AFI's 25 Greatest Movie Musicals

Sound of Music, I bet.

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"Singin' In The Rain".

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LiKE ItS TotALLY Gounna BE ReNT

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It's always been said that "Singin' in the Rain" is the greatest movie musical of all time. That will probably be first with "Wizard of Oz" a close second.

Guesses on the others?

West Side Story
Sound of Music
Oliver!
Chicago
Cabaret
My Fair Lady
Easter Parade
Beauty and the Beast
The Broadway Melody
Fiddler on the Roof
42nd Street
Grease
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
The Lion King
Mary Poppins
South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut
White Christmas
HAIR

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AFI's past lists have been pretty legit, so i doubt High School musical will be there.

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Try this link.
Musicals Ballot

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I love that COURT JESTER and SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS are on it. love those.

but why the hell is SOUTH PARK on there? I realize it has songs in it but, uh, no? not one of the greatest of all time.

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It's true, by the way, that Sondheim loves the South Park movie (and South Park in general..during Frogs rehearsal. he would watch runthroughs in a Mister Hanky t-shirt). Personally, I would love to see the South Park musical in the top 100. I would much prefer it to the embalmed My Fair Lady, that will probably make the top 10.

For number one? My vote would be Top Hat, but I'm sure it will go to Singin' In The Rain.

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Dollars to doughnuts BIGGER, LONGER AND UNCUT will be in the Top 25. Voters will sooner choose a newer film that they know and have recently seen than esoteric stuff like HALLELUJAH, I'M A BUM or THE LOVE PARADE.

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Wizard of Oz for #1.

Here would be my own Top 25 (not in order):

1. Wizard of Oz
2. Sound of Music
3. West Side Story
4. Oliver!
5. Singin' in the Rain
6. An American In Paris
7. Chicago
8. Meet Me In St. Louis
9. My Fair Lady
10. Gigi
11. Cabaret
12. The King and I
13. Seven Brides For Seven Brothers
14. 42nd Street
15. Moulin Rouge
16. Fiddler on the Roof
17. Yankee Doodle Dandy
18. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
19. Easter Parade
20. The Band Wagon
21. Top Hat
22. Babes In Arms
23. Swing Time
24. Funny Girl
25. Mary Poppins


And of course… Burt Barcharach’s “Lost Horizon”

EDITED: Because I missed some.

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Updated On: 8/29/06 at 10:30 AM

In AFI's Top 100 Movies of All time back in the late nineties, The Wizard of Oz was the first musical on the list at #6. Singin' in the Rain was the second musical on the list at #10. I think it will be a close race between these two.

My personal opinion is that The Wizard of Oz should definitely take home the honor. I personally have never even liked Singin' in the Rain and have always found it quite generic and recycled (which most to all of the songs are).

LiKE ItS TotALLY Gounna BE ReNT

Heh, I too feared responses like that...however...

I'm probably going to get branded a crazy "new movie musical" lover who hasn't taken the time to see some classics (not true), but I would like to know why the movie versions of "Phantom", "Rent", and "The Producers" didn't even make the ballot list. I wouldn't expect any of them to be in the Top 25, but I'm not sure what would be wrong with at least including them on a ballot. Yes, I know they are all too recent to have had any significant impact yet, but keep in mind "Chicago" and "South Park" (both Oscar winners, I know) made it to the list and neither is more than a decade old (also, how much impact have films like "The Girl Can't Help It" and "The Court Jester", both of which made it to the list, had in the world of movie musicals?). And yes, I know that the general concensus among critics was that these newer movies were not masterpieces, but they are at least more entertaining and sophisticated than some of the older films that made it to the ballot list. Remember, not all of the greats we love today were hailed by critics when they first opened, and some of the older movies on this list still wouldn't be.

There could be an understandable technical reason that newer films didn't make the cut--maybe there was a date cut-off, who knows--but in the absence of an explanation, I still wonder why these films were given the cold shoulder. Yes, the ballot list is made up of truly great films from every decade, from "Singin' in the Rain" to "Meet Me In St. Louis" to "West Side Story" to "Cabaret" to "Chicago", ones that deserve to make the Top 25 and which probably will. But I think the newer films, which--admit it--many of us have enjoyed, should have been given a fair chance along with the classics (and the "meh" films that seem to have simply made the list because they were old).

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Updated On: 8/29/06 at 10:54 AM