Botched Film Musicals

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 12:31pm

High on my list is A Funny Thing. it would have been great had they not gutted the score

The same holds true for On A Clear Day. Leaving King Of Broadway from the Producers was unforgiveable.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 12:39pm

I actually love the On a Clear Day film. I don't think musical to movie transfers have to be carbon copies of what was on stage. What worked on stage might not work on screen.

Though I do have a list of butcher jobs:
A Little Night Music
A Chorus Line
Pal Joey
Rent

[RainbowJude]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 12:40pm

Agreed on FORUM; it could have been so much better. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA was awful, as was THE PRODUCERS. CAROUSEL is another one that was just completely botched. MAME too, and HELLO, DOLLY could certainly have been better. GIRL CRAZY - great cast, poor adaptation, wrong director. ANNIE and ANNIE GET YOUR GUN. The 1951 SHOW BOAT...

I'd better stop now, before I really get started.

Posted: 11/15/09 at 12:41pm

Agreed on Forum (I actually like most of Richard Lester's comic romps from this time, it's too bad that it didn't really work this time--great cast though). A shame too as Sondheim recently mentioned he wrote a brand new version of Free for the film (the lyric to which will be in his upcoming lyric collection).

Chorus Line tops my list--it's true that maybe it's the kinda show that never coulda worked on film (and reading all the ideas Bennett had to reinvent it, or seeing Fosse's masterful audition opening sequence to All That Jazz in comparison to this film is just depressing)--so we get a director who basically decides to film the stage play "realistically" straight on. Fine--then why get a gimmicky new choreographer and make nearly every single mistake in interpretating the material you could? A film of the stage material woulda been pretty uninspired but it woulda taken less effort to **** up.

I know A Little Night Music will be on the list hereby many but as I've said way too much on here already I think it's not as bad as its rep would have you think. It's not great either, but I wouldn't put it here, myself.

On the Town is a fun Gene Kelly movie musical. As an adaptation of the Bernstein/Robbins original though it nearly completely fails for me--so I think I'd call it bothced--ifnotan awful film on its own terms.

Does the King and I animated film count?

I have a feeling I'll be defending a number of picks people have for this list... I can't really think of a lot of musical adaptations I find AWFUL. Oh Rent of course--just a poor choice of director.

There are film versions I think aren't very good--Phantom of the Opera is one, Hello Dolly is another, but either I don't have much love for the originals, or I don't think they're bad enough to be complete debacles.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 12:44pm

I love the Hello Dolly! film...

Posted: 11/15/09 at 12:59pm

You can have Dolly, and I'll have Night Music

What about Mame? Man of La Mancha?

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 1:02pm

about half of Damn Yankees (the chair song, the staging of Those were the Good Old Days etc.)

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 1:34pm

And the director refusing to give Verdon any close-ups.

[James885]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 1:38pm

Most of the ones I could think of have already been mentioned, but oh well:

Rent
A Little Night Music
A Chorus Line
Mame
The Producers
The Phantom of The Opera
The Music Man (the one with Matthew Broderick)
Gypsy (the TV version with Bette Midler)

Updated On: 11/15/09 at 01:38 PM

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 2:43pm

A Chorus Line was physically painful to sit through. The original Annie movie is pretty bad too...I do like the 1999 TV movie starring Victor Garber and Kathy Bates though. Also Man of La Mancha, though I've never managed to sit through more than 15 minutes of it...it is that bad.

[noradesmond]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 3:02pm

Agree with MAME (shudder) and also think HELLO, DOLLY was a misfire but not a complete waste. Barbra was wrong for the part and come to think of it, Walter Matthau was the only one I felt was right for his role. Anybody remember Marianne McAndrew (Irene Malloy)?

Somebody mentioned ON A CLEAR DAY. Guess we're picking on Streisand today. I sort of like the movie but thought it felt incomplete. Well, turns out director Vincente Minnelli had a much bigger film planned including more musical numbers, more character development and an intermission. Paramount got nervous and made them trim it waay down. A lot was lost. Oh to see what they had originally planned.
Updated On: 11/15/09 at 03:02 PM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 3:09pm

I have no Problem with Streisand in On A Clear Day . My problem was the gutting of the score. This show is ripe for a full scale revival.

I liked Dolly but she was too young for the role. The plus was of course her voice. Notice a really really young Tommy Tune.

A bit of trivia: Cary Grant turned down the Music Man

I like Damn Yankees except they took a few good numbers out & substituted inferior ones. At least most of the cast was intact & there was Fosse of course.

Chorus Line - No Comment
JCSS - Bizarre
Man of La Mancha - At least O Toole is a great actor but his singing made Vincent Price in Darling Of The Day sound like Sinatra

Just thought of Paint Your Wagon . A big musical & except for Presnell no one could sing. A reviewer once compared Marvin's singing like listing to water going down a rusty drainpipe.

Updated On: 11/15/09 at 03:09 PM

[Marquise]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 3:11pm

I've never seen a staged version of ON A CLEAR DAY but the film is one I've tried to watch many times and I could just not get through it. Barbra's overly shrill acting and singing, her laughable English accent as that Tentrees woman and the snooze inducing presence of Yves Montand was just too much for me to bear. I do love the score though - as performed by the original cast. The film version just doesn't cut it.

[noradesmond]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 3:29pm

Mr. Roxy, thank you for mentioning JCSS. If there is a bigger disaster of a musical film it is, in my opinion, that one. They tried so hard to make it hip and "look how cool everybody, it's a ROCK OPERA!" and it completely overpowers the score for me. So many incongruous visuals and horrific choreography - it's just a badly made film and I can't watch it. An abomination I tells ya!!

I always thought in my own twisted logic that it should be played like Cecil B. DeMille was directing with lavish settings and costumes and gorgeous cinematography and let the music create it's own mood.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 3:36pm

Roxy doesn't like Jesus Christ Superstar because the actual events are still so fresh in his mind.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 3:37pm

How did you know?

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 3:41pm

You're the one in The Last Supper complaining about the price of the meal.

[Marquise]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 3:42pm

THE WIZ. Overblown on every single level. Some of the casting choices were very good: Michael Jackson as Scarecrow, Nipsey Russell as Tinman, Ted Ross as Lion, Lena Horne as Glinda the Good and Mabel King as Evilene. Diana Ross had no business in it her on the verge of nervous breakdown performance as "Dorothy" got old real fast.

Some of the concepts were interesting and I have to say that musically it was very appealing but it was a missed opportunity. Sometimes less is more.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 3:44pm

This has officially become my favorite YT clip.

If you hate the MAME movie, or even if you like it, do yourself a favor:
MAIMED!

[BDrischBDemented]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 3:55pm

"Man of La Mancha - At least O Toole is a great actor but his singing made Vincent Price in Darling Of The Day sound like Sinatra"

Peter O'Toole was dubbed in the film. The guy who sang for him wasn't too hot either, but apparently Peter's original choice sounded nothing like him.

Say what you will, I kinda like "Man of La Mancha". Sure, it's hampered by cutting some good stuff and casting people who can't actually, you know, sing, but for some reason I still like it. Though the movie does make me concerned for what little singing Sophia Loren will have to do in "Nine".

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 3:55pm

I love the JCS movie just because the casting is awesome.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 4:08pm

My family used to watch Mame every Christmas together. No perfect but not as awful as some make it out to be.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 4:49pm

No complaints re Last Supper

I was comped & how can you argue with matzoh ball soup & a croned beef on rye?

Agree re Mame. At least they kept the score mostly intact

Updated On: 11/15/09 at 04:49 PM

[binau]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 5:20pm

"Gypsy (the TV version with Bette Midler) "

Can you elaborate a bit more on this :)?

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 5:42pm

Even if you dislike the Midler Gypsy, it's not really a butcher job. It's pretty faithful and features most of the score. Far more faithful than the original film.