Comments on: 5 Reasons 1980 Wasn’t the Best Year for Movie Musicals

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:28:00 +0000

I watched The Apple, Xanadu, and Sgt. Pepper one day back to back to back. I’ve never been quite the same.

By: Just Kelly

Just Kelly — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 03:07:39 +0000

And here I thought I was going to be the lone voice defending Popeye! Heck, I still love the songs, and I understand the town they shot it in (over in–where was it?–Malta?) is a major tourist site even today. It just IMO wasn’t what people were expecting, and you got the Dogpile Effect you sometimes get with these things.

That being said, Can’t Stop The Music? Awful.

By: Jill

Jill — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 06:39:11 +0000

I heard in an interview that Popeye was the favorite movie of Robin William’s mother. And you can’t argue with someone’s mother.

By: EMStoveken

EMStoveken — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:38:42 +0000

Anyone seeking to laugh until they cough blood would be wise to seek out Nathan Rabin’s review of The Apple for the My Year of Flops feature over at the avclub dot com.

Great great stuff

By: jmy9595

jmy9595 — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:27:59 +0000

Oh and so close on the heels of Mae West’s 1978 swan song Sextette. In which she’s seen in a swan-shaped bed. Best line in Xanadu? Something like, “How can you say Xanadu doesn’t matter?” Let me count the ways. Come on…Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly on Roller skates? I’m in!

By: dcm

dcm — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:51:56 +0000

Neil Diamond is infallible.

By: Erik

Erik — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:13:58 +0000

Popeye should NOT be on this list.

I have this on laser disc.

By: Joanna

Joanna — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:45:57 +0000

I heard about Xanadu on some VH1 special (or something) a couple years ago, and all I could think was, “These people took this seriously?” The moral of the story: Sondheim and Bernstein made movie musicals work. You’re not Sondheim and Bernstein.

reCAPTCHA: “feets stummick” Sounds like my martial arts class.

By: Sillstaw

Sillstaw — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:17:13 +0000

I loved “The Apple.” An acquaintance of mine pointed out one of the many, many logical issues with the film: It’s a glam-disco-rock musical that’s anti-glam, anti-disco, and anti-rock. You’re supposed to regard the folk singers as righteous, and the glam-disco singers as eeeevil. The costumes are also hilariously hideous; allegedly, some of them were made with spandex and garbage bags. (Okay, that might be a joke, but who knows?) And finally, it deserves mention that the eeevil mogul’s henchman was so ridiculously camp that it was unbelievable. I swear, he had silver lipstick on.

By: nutmeag

nutmeag — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:49:30 +0000

@collier: I was about to post that myself! I was so excited when I saw it last night. I’m actually watching it right now at work, hehe. Hulu is pure awesomeness.