I personally love musicals, but I accept that the adorkability of, say, the ever under-appreciated Donald O’Connor is not every viewer’s cup of tea. Musical numbers make appearances in films for a variety of reasons, from romantic to ridiculous. Here are Five Films Featuring toe tapping ditties in films that are NOT musicals.
1. (500) Days of Summer (HU DVD 8533)
I think the musical number here might be attempting to say something about the rose colored glasses this character is wearing. Possibly. It’s too subtle to tell.
2. History of the World, Part 1 (HU DVD 4108)
This is how I prefer to learn history. The Animaniacs taught me the Nations of the World, Schoolhouse Rock taught me inane basic grammar I barely use, and this super-accurate representation of the inquisition taught me the value of topical phenylephrine in the Sephardic tradition.
3. 10 Things I Hate About You (HU DVD 195)
4. Pretty In Pink (HU DVD 6848)
5. Borat (HU DVD 2633)
While it’s a stretch to call this a musical “number,” I feel like this scene really highlights the power of music to bring people together in a thoughtless, sonorous bliss. You can practically see Euterpe, muse of music, whispering in Borat’s ear and laying her gentle hand across those six strings, giving delight that transcends even nationality in a most divisive atmosphere. Art. True art.
Honorable mention and bonus film this week is Forgetting Sarah Marshall (HU DVD 8701), specifically for this experiment in stream of consciousness songwriting:
Happy viewing!