The Best Movie Musicals of the 1960's, the beginning of the end of great movie musicals

[Flopper]

This is the last decade of America's love affair with movie musicals. In the decades of the 30s, 40s, and 50s we averaged about 250 movie musicals a year. In 1958, MGM released the last of it's great musicals, Gigi. In the 1960s we still had a lot of musicals but the numbers were falling, only 140 for the decade as was the quality with many rather silly teen musicals and Elvis Presley films.

In 2000, we had less than 100 musicals and in the 2020's we will surely have less. Not only have the numbers fallen but so has the size of the musicals, less cast, more animations, more concert tours, etc... There are many reasons for the demise of the great American musicals which are covered in the link below.


So here is what I consider the best of the decade in no particular order. I'll do one more review of best musicals covering 70's and beyond.

• Bells are Ringing is an adorable musical comedy with Judy Holiday and Dean Martin.
• Flower Drum Song
• West Side Story is one of the greatest dramatic musicals to make it to the screen. I only wish it was not quite so sad.
• The Music Man, what a great musical that brings to life the small town of River City Iowa in 1912 and the infamous Howard Hill and his all boys marching band.
• Bye Bye Birdie
• A Hard Days Night
• Camelot- Probably the most notable thing about this musical other than it's association with JFK is the takeaway of the musical which is although King Arthur's plans failed the vision of Camelot remains that might does not make right but right makes might.
• Mary Poppins - Disney proves he can make a great musical that isn't animated. There's a good side story told in the movie Saving Mr. Banks with Tom Hanks which tells the story of how Mary Poppins almost did not get made.
• My Fair Lady- By far, my favorite musical. It is wise, witty, and winning. In short, a miraculous musical that is every bit as good as the Broadway production, nominated for 12 Oscars and wining 6.
• The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
• The Sound of Music - the last and some say the best of the Rogers and Hammerstein musicals
• Brigadoon
• How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying - tells the story of J. Pierrepont Finch (Robert Morse) who buys the book How to Succeed in Business, describing in step-by-step fashion how to rise in the business world. Thus begins the very funny tale how he climbs the later to success. Great songs with great performances by Robert Morse, Michelle Lee, and Rudy Vallee. The movie was remade without the music a few decades later with Michael J. Fox in the lead. Also a good movie but IMHO not as good as the original.
• Funny Girl - along with Hello Dolly, Barbra Streisand's best works. Of the two, I like Funny Girl the best.
• Hello Dolly
• Oliver

 

[Billo_Really]

This is the last decade of America's love affair with movie musicals. In the decades of the 30s, 40s, and 50s we averaged about 250 movie musicals a year. In 1958, MGM released the last of it's great musicals, Gigi. In the 1960s we still had a lot of musicals but the numbers were falling, only 140 for the decade as was the quality with many rather silly teen musicals and Elis Presley films.

In 2000 we had less than 100 musicals and in the 2020's we will surely have less. Not only have the numbers fallen but the size of the musicals, less cast, more animations, more concert tours, etc... There are many reasons for the demise of the great American musicals which are covered in the link below.


So here is what I consider the best of the decade in no particular order. I'll do one more review of best musicals covering 70's and beyond.

• Bells are Ringing is an adorable musical comedy with Judy Holiday and Dean Martin.
• Flower Drum Song
• West Side Story is one of the greatest dramatic musicals to make it to the screen. I only wish it was not quite so sad.
• The Music Man, what a great musical that brings to life the small town of River City Iowa in 1912 and the infamous Howard Hill and his all boys marching band.
• Bye Bye Birdie
• A Hard Days Night
• Camelot- Probably the most notable thing about the musical other than it's association with JFK is the takeaway of the musical which is although Arthur's plans failed the vision of Camelot remains that might does not make right but right makes might.
• Mary Poppins - Disney proves he can make a great musical that isn't animated. There's a good side story told in the movie Saving Mr. Banks with Tom Hanks which tells the story of how Mary Poppins almost did not get made.
• My Fair Lady- By far, my favorite musical. It is wise, witty, and winning. In short, a miraculous musical that is every bit as good as the Broadway production, nominated for 12 Oscars and wining 6.
• The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
• The Sound of Music - the last and some say the best of the Rogers and Hammerstein musicals
• Brigadoon
• How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying - tells the story of J. Pierrepont Finch (Robert Morse) who buys the book How to Succeed in Business, describing in step-by-step fashion how to rise in the business world. Thus begins the very funny tale how he climbs the later to success. Great songs with great performances by Robert Morse, Michelle Lee, and Rudy Vallee. The movie was remade without the music a few decades later with Michael J. Fox in the lead. Also a good movie but IMHO not as good as the original.
• Funny Girl - along with Hello Dolly, Barbra Streisand's best works. Of the two, I like Funny Girl the best.
• Hello Dolly
• Oliver

WTF are you talking about? Mama Mia was awesome! LaLa Land was awesome! You don't know what the fuck you are talking about!

 

[Mashmont]

Best Musicals of the 1960s.
Oxymoron if there ever was one.

 

[Auld Phart]

This is the last decade of America's love affair with movie musicals. In the decades of the 30s, 40s, and 50s we averaged about 250 movie musicals a year. In 1958, MGM released the last of it's great musicals, Gigi. In the 1960s we still had a lot of musicals but the numbers were falling, only 140 for the decade as was the quality with many rather silly teen musicals and Elvis Presley films.

In 2000, we had less than 100 musicals and in the 2020's we will surely have less. Not only have the numbers fallen but so has the size of the musicals, less cast, more animations, more concert tours, etc... There are many reasons for the demise of the great American musicals which are covered in the link below.


So here is what I consider the best of the decade in no particular order. I'll do one more review of best musicals covering 70's and beyond.

• Bells are Ringing is an adorable musical comedy with Judy Holiday and Dean Martin.
• Flower Drum Song
• West Side Story is one of the greatest dramatic musicals to make it to the screen. I only wish it was not quite so sad.
• The Music Man, what a great musical that brings to life the small town of River City Iowa in 1912 and the infamous Howard Hill and his all boys marching band.
• Bye Bye Birdie
• A Hard Days Night
• Camelot- Probably the most notable thing about this musical other than it's association with JFK is the takeaway of the musical which is although King Arthur's plans failed the vision of Camelot remains that might does not make right but right makes might.
• Mary Poppins - Disney proves he can make a great musical that isn't animated. There's a good side story told in the movie Saving Mr. Banks with Tom Hanks which tells the story of how Mary Poppins almost did not get made.
• My Fair Lady- By far, my favorite musical. It is wise, witty, and winning. In short, a miraculous musical that is every bit as good as the Broadway production, nominated for 12 Oscars and wining 6.
• The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
• The Sound of Music - the last and some say the best of the Rogers and Hammerstein musicals
• Brigadoon
• How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying - tells the story of J. Pierrepont Finch (Robert Morse) who buys the book How to Succeed in Business, describing in step-by-step fashion how to rise in the business world. Thus begins the very funny tale how he climbs the later to success. Great songs with great performances by Robert Morse, Michelle Lee, and Rudy Vallee. The movie was remade without the music a few decades later with Michael J. Fox in the lead. Also a good movie but IMHO not as good as the original.
• Funny Girl - along with Hello Dolly, Barbra Streisand's best works. Of the two, I like Funny Girl the best.
• Hello Dolly
• Oliver

Musicals of the 1960's

www.imdb.com

 

[Flopper]

WTF are you talking about? Mama Mia was awesome! LaLa Land was awesome! You don't know what the fuck you are talking about!

I agree Mama Mia and LaLa Land were great as was Phantom of Opera, Hamilton, Cabaret, Evita, Cats, etc. My point is the number and size of these great musicals are decreasing. Where we had 20 to 40 new musical films a year we are lucky if we get 15 or 20 and most of those are going to be animations or revivals of older productions, TV specials, and single performer productions. We are now calling movie musicals any movie with a couple of songs and half dozen cast members. Major musicals in mid 20th century typically had casts of 25 to 40 with 10 to 15 musical numbers. Today real musicals rarely have a cast of more dozen performers.

In 2016 we had 14, musicals but only 2, LaLa Land and Sing Street had a live cast and were made for movie theaters. The rest were animations , TV specials, and single performer shows.

 

[JackOfNoTrades]

Don't forget South Park, The Movie.

 

[Auld Phart]

Don't forget South Park, The Movie.

South Park, The Movie

South Park didn't exist until 1997

I doubt they made a movie about it 30 years earlier

 

[toobfreak]

WTF are you talking about? Mama Mia was awesome!

You mean like all of your lame-ass quarterbacks?

 

[toobfreak]

Don't forget South Park, The Movie.

Just your speed.

 

[toobfreak]

HEAD

 

[Flopper]

South Park didn't exist until 1997

I doubt they made a movie about it 30 years earlier

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is a 1999 American adult computer-animated musical comedy film based on the animated sitcom South Park. Speaking of South Park, I played a casino game based South Park and won $50 last week.

 

[Auld Phart]

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is a 1999 American adult computer-animated musical comedy film based on the animated sitcom South Park. Speaking of South Park, I played a casino game based South Park and won $50 last week.

and?

it is not a1960s MUSICAL.

 

[Flopper]

Big movie musicals are getting pretty rare yet Mamma Mia did well at the box office and a sequel followed. The style of movie was mid 20th century set in the late 70s. The Music of ABBA which featured was most popular between 1969 and the mid 80s. Over saturating the color was done to make the scenes more brilliant than real life, a technique that was common in 40's and 50's and 60s.

Does the success of Mamma Mia indicate a demand for more of this type musical?

 

[Billo_Really]

You mean like all of your lame-ass quarterbacks?

Guess what, all my lame ass quarterbacks can sing better than Tom Brady and they have prettier wives!

 

[beautress]

This is the last decade of America's love affair with movie musicals. In the decades of the 30s, 40s, and 50s we averaged about 250 movie musicals a year. In 1958, MGM released the last of it's great musicals, Gigi. In the 1960s we still had a lot of musicals but the numbers were falling, only 140 for the decade as was the quality with many rather silly teen musicals and Elvis Presley films.

In 2000, we had less than 100 musicals and in the 2020's we will surely have less. Not only have the numbers fallen but so has the size of the musicals, less cast, more animations, more concert tours, etc... There are many reasons for the demise of the great American musicals which are covered in the link below.


So here is what I consider the best of the decade in no particular order. I'll do one more review of best musicals covering 70's and beyond.

• Bells are Ringing is an adorable musical comedy with Judy Holiday and Dean Martin.
• Flower Drum Song
• West Side Story is one of the greatest dramatic musicals to make it to the screen. I only wish it was not quite so sad.
• The Music Man, what a great musical that brings to life the small town of River City Iowa in 1912 and the infamous Howard Hill and his all boys marching band.
• Bye Bye Birdie
• A Hard Days Night
• Camelot- Probably the most notable thing about this musical other than it's association with JFK is the takeaway of the musical which is although King Arthur's plans failed the vision of Camelot remains that might does not make right but right makes might.
• Mary Poppins - Disney proves he can make a great musical that isn't animated. There's a good side story told in the movie Saving Mr. Banks with Tom Hanks which tells the story of how Mary Poppins almost did not get made.
• My Fair Lady- By far, my favorite musical. It is wise, witty, and winning. In short, a miraculous musical that is every bit as good as the Broadway production, nominated for 12 Oscars and wining 6.
• The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
• The Sound of Music - the last and some say the best of the Rogers and Hammerstein musicals
• Brigadoon
• How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying - tells the story of J. Pierrepont Finch (Robert Morse) who buys the book How to Succeed in Business, describing in step-by-step fashion how to rise in the business world. Thus begins the very funny tale how he climbs the later to success. Great songs with great performances by Robert Morse, Michelle Lee, and Rudy Vallee. The movie was remade without the music a few decades later with Michael J. Fox in the lead. Also a good movie but IMHO not as good as the original.
• Funny Girl - along with Hello Dolly, Barbra Streisand's best works. Of the two, I like Funny Girl the best.
• Hello Dolly
• Oliver

"My Fair Lady- By far, my favorite musical. It is wise, witty, and winning. In short, a miraculous musical that is every bit as good as the Broadway production, nominated for 12 Oscars and wining 6."

I loved everything about My Fair Lady, and it will always be my favorite musical because every set was a visual masterpiece, and as a visual artist of sorts, I appreciate everything about the musical miracle of a work of art that My Fair Lady was. It won 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture, and as far as I'm concerned, it was the best picture of the century and may never have even a close rival in the next 500 years.

While yes, there are a few movies out there that have one or two good musical scores, some movies have a scene or two of music so well done, people will see the movie over and over just to hear that enigmatic score again. I loved Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany's small but endearing concertos in the Captain's quarters in the evenings for the calming entertainment of the crew on quiet ocean-bound evenings. Crowe learned to play the violin for the part, and he and Bettany were amazing performers. Not a musical, but the short times they played, they sounded like lifelong professional musicians. What a lovely story was woven in between "performances."

 

[Flopper]

"My Fair Lady- By far, my favorite musical. It is wise, witty, and winning. In short, a miraculous musical that is every bit as good as the Broadway production, nominated for 12 Oscars and wining 6."

I loved everything about My Fair Lady, and it will always be my favorite musical because every set was a visual masterpiece, and as a visual artist of sorts, I appreciate everything about the musical miracle of a work of art that My Fair Lady was. It won 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture, and as far as I'm concerned, it was the best picture of the century and may never have even a close rival in the next 500 years.

While yes, there are a few movies out there that have one or two good musical scores, some movies have a scene or two of music so well done, people will see the movie over and over just to hear that enigmatic score again. I loved Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany's small but endearing concertos in the Captain's quarters in the evenings for the calming entertainment of the crew on quiet ocean-bound evenings. Crowe learned to play the violin for the part, and he and Bettany were amazing performers. Not a musical, but the short times they played, they sounded like lifelong professional musicians. What a lovely story was woven in between "performances."

I agree My Fair Lady is wonderful, probably the best musical every. It really makes me sad that the great musicals like this are totally dead to the young people today. So many musicals today are just reprises of old musicals or animations. I wonder why that is? Have people just lost their taste for musical theater, have we lost all the great creators, or is the cost of presentation so high that it is no longer practical? Is musical theater such My Fair Lady, The Music Man, West Side Story, Oklahoma, South Pacific, Fiddler on the Roof, CATS, and Phantom of the Opera distant to become just history?

 

[Failzero]

I saw “ Paint your Wagon “ at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood when it opened ( Great Fun)

 

[beautress]

I agree My Fair Lady is wonderful, probably the best musical every. It really makes me sad that the great musicals like this are totally dead to the young people today. So many musicals today are just reprises of old musicals or animations. I wonder why that is? Have people just lost their taste for musical theater, have we lost all the great creators, or is the cost of presentation so high that it is no longer practical? Is musical theater such My Fair Lady, The Music Man, West Side Story, Oklahoma, South Pacific, Fiddler on the Roof, CATS, and Phantom of the Opera distant to become just history?

Generation X is complicated....

 

[Mindful]

 

[Mindful]

Another great routine.