What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Mary_Ethel
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#0What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 12:19pm
Hmmm... let's see... so many turkeys to choose from...
I guess my pick would be GUYS AND DOLLS.
1) As always, some of the best songs were cut to be replaced by inferior ones.
2) Marlon Brando SINGS? C'mon, just 'cause he looks good in a T-Shirt and can scream "Stella!" doesn't exactly qualify him to perform Frank Loesser numbers...
3) Frank Sinatra as JEWISH Nathan Detroit? Why didn't they just get REAL creative and cast Cary Grant in the part? 
So, what's your vote for THE WORST Hollywood version of a Broadway Musical?
"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."
#1re: What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 12:21pm
While I agree with the fact that Ole Blue Eyes was the wrong choice for Nathan and would have made a better Sky, Guys and Dolls was wonderful.
My vote goes to Chorus Line and the first version of Annie.
I got rid of my teeth at a young age because... I'm straight. Teeth are for gay people. That's why fairies come and get them
DAME
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/15/04
#2re: What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 12:21pmMy vote goes to "The Wiz". HORRIBLE. DRECK!
HUSSY POWER!
------ HUSSY POWER!
Mary_Ethel
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#3re: What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 12:25pm
I TOTALLY Agree re: A CHORUS LINE, Carl Magnum.
They took the love-for-theater anthem "What I Did For Love" and turned it into a convential romantic ballad about Zach and Cassie's relationship.
Why stop there? They could've have made "Dance-Ten; Looks-Three" into a Sesame Street-song about learning how to count.
"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."
broadwayguy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/03
#4re: What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 12:29pm
wiz
chorus line
guys and dolls
annie
AWFUL
Mary_Ethel
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#5re: What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 12:30pm
Yes, Dame.
Transforming a sweet teenager Kansas farmgirl into a 30-something neurotic schoolteacher in Harlem?
Why not just film Little Women with an all-male cast?
"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."
Mary_Ethel
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#6re: What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 12:34pm
bg2,
I like (no, actually, I don't like) how "Tomorrow" is sung under the credits of the film version of ANNIE but NEVER performed during the actual movie!
Talk about taking your HIT SONG and flushing it...
"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."
Borstalboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/9/04
#7re: What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 12:37pmA CHORUS LINE, hands down, no contest. MAME (which at least had Bea Arthur) A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (which at least had Diana Rigg) and ANNIE (which at least had Albert Finney and Carol Burnett) close seconds.
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
#8re: What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 12:39pm
A Chorus Line
Annie (and I was really looking forward to the screen version); Rob Marshall's version was better, but I'm looking for a version to include all the songs instead of doing a condensed version of the show.
Hey Dottie!
Did your colleagues enjoy the cake even though your cat decided to sit on it? ~GuyfromGermany
SueleenGay
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/9/03
#9re: What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 12:40pmUm, Hello? FORUM!
PEACE.
#10re: What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 12:45pmOh good one, some of the acting saved it though. Man of Lamancha was pretty bad too. And Paint Your Wagon could be awful if it wasn't so campy. Paint Your Wagon is an example of so bad it's great!
I got rid of my teeth at a young age because... I'm straight. Teeth are for gay people. That's why fairies come and get them
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#11re: What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 12:46pm
In addition to the ones already named:
Man of La Mancha
On The Town (cut almost the entire Bernstein score)
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
Mary_Ethel
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#12re: What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 12:48pm
Yes, Sueleen, FORUM cut 90% of Sondheim's lovely score.
And Carl Magnum, did you know that Lee Marvin's 'rendention' of "Wandrin' Star" was a pop hit when the film was released--because it was such a down-right HOOT to listen to?
"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."
Mary_Ethel
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#13re: What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 12:51pm
Leonard Maltin on Film Version of MAN OF LA MANCHA:
"Beautiful source material has been raped, murdered, and buried."
"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."
#14re: What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 12:53pmGodspell and Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris are the two worst film versions of musicals I've ever seen.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#15re: What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 12:53pmWithout a doubt..."Hello Dolly" !!!
"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Mary_Ethel
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#16re: What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 12:54pm
Margo,
It is my understanding that MGM tossed out most of Bernstein's score so Edens, Comden and Green would have to write a NEW score that MGM would have FULL recording and publishing rights to.
I believe the story is in the book THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT!: THE ARTHUR FREED UNIT AT MGM.
"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#17re: What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 12:54pm
A Chorus Line (for a show about dancers auditioning for a show, how come you never see Audrey Landers actually dance?)
Maimed (I love Lucy, but not when she's trying to croak If He Walked Into My Life)
A Little Night Music (couldn't they dub Taylor? couldn't they afford Marni Nixon?)
Hello Dolly (Streisand was too young, Tune was too tall)
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
JLagow
Chorus Member Joined: 5/20/03
#18Oh I think it just has to be A Chorus Line ...
Posted: 12/1/04 at 1:08pm
1. Performances blah
2. Dropped "Hello Twelve ..."
3. Added that stupid song "Surprise Surprise"
4. Changed the whole context of "What I did For Love" - the song is the whole point of the show, and they changed the context!
James
MasterLcZ
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/12/03
#19re: What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 1:10pm
SOMETHING FOR THE BOYS. The entire Porter score save the title song was junked in favor of a really bad one by Jimmy McHugh and Mack Gordon. Vivian Blaine, Perry Como, Carnen Mirando and Judy Holliday do what they can, but nothing can be saved once Phil Silvers sings about South Africa in 'Oooga-Booga' dialect. In blackface.
"Christ, Bette Davis?!?!"
#20re: What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 5:00pmI liked On The Town, as long as you didn't know that it was supposed to be completely different. If it had come out before the stage version, I would have liked it, probably.
HROK?
gettinhep
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/9/04
#21re: What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 5:50pm
MAME was a dreadful film. I was waiting for Ethel Mertz to come in and say, 'surprise!'
As for Marlon Brando as Sky in 'Guys and Dolls,' ouch. Did he actually hit a note?
But, I have to say that by removing the poignant moments, and most of the Bernstein score from 'On The Town', MGM effectively neutered a marvellous wartime musical. It became Roger Eden's 'On The Town'. It's very sad that they couldn't find a place for 'Some Other Time.'
'Try not to have a good time...this is supposed to be educational.' - Lucy Van Pelt
timote316
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/20/04
#22re: What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 6:48pm
I have to agree 100% with Guys and Dolls. I know its a comedy, but I don't think it was supposed to be as funny as I made it out to be. I laughed through the whole thing!
'Luck Be a Lady'. Great song, one of the all time best, IMO. However, when its spoken, not so much. Frank Sinatra would have made a great Skye...
#23re: What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 6:53pmA Chorus Line.
The choice may have been mistaken, The choosing was not... "Every day has the potential to be the greatest day of your life." - Lin-Manuel Miranda
The Grovers Corners Yenta
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/3/04
#24re: What's THE WORST Hollywood Film Adaptation of a Broadway Musical?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 6:53pmI have two of them: Hello Dolly........Streisand just isn't Dolly! The Man of La MAncha because the music was awful /
"Friends are the people you chose as family."....Me.
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