Can't Stop the Music

Sorry but l think this is a great movie, why do people have to have a film that has a deep story line, this is just a great musical, with great numbers, big sets, and it`s fun fun fun..all the way...

see it with no pre-conceived ideas, and just enjoy it....

I'm a regular customer of a local movie theater that shows old films, and six years ago they screened Can't Stop the Music - I went to see it, and found it an absolute hoot in campy humor! No-holds-barred, super-fast direction, flashy sets and special effects, glitzy musical numbers (the YMCA scene is awe-inducing!) and actors that really looked like they had a lot of fun cooking the whole thing up! It was the best cinematic experience I ever had. Never once did I glance at my watch, which for me is rather amazing. After gobbling up the whole enchilada, I started wishing I could find a copy of it somewhere. Alas, I still haven't.

A few months ago, the same theater showed the film again. I usually don't see a movie twice in a theater, but my memory needed refreshment, and my soul some cheering up. I went, and had just as much fun as I did the first time.

What's most amazing about CSTM is that although the director (whom I recognize as the deaf-and-dumb maid in the equally enjoyable Murder By Death) makes the actors rush through their lines and behave like over-energized hyperactive brats, and narrates the story so fast there's not even time to develop moments of crisis that last longer than a few seconds, the movie actually clocks in at two hours! Be grateful to the director and the screenwriters - a third hour would just have been asking too much of the audience.

CSTM contains some of the most pointless attempts at comedy I've ever seen, and probably ever will see (Bobo Lewis's bread woman - um, huh??), and the only clever line I found was uttered by Perrine when she says bye to Paul Sand's Steve the Record Producer - it's made up almost entirely of song titles. But the actors' eagerness makes up for the lame humor, and salvages even the scenes where Jenner has to make a complete fool of himself (the trouser incident and everything that follows).

I fear that if I ever find CSTM on video or DVD, the small screen will terribly banalize the film, but I won't care. But all you out there - watch the film on the big screen if you get the chance!

Boy, where to start? My memory might fail me, but how about Steve Gutenberg rollerskating down the streets of New York, dancing to his transistor radio and wearing his corduroy OP short shorts and an Izod shirt with the collar flipped up? The mirroring camera "tricks" are sophomoric and silly, and the entire sequence sets the tone for the implausible film that follows. I wouldn't be surprised if that scene took months to film as Gutenberg was probably beaten up a multitude of times and they needed to splice together bits and pieces of footage. It isn't exactly Rocky running through the warehouse district of Philly, is it? No... No it's not. How about the brilliant decision to cast Bruce Jenner, fresh off the crowd-pleasing performance on a box of Wheaties? The best moments of the film are of the Village People following closely behind Jenner in his bare midriff t-shirts with cozy little smiles on their faces. Not even Jenner's classic method acting style was enough to help the rest of the cast rise to the ankle-level material here. I seem to recall a scene where they decide on a name for the band... "Hey... We're all from the Village, so why not The Village... PEOPLE?" Then the Village Person dressed as the Indian chief showed his approval by employing the classic Indian war call; hooting while popping his hand over his mouth. I nearly fell out of my chair.

And what about the fellow who comes to the band "try-outs" with the flaming batons? I think there was a message in there somewhere...

This film is hysterical for a million different reasons and therefore, a complete failure. Surely a must-see in order to provide acute awareness of the bad taste high-water mark.

I urge everyone to buy a bottle of booze and see this movie immediately.

If only for the Construction Worker's song "I love you to death" in which girls ride atop giant pistons and sprinkle glitter all over his jeans. Or maybe the Leatherman's rousing version of "Danny Boy" atop a table in a Board Room. Or, maybe the gigantic musical busby berkley dance numbers with added "onion skin" rainbow graphics of naked men jumping into swimming pools. Or, maybe the worlds most bizarre milk commercial starring the Village People singing about how a milkshake goes with your sandwich too.

Be warned though, the songs are kind of decent. Maybe even better than decent. And theres a great performance by the otherwise mediocre Ritchie Family. Seriously, i love this movie. Everyone i have shown it to has remembered it, and maybe hates me for it. But its definitely an original.

This is the best bad movie of all time. Ofcourse that means Steve Guttenberg and disco music are in it. I saw this once, ten years ago and will never ever forget it. The construction worker of the Village People does a musical number about milk. The film was directed by the late Nancy Walker of "quicker picker upper" fame. Bruce Jenner stars. The bizzarre factoids surrounding this film never quit. Whoever can watch this and not repeatedly laugh out loud needs to check their pulse. I fear my compulsion to buy the dvd. God help me, the howling indian. Classic badness.