Tag Archives: 1960s musicals

Musical Monday: Star! (1968)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

StarThis week’s musical:
Star! (1968) – Musical #240

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Robert Wise

Starring:
Julie Andrews, Richard Crenna, Michael Craig, Daniel Massey, Robert Reed, Bruce Forsythe, Beryl Reid, John Collin, Alan Oppenheimer, Richard Karlan, Garrett Lewis, Anna Lee (uncredited), Grady Sutton (uncredited), Jenny Agutter (uncredited)

Plot:
Biographical film on stage actress Gertrude Lawrence (Andrews).

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Musical Monday: Mary Poppins (1964)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

mary poppins3This week’s musical:
Mary Poppins (1964) – Musical #42

Studio:
Walt Disney Studios

Director:
Robert Stevenson

Starring:
Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson, Glynis Johns, Hermione Baddeley, Reta Shaw, Karen Dotrice, Matthew Garber, Ed Wynn, Elsa Lanchester, Arthur Treacher, Reginald Owen, Jane Darwell

Plot:
Set at the turn of the century in London, the Banks family can never keep a nanny for their two children, Jane (Dotrice) and Michael (Garber). When Katie Nana (Lanchester) walks out on the family, Mr. Banks (Tomlinson) has very distinct ideas of what the nanny should be like. Mr. Banks is busy with his work and Mrs. Banks (Johns) spends much of her free time protesting the women’s right to vote. A mysterious and magical nanny, Mary Poppins (Andrews), appears to not only care for the children and take them on fanciful adventures, but she helps bring the family closer together and how them what’s important.

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Musical Monday: Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Oh! What a Lovely War (1969) – Musical #758

oh what a lovely war

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Richard Attenborough

Starring:
The Smith family: Wendy Allnutt, Colin Farrell, Malcolm McFee, John Rae, Corin Redgrave, Maurice Roëves, Paul Shelley, Kim Smith, Angela Thorne, Mary Wimbush

Extended guest star appearances: John Mills, Dirk Bogarde, Phyllis Calvert, Jean-Pierre Cassel, John Clements, John Gielgud, Jack Hawkins, Kenneth More, Laurence Olivier, Michael Redgrave, Vanessa Redgrave, Ralph Richardson, Maggie Smith, Susannah York

Also starring: Vincent Ball, Pia Colombo, Paul Daneman, Isabel Dean, Christian Doermer, Robert Flemyng, Meriel Forbes, Frank Forsyth, Ian Holm, David Lodge, Joe Melia, Guy Middleton, Juliet Mills, Nanette Newman, Cecil Parker, Natasha Parry, Gerald Sim, Thorley Walters, Anthony Ainley, Michael Bates, Fanny Carby, Cecilia Darby, Geoffrey Davies, Edward Fox, George Ghent, Zeph Gladstone, Peter Gilmore, Ben Howard, Norman Jones, Paddy Joyce, Angus Lennie, Harry Locke, Clifford Mollison, Derek Newark, John Owens, Ron Pember, Dorothy Reynolds, Norman Shelley, Marianne Stone, John Trigger, Kathleen Wileman, Penelope Allen, Maurice Arthur, Freddie Ascott, Dinny Jones, Carole Gray, Bernard Jarvis, Jane Seymour (uncredited)

Plot:
Shown through fantasy metaphors, as well as real life scenes, the story follows working class British family, the Smith family, who enlist in World War I, and the juxtaposition between the fighting men, military leaders and the rich.

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Musical Monday: Get Yourself a College Girl (1964)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

get yourself a college girlThis week’s musical:
Get Yourself a College Girl (1964) – Musical #240

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Sidney Miller

Starring:
Mary Ann Mobley, Joan O’Brien, Nancy Sinatra, Chris Noel, Chad Everett, Willard Waterman, Fabrizio Mioni, James Millhollin, Paul Todd, Donnie Brooks, Hortense Petra, Dorothy Neumann, Percy Kelton (uncredited)
Musical acts as Themselves: The Standells, The Dave Clark Five, Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto, Roberta Linn, The Bellboys, the Animals, The Rhythm Masters, Freddie Bell, Jimmy Smith Trio

Plot:
Theresa Taylor (Mobley) is a student at a strict girl’s college and has been secretly writing and selling music on the side to pay her way through school. Her tantalizing, sexual songs get Theresa in hot water with the deans and college board right before the Christmas holidays. Rather than expel her, they move the day of judgement after the holidays, and ask her to avoid trouble (and men). Unfortunately, Gary Underwood (Everett) has followed her to Sun Valley, Idaho, for the winter holidays with the goal of getting a pin up painting of Theresa.

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Musical Monday: Good Times (1967)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Good Times (1967) – Musical #226

good times

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
William Friedkin

Starring:
Cher, Sonny Bono, George Sanders, Charles Smith, Mickey Dolenz (uncredited), Paul Frees (uncredited)

Plot:
Producer Mordicus (Sanders) is trying to convince singing stars Sonny and Cher (as themselves) into making a movie. Sonny is interested in making a movie, though Cher isn’t so sure. Sonny dreams of playing various roles, such as in a western, a Tarzan-like film, or a detective film.

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Musical Monday: The Fastest Guitar Alive (1967)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

fastest3This week’s musical:
The Fastest Guitar Alive (1967) – Musical #726

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Michael D. Moore

Starring:
Roy Orbison, Sammy Jackson, Maggie Pierce, Joan Freeman, Lyle Bettger, John Doucette, Patricia Donahue, Ben Cooper, Ben Lessy, Iron Eyes Cody, Douglas Kennedy, Wilda Taylor, Victoria Carroll, Maria Korda, Domingo Samudio (billed as Sam the Sham)

Plot:
Johnny (Orbison) is a singing Confederate spy, who’s guitar also doubles as a gun. Johnny and his pal Steve (Jackson) are both working to rob the United States mint for gold in San Francisco to help the Confederacy.

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Musical Monday: Kid Galahad (1962)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

kid galahadThis week’s musical:
Kid Galahad – Musical #725

Studio:
United Artists

Director:
Phil Karlson

Starring:
Elvis Presley, Joan Blackman, Gig Young, Lola Albright, Charles Bronson, David Lewis, Robert Emhardt, Ned Glass, Edward Asner (uncredited)

Plot:
Recently discharged from the U.S. Army, Walter Gulick (Presley) returns to his birthplace with the hopes of becoming a mechanic. However, no one is hiring. Out of a job and in need of money, it’s discovered that Walter can pack quite a punch and starts working with boxing promoter Willy Grogan (Young). Though Walter does well as a boxer, he faces problems when Willy’s sister Rose (Blackman) arrives at the training camp and Rose and Walter fall in love.

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Musical Monday: The Singing Nun (1966)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

singing nunThis week’s musical:
The Singing Nun (1966) – Musical #47

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Henry Koster

Starring:
Debbie Reynolds, Ricardo Montalbán, Greer Garson, Agnes Moorehead, Juanita Moore, Katharine Ross, Chad Everett, Tom Drake, Ricky Cordell, Michael Pate, Charles Robinson, Monique Montaigne, Joyce Vanderveen, Anne Wakefield, Pam Peterson, Marina Koshetz, Nancy Walters, Violet Rensing, Inez Pedroza, Jon Lormer (uncredited), Dorothy Patrick (uncredited)
Themselves: Ed Sullivan

Plot:
A nun, Sister Ann (Reynolds), loves music and enjoys singing. Father Clementi (Montalban) thinks Sister Ann should make a record, and she writes a song which becomes a hit. The record sells well and she even appears on the Ed Sullivan Show. As she rises to fame, Sister Ann realizes that the popularity may conflict with the vows she took. The film is a fictionalized biographical musical on the life and career of Jeannine Deckers (who served in the church as Sister Luc Gabriel and known professional as Soeur Sourire), a nun who rose to fame with her hit “Dominque.”

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Musical Monday: Gypsy (1962)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

gypsy 7This week’s musical:
Gypsy (1962) – Musical #164

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
Mervyn LeRoy

Starring:
Rosalind Russell, Natalie Wood, Ann Jillian, Karl Malden, Paul Wallace, Morgan Brittany (billed as Suzanne Cupito), Diane Pace, Betty Bruce, Jean Willis, Parley Baer, Harry Shannon, Faith Dane, Roxanne Arlen, Jack Benny (uncredited), Harvey Korman (uncredited), Bert Michaels (uncredited), Cubby O’Brien (uncredited), Trudi Ames (uncredited), Dick Winslow (uncredited),

Plot:
A look at the lives of performers June Havoc (Brittany, Jillian) and Louise, who became Gypsy Rose Lee (Pace, Wood), and how they were thrust into show business by their stage mother Rose (Russell). The story starts when June and Louise are young and progresses as vaudeville declines.

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Musical Monday: Viva Las Vegas (1964)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Viva Las Vegas – Musical #340

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
George Sidney

Starring:
Elvis Presley, Ann-Margret, Cesare Danova, William Demarest, Nicky Blair

Plot:
Lucky Jackson (Presley) is a down-on-his-luck race car driver who is making ends meet as a singing waiter in Las Vegas. All the while, he has hopes to compete in the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Meanwhile, he meets swim instructor Rusty (Ann-Margret) and the two fall in love.

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