Hello everybody and welcome back to 80's I'm a time of all, I'm a new shop of all I know, I'm a new shop. Hello everybody and welcome back to 80s all over. This is one of our bi-monthly bonus episodes for our wonderful Patrons over at Patreon. And Drew, I think that we've killed that running gag where I can't pronounce Patreon. I think that's dead. Did you just finally get worn down by people saying,

no, no?

And you know, I know what words are supposed to sound like. You're just not going to argue with the unwashed masses anymore? Yeah, when I look at the word P-A-T-R-O-N, that's Patreon. I'm sorry, it just is. No, it is Patreon. You're right. You are correct now. What did I used to say Petrayam?

Yes, you used to say Petrayam.

Is that what I used to say? That's not what I used to say.

Totally what you used to say, Petrayam? Yes, you used to say. Petrayam.

Is that what I used to say?

That's not what I used to say.

Yes, that's totally what you used to say.

All right, you know what?

I don't want to do this podcast anymore.

I want to retire.

We're going to just switch over to Marvel all over

and talk about Marvel movies forever.

Well, don'll make enough. So we are here to discuss a very special thing drew on this bonus episode. And why don't you tell our listeners what it is we'll be discussing. You sent a very vague idea and I like it because it's broad enough that there's a lot of room to talk and it's also specific enough that we won't go all day. And you kind of brought up 80s movie musicals. And it's interesting because like I told you, I just saw the other day, they put out a video that is sort of the commercial slash preview for the move on Rouge stage version that they're doing. And it seems like they do that with everything now. Everything gets a stage version, everything gets a live version. And it made me wonder, what kind of 80s musicals could make that jump? Could there be a Blues Brothers Broadway show? Oh God. Shut your fucking mouth. That would make me so happy. And I'm not a staged guy. I have not seen many stage productions. I like obviously I'd like to see a player a musical on stage, but I live in Philly, not New York. And they're kind of prohibitively expensive for a guy like me.

But I do love movie musicals, and the 1980s is where my love of movie musicals was born, and I'm betting it did that same thing that happened for you. So what was your entry point? You know, like most movie nerds, if you're a kid, you've dealt with musicals growing up. You can't escape them. you know, the Wizard of Oz is probably the first musical that most kids deal with.

Yeah.

And, but I think that a little boys at my age were just musicals were not that interesting. I liked action horror sci-fi, but then in 1986, I went to see a movie that changed my whole freaking life. Now, it just turned me into a big musicals fan. And that film, of course, is Frank Osses' adaptation of Little Shoppers. And it's funny because you can honestly say that all of the modern Disney era, everything from Little Mermaid, Nollivin Company on, all of it begins with Little Shopper Hearts. Because if those guys had not had have that show And they did not been a hit Disney would not have put them to work on their films and they wouldn't have had that beauty in the beast era I just don't think it would have been the same Drew of course is referring to the brilliant songwriting team of Minkin and Ashman and they they helped turn a Cult film from Roger Cormin starring Jack Jack Nicholson, into a viable, vibrant, a beloved stage play, and then they turned it into a film. And that film was hit. And as Drew said, that probably did a lot of, did a lot to get them the job on a little mermaid. Not only to get them the job, but also when you listen to what they did, so well in Little Shop of Hars, which was, they specifically specifically by setting it in the 50s and playing with 50s music and playing with the sort of duop form for the Greek chorus, they made it very clear that they could write basically anything. And so like when you look at what the Disney films are, they lean so heavily on that show business tradition, and they never were that before then. Like the modern Disney musical and what we grew up with the jungle book era, like the Sherman Brother's stuff, totally different kinds of musicals. Yeah, and what's interesting about musicals in the 80s is that they really were dead for a while. I mean, like if you grew up in the 60s, musicals were pretty prevalent. If you grew up in the 80s, musicals was almost like, do they still make these anymore? So I thought it might be interesting to go through the decade, maybe chronologically, a rattle off some musicals from each year, and that'll give our listeners an idea of how, I don't want to say extinct, but how on life support or how on the a danger species list musicals seem to be in the 80 80s. I drew obviously I think we would both agree that the Blues Brothers is the best musical of 1980. And a great movie musical period. I would argue John Landis is one of the few modern directors who has not only repeatedly shown that he has musical chops, but I think who gets how musicals are supposed to make you feel. When a musical number kicks in man, the hair on the arm should stand up. And the blues brothers does it over and over. There are so many good numbers in that, whether it's the James Brown number, which always kills me, or Aretha Franklin in the cafe or just them on stage at the end. I love everybody needs somebody is that whole sequence. The way it's shot and cut. I love that concert sequence But there were other musicals in 1980. Let's rattle through those real quick Drew give me a lyric on the apple. Oh my god What's the song? I want him. I'm gonna come. I'm gonna come. I'm gonna cut. There's like there's one song It's nothing but some people singing about coming. Um, yeah, that movie is bananas and and maybe the death of disco if there if anything could have put the heart at the knife in the heart, I hope it was that film. Oh, well, funny. You'd say that because in the same year, we also got. Can't stop the music. I don't know what song that was. And I believe at the end of the year, didn't we also get a ELO musical the Apple the Blues Brothers can't stop the music fame The great rock and roll swindle the jazz singer pop-i And Zanadu now see pop-i I could see them doing on stage now that movie has become such a cult item and that score is so beloved whether it's you know ptaTA repurposing it or it shows up in places now. That would be really interesting to do. Without hyperbole, without fear of exaggeration, if they turned Altman's pop into a musical, I would walk to New York City. That would be amazing. It really would and I'm surprised because Disney, I think Disney and Paramount still technically own that. I'm really surprised they haven't gone in and done something with it because they've got to know that there is a big cult audience for that film now. All right, so, so true. Generally speaking, 1980, the Blues Brothers, Fave and Popeye would be the good ones. And then the Apple can't stop the music. Ooh, Jazz singer and Zanadu. See, and jazz singer might be one of the worst of all, with great music. But yeah, there are some fun musicals. 1980, I would give it a B plus for musicals. Yeah, I would say the thing about Zanadu is they have good songs to them. It's not that they are unrelenting without merit. But like Xanadu is a case where I love yellow, I love the sound of yellow, the movie didn't make a lick of sense. But in musicals, it ultimately does come down to that soundtrack and that music. So... You're watching transition us into 1981 with your favorite lyric from the jazz singer. Oh my god. They come into America today! Wait, can I do one two? I'm gonna do one. Love on the rocks. Ain't no surprise. You gotta be smoking, though, and have your shirt open to the waste when you sing that song. All right, let's move on. 1981. Not nearly as good. The Fox and the Hound, the great moped capper pennies from heaven shock treatment. This is Elvis. Honestly, aside from pennies from heaven, I that's a negligible year and I like the great moped capper as a film as a musical. It is nowhere near what the moped movie was the moped and that's the problem as they as their films went on that music got less and less important and Paul Williams is a huge part of why that first film is so great and I do miss the the muppet songs that mattered over the course of the rest of those movies Yeah, for 1981 the number one musical by far is Penny Sherman and American pop also came out in 81 we I know we recommended that one. Oh yeah. Well, and American Pop is, it kind of gets into that thing where that's more of a a songbook musical where they're leaning on other people's music and kind of putting it to end. Those are interesting. Because they're totally different in function. You're kind of playing out the connection people already have to those songs. And I do think American top we talked about the as a sort of history of how pop music works and mattered to like a couple of generations of a family. It's really ambitious and it almost hits the mark. I just don't know if I agree with some of the musical choices they ended up making. And then we move on to 1982. This might be like the last hurrah for the musical in the 1980s for a few years. And it might be because Annie did not make as much as they thought. Is that accurate? Would you say that definitely dented it at least in terms of making the big adaptations. Well, Annie was 82 and so was the film that you and I like very much, Festival Horror House in Texas. Yeah,den Zone, which we discussed, Greece II, one from the heart, Pink Floyd the Wall, the pirate movie, Star Struck, and Victor Victoria. I mean, I put it on the list, but Victor Victoria is a musical, right? 100%. Absolutely. Like Edwards understands how to stage classical numbers.

So that has some big giant numbers in it. So with 80 to you, I know you like one from the heart. I know I used to like the pirate movie. One from the hearts of mess. I mean, that is that's that weird experimental thing where they the idea that I think Coppola did twice. We'll talk about the other one in 84, but where he was going to rebuild the musical and He was gonna figure out a brand new form for it.

And I know guys loved it.

Filmmakers love that idea. So we'll talk about the other one in 84, but where he was gonna rebuild the musical and he was gonna figure out a brand new form for it.

And I know guys loved it. Filmmakers love that idea that they're gonna refigure the musical. There's a reason they work the way they work. And I think ultimately the harder you push to break it, the more you kind of prove that it works a certain way. Right, and which is it, which do you prefer? Do you prefer a musical where the music is the is part of the DNA like an Annie or do you prefer one that's more of a jukebox musical? Like that's more, you know, that that we're dealing mostly with classical musicals here. But we're going to get into it as we get later in the decade, like stuff like foot loose. Yeah, can't stop the music and yeah, flash dance is not a musical. It's a drama with a lot of music in it and some dancing. It's funny because I don't know how you define that. That's that weird MTV influence. We'll talk about the fact that they broke it. They broke what that was. And they're the closest to a real disruptor that I think ever happened to the movie musical was the idea of the MTV thing. But I love really well-written thematically sound musicals that's why's why I like Bessertal, Horror House, and Texas so much. Even though Dolly wrote some of that stuff for the movie, it all feels like it works together and there's an emotional kind of through that works for that whole thing. Yeah, I agree. And I think why the best movie musicals work well is, I think the best directors realize, Look, a lot of people don't get to go to New York City and see a musical. So what would I would like to do is give them that adrenaline rush, that emotional rush, that that jazzy, excited feeling that people get as they watch a theatrical musical. And I think that best little warehouse does it. I think Little Shop does it. But not

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