BARRY LEVINE: Movie musicals leave a lasting impression — Part II

Editor’s note: Final of a two-part series on movie musicals from 1950 to 1978. The movies are listed by the year they were released.

West Side Story – The 1961 romantic musical was adapted from the 1957 Broadway musical by the same name. The film starred Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno and George Chakiris and captured 10 of the 11 Academy Awards for which it was nominated.

The American Film Institute ranks it No. 2 on its list of top musicals.

The movie focuses on the summer of 1960 in the West Side’s Lincoln Square neighborhood in Manhattan, where there is tension between a white American gang, the Jets, and a Puerto Rican gang, the Sharks. After a brawl erupts and participants are separated by police, the Jets decide to challenge the Sharks to a rumble at a dance for neighborhood control.

Among the songs from the movie that became pop standards are “Maria,” “Tonight,” “America,” “Somewhere” and “I Feel Pretty.”

Bye, Bye Birdie – The 1963 musical comedy was adopted from the Broadway play by the same name. Dick Van Dyke, Jesse Pearson, Maureen Stapleton, Janet Leigh, Paul Lynde, Bobby Rydell and Ann-Margaret starred in the movie.

The plot centers around rock star Conrad Birdie (Pearson), who receives an Army draft notice, devastating his teen fans. Albert Peterson (Van Dyke) is an unsuccessful songwriter, and music is the family business. He schemes with his secretary and long-suffering girlfriend Rosie DeLeon (Leigh) to have Conrad sing a song Albert will write. Rosie convinces Ed Sullivan to have Conrad perform Albert’s song “One Last Kiss” on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” and then kiss a randomly chosen high school girl goodbye before going off to the Army.

Among the movie’s memorable songs are “Bye, Bye Birdie,” “Put on a Happy Face” “One Boy” and “One Last Kiss.”

My Fair Lady – The 1964 musical film was adapted from the Lerner and Loewe stage musical and was based on the 1913 play “Pygmalion” by George Bernard Shaw.

The film starred Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison as Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins, respectively, with Stanley Holloway, Gladys Cooper and Wilfrid Hyde-White in supporting roles. The film captured eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Harrison) and Best Director.

The AFI lists “My Fair Lady” as eighth among the greatest musicals of all time.

The film depicts Eliza Doolittle (Hepburn), a poor London flower seller who overhears an arrogant phonetics professor, Henry Higgins (Harrison), as he casually wagers that he could teach Doolittle to speak “proper” English, thereby making her presentable in London’s high society.

Among the famous songs from the movie are “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” “With a Little Bit of Luck,” “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “On the Street Where You Live” and “Get Me to the Church on Time.”

Mary Poppins – The 1964 musical-fantasy collected a record 13 Academy Award nominations, winning five, including Julie Andrews for Best Actress, Best Original Music Score and Best Original Song for “Chim Chim Cher-ee.”

Also starring in the movie were Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson and Glynis Johns.

AFI ranks it sixth among the greatest musicals of all time.

“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” and “Chim Chim Cher-ee” are the two most memorable songs from the movie.

The Sound of Music – Starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer with Richard Haydn and Eleanor Parker, the 1965 film is adapted from the 1959 Broadway show by the same name. Richard Rodgers composed the music with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.

This is fourth on the AFI list of musicals.

The film focuses on a young Austrian woman (Andrews) who is studying to become a nun in Salzburg in 1938 and is sent to the villa of a retired naval officer (Plummer) and widower to be the governess for his seven children. After teaching the love of music to the family through kindness and patience, she marries the officer and together with the children they find a way to survive the loss of their homeland through courage and faith.

The movie’s most memorable songs are “The Sound of Music,” “Do-Re-Mi” and “My Favorite Things.”

The film was nominated for 11 Oscars, winning five, including Best Picture.

Hello Dolly! – The 1969 romantic comedy is based on the Broadway show by the same name. The cast includes Barbra Streisand, Walter Matthau, Michael Crawford, Danny Lockin, Tommy Tune, Marianne McAndrew, E. J. Peaker and Louis Armstrong.

A matchmaker named Dolly Levi (Streisand) takes a trip to Yonkers, N.Y., during the 1890s to see the “well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire,” Horace Vandergelder (Matthau). While there, she convinces him, his two stock clerks and his niece and her beau to go to New York City. In New York, she fixes up Vandergelder’s clerks with the woman Vandergelder had been courting, and her shop assistant.

Armstrong’s rendition of the title song rose to No. 1 in the nation in May 1964.

Fiddler on the Roof – The 1971 musical comedy was adopted from the Broadway play by the same name.

The film stars Chaim Topol as Τevye; Norma Crane as Gold, his wife; Rosalind Harris as Tzeitel, the oldest daughter; Michele Marsh as Hodel, the second daughter; Neva Small as Chava, the third daughter, and Molly Picon as Yente, the matchmaker.

The movie centers on Tevye, the father of five daughters, and his attempts to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural traditions as outside influences encroach upon the family’s lives. He must cope both with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters, who wish to marry for love – each one’s choice of a husband moves further away from the customs of his faith.

“Matchmaker, Matchmaker,” “If I Were a Rich Man,” “To Life” and “Sunrise, Sunset” are the movie’s key songs.

“Fiddler on the Roof” was nominated for eight Academy Awards, collecting three, including Best Music, Scoring Adaptation and Original Song Score and Best Sound.

Cabaret – The 1972 drama starred Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Joel Grey.

Situated in Berlin in 1931, the film is based on the 1966 Broadway musical. The movie centers on a young American, Sally Bowles (Minnelli), who performs at the Kit Kat Klub. A new British arrival in the city, Brian Roberts (York), moves into the boarding house where Sally lives. A reserved academic and writer, Brian gives English lessons to earn a living while completing his doctorate. Sally tries seducing Brian and suspects he may be gay. Brian tells Sally that on three previous occasions he has tried to have physical relationships with women, all of which failed. They become friends, and Brian witnesses Sally’s Bohemian lifestyle. Sally and Brian become lovers despite their earlier reservations; they conclude that his previous failures with women were because they were “the wrong three girls.”

The most memorable song from the film is “Cabaret.”

The movie earned eight Academy Awards, including Best Director (Bob Fosse), Best Actress (Minelli) and Best Supporting Actor (Grey). It was also nominated for Best Picture and for Best Adapted Screenplay, losing both to “The Godfather.” “Cabaret“ holds the record for most Academy Awards won by a film that did not win the Oscar for Best Picture.

Grease – The 1978 romantic comedy is based on the musical by the same name. The film centers on the lives of two high school seniors during the late 1950s. John Travolta played the bad boy and Olivia Newton-John the good girl.

Stockard Channing, Jeff Conaway, Michael Tucci, Didi Conn, Eve Arden, Dody Goodman and Sid Caesar also played important roles in the film.

“Grease” grossed $394,955,690. It was for a while the highest-grossing musical in history, surpassing the 13-year-old record held by “The Sound of Music.” It has since been eclipsed by “Les Misérables,” “Mamma Mia!” and the 2017 release of “Beauty and the Beast,” making Grease the fourth highest-grossing live action musical.

Among the movie’s memorable songs are “Grease,” “You’re the One That I Want,” “Summer Nights,” “Look at Me I’m Sandra Dee” and “Greased Lightning.”

The American Film Institute’s Top 15 musicals of all-time are:

1 – “Singing in the Rain,” 1952

2 – “West Side Story,” 1961

3 – “The Wizard of Oz,” 1939

4 – “The Sound of Music,” 1965

5 – “Cabaret,” 1972

6 – “Mary Poppins,” 1964

7 – “A Star is Born,” 1954

8 – “My Fair Lady,” 1964

9 – “An American in Paris,” 1951

10 – “Meet Me in St. Louis,” 1944

11 – “The King and I,” 1956

12 — “Chicago,” 2002

13 – “42nd Street,” 1933

14 – “All That Jazz,” 1979

15 – “Top Hat,” 1935

Barry “The Old Rocker” Levine is an entertainment writer for The Albany Herald. He can be reached at [email protected].