Village People - Can't Stop the Music
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Movie Reviews of Village People - Can't Stop the Music
Movie Review: Separates the men from the boys...
Summary: 4 Stars
...Trust me, my jaw has not dropped in a long time (and that's not a VP-style double entendre), but nearly EVERY scene was jaw-droppingly, eye-poppingly, mind-bogglingly terrible.You know what you're in for when the main titles consist of Steve Guttenberg roller-skating through Manhattan, obstensibly "listening" and skate-dancing to the song played over the titles--however, Guttenberg instead seems to be dancing to the voices in his own head, so out of sync is he with the music.
Things get even loonier when we're asked to believe that buxom Valerie Perrine was "the face of the 70's," as in that decade's top fashion model. For WHOM? Frederick's of Hollywood? Lauren Hutton she ain't. Throw in Bruce Jenner (!!!) as the--ahem--straight man, camp icons Tammy Grimes and June Havoc, Marilyn Sokol as the very poor man's Eve Arden, and the Village People passing as hetero, and you've got one seriously twisted movie.
Let's just rundown the highlights:
1) Bruce Jenner (PLAYING A STRAIGHT MAN, I must reiterate), running around New York City in Daisy Dukes and a bare midriff, shrunken tee shirt.
2) A group of little boys in full VP drag, including the Leatherman's get-up. (It's for a milk commercial. Don't ask.)
3) David Hodo's (the Construction Worker) big solo number, "I Love You to Death," which, to be fair, seems to have been conceived as an intentionally comic parody. (However, the same could be said of the entire film.) At any rate, David can't sing, but he's really hot jumping around in his skintight jeans, while being clawed at by overly-made-up mannequins in Halston knock-offs.
4) The "YMCA" production number, which is a hysterically inept homage to "Million Dollar Mermaid" and "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"--but you do get to see a lot of bare, buffed skin.
5) The finale ultimo, with the VP is sequined versions of their uniform drag--prior to going onstage, they're visited by "special guest star Leigh Taylor-Young."
Needless to say, one must proceed with caution when deciding to buy/watch this trash masterpiece. But for those hardy souls, there is NO other film in my recent memory on which SO much money was spent, with NO redeeming results whatsoever. Every scene is awful. All of the lead "actors" are rotten--Perrine and Guttenberg must have been sniffing coke between takes, because each one performs at a disturbingly manic pace.
So why the four star review? Because it's irresistible in its own weird way--like a car crash, only vastly more entertaining. It's also a priceless time capsule of an era that was only 20-odd years ago, but seems like a lifetime away. Also, the DVD transfer is gorgeous--they must be BIG fans of this movie at the remastering studio.
Movie Review: I have been waiting 20 years for this
Summary: 5 Stars
My parents (for some ungodly reason) bought me the video of this movie when I was 5 years old - I watched it daily and absolutely loved it - I still know it by heart (sadly). Flash foward 20 years, and my friends love to throw in this video whenever we are very drunk - it has everything..drinking, drugs, music, full frontal male nudity - and it was rated PG!! god bless the 80s. We have watched this so many times that the tape is about to break, and the quality is so bad, its not worth taping again. The DVD is sure to last for another 20 yearsMovie Review: I'm Super Impressed
Summary: 5 Stars
WOW! what a wonderful transfer job that was done on this film. I have a DTS system and let me tell you folks, there is NOTHING like it. This film sound better and looked better in my home than it did when i saw it in the theatre.If any of you are really into sound and even if you don't have a DTS system, get this film anyway. Sure it's campy but it's FUN. I don't know how anyone could not have a good time watching this. It's ALIVE, it's REAL, it's FUN and don't forget to crank up the sound. Even my dad who is 78 got into this movie. It's a HAPPY and feel good film. I can't say enough great things about it.Movie Review: Blend a couple of Rum-spiked Milkshakes and have fun!
Summary: 3 Stars
You read it right: "Directed by Nancy Walker, Starring Bruce Jenner, the Village People, et. al." Hopefully the DVD release has taken care of the graininess of the photography and the odd tinniness of the sound (re: Theatrical and VHS). For a big budget, Allan Carr (the producer who brought us 'Grease'), the production values feel kind of out of dad's garage....
HOWEVER, it's hard not to enjoy the performances (Tammy Grimes's voice is an octave below the speaking voices of any of her male co-stars -- even the 'straight' ones, Valerie Perrine is her usual self-effacing comedic self, and did I mention that Bruce Jenner ACTS in this?), and the Village People deliver in the musical numbers (ridiculous, yes, but sincere in their ridiculousness).
Okay, the script is funniest when it doesn't want to be (Just listen to Steve Guttenberg and Valerie Perrine earnestly talking about following your dream)! Nancy Walker may have been under the impression that she was still working on 'Rhoda,' as the comedy plays as sitcom at best.
It's worth at least one watch!
Movie Review: It takes a village to raise a rukus!
Summary: 3 Stars
It pains me not to give this movie five stars. What a magnificent failure! What fluff and froth! The perfect movie to watch on a lazy Saturday afternoon...or at 2:00 am when you find yourself suddenly awake and incapable of going back to sleep. CSTM is "quicker picker-upper" Nancy Walker's sole directorial effort (she's quoted on the DVD extra, "The Village People Story," as defining movies as "nothing but little pieces of ... snipped together"). Like Mae West's 1978 box office dud, "Sextette," CSTM has just about everything you'd expect to find in a camp classic (beautiful men, clever women, music, over-produced self-spoofing dance numbers, costumes, costumes, and more costumes)...everything except wit, that is. But camp humor is most successful when directed against a staid and self-satisfied oppressive regime. And CSTM (like "Sextette" before it) was conceived when disco was thriving, acceptance of gay and bi culture was at its peak, and most people still believed "whatever people did was okay as long as they didn't hurt anyone." Double entendres just don't have a reason to exist when there is no moral overlord to subvert. By the time CSTM was released in 1980, disco was as dead as Duncan in Act 2, Scene 3 of "Macbeth." A year later, rumors of a "gay cancer" would change the mood of the gay community forever (in fact, a decade later AIDS would take the life of Jacques Morali, one of CSTM's creators).One wonders who Walker turned to for advice while making this film. It is a veritable Cornell box of filmic allusions (one thinks immediately of her own explanation of what she was doing). In defter hand, say Truffaut's, these efforts might be considered homages. But in Walker's, they seem to be more the bold thievings of a street Arab desperate to grab anything that might be sellable. Among the plundered are: Busby Berkeley (especially, "The Gang's All Here"), Howard Hawks (compare the YMCA number with Jane Russell's efforts to play games with the Olympic team in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"), "My Sister Eileen" (does anyone in Greenwich Village have an apartment the size of the ones in these two movies?), and every Mick and Judy "gee, it would be swell to put on a show" MGM musical. And then there's Marilyn Sokol, who turns in a fine performance in the Nancy Walker role of the homely-but-horny sidekick of the beautiful blonde lead. The Village People were great just being themselves. The only real disappointment was Bruce Jenner. He's not an actor and he has a high nasal voice that seems at odds with his athletic physique. One wonders if co-star Valerie Perrine wasn't speaking to Jenner the actor, rather than to his character, when she said, "It takes more than a pretty face."
My one remaining question is, if "Can't Stop the Music" is finally out on DVD, can "Valley of the Dolls" be far behind? Hey, Hollywood, what are you waiting for?!!!?