hyped that seems written by Mr. Morali himself.

I had to see this film, even knowing it was bad. However I didn't know it was this bad. Compared to it, THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY looks like SWEET CHARITY, and XANADU seems made by Orson Welles!

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

Compared to it, THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY looks like SWEET CHARITY...

:icon_lol::icon_lol::icon_lol: So true.

[drlove]

The flick won the very first Razzie given out for "Worst Picture of the Year", and for good reason(s) !!! I think the one film credit (originally listed by Marcio way up above, over 3 years ago) largely responsible for this train wreck of a film was:

"Director Nancy Walker"

Yup . . . this veteran Broadway & film actress (also widely famous for her '70s advertising role as "Rosie", the quicker-picker-upper spokeswoman for Bounty paper towels) was the director, and NO OFFENSE PLEASE against female directors, but I think she was WAY OVER her head directing a cast featuring many non-actors in principal roles and a script laden with feces. But for lovers of bad films (me!), she helped deliver a timeless classic:icon_biggrin:

[markydefad]

and a script laden with feces.

That made me laugh! :icon_lol:

Yeah, it was pretty awful . I saw it at the Castro Theatre in SF and the scent of STINKBOMB permeated the movie palace :icon_twisted:....some of the party scenes in the movie were filmed at the SF Galleria-- at one of the big disco parties at the time. I remember seeing the ads saying that all of those aging actresses--Tammy Grimes, Barbara Rush, June Havoc were gonna be there for filming. The producer, the flaming, caftaned Miss Allan Carr...was such a no-talent hack. HE got real lucky and real rich with the movie of "Grease"---most everything else he touched turned to doodoo. :icon_twisted:

Remember his notoriously badly produced Oscar telecast with Rob Lowe serenading Snow White from "Beach Blanket Babylon?"

I loved Nancy Walker as an actress--but why was she hired to direct this??? Bob Fosse couldn't have saved this turkey.

[remicks]

*****
:icon_question: doubly post ...... sorry ...

*****

[HairInTheWind]

All I can say about this movie is: If I made this movie...I'd have to kick my own ass!

I'm going to watch something stimulating...like "The Brady Bunch"!

[remicks]

*****

If there were a theatre to watch this unintentional madcap farce ... let it be the Castro :icon_biggrin::icon_razz:

I had the misfortune of attending this turkey's SF premiere screening BITD (at some grand theatre on the corner of Polk & ?? ... I now realize its gone ...:icon_mad:)
As I suffered thru scene after scene of this slaphazard movie I had never felt so embarrassed to be a part of the disco scene in my life !!

Wanted to slither out of the theatre before anyone even knew I was there... I remember the crowd as being sort of quietly subdued as we filed out into the lobby ....dreading running into the promoters ... because really ... what was there to say !!!!

*****

[drlove]

Speaking of Brady Bunch, HairInTheWind . . . . saw on the newswires yesterday that Maureen McCormick ("Marcia Brady") is releasing a memoir Tuesday. Wonder what she'll mention about the making of another "beloved" disco movie --- "Skatetown USA" (1979) :icon_exclaim:

[HairInTheWind]

Dr. Love, possibly the single reason she never did much of anything after that movie! =]