Doug and I were 60 percent in agreement!

Have I told you guys how great you look in garnet?

Have I told you guys how great you look in garnet?

This is to make up for that long post that no one but me could have found interesting. (And I wouldn’t have, either, if it had been about someone else!)

This morning Phillip Bush said something way wrong on Twitter — that cool as it was, the theme from “Mission Impossible” wasn’t Lalo Schifrin’s best. That instead, it was the theme from “Mannix.”

Knowing I could not win an argument with Phillip about music, I tried anyway, saying, essentially, nuh-uh! I also mentioned “Peter Gunn,” to give my case force by mentioning a show that was on before I was old enough to stay up that late.

Obviously, I was doomed.

But then Bryan, whose brain has not been recently damaged by a stroke, said he agreed with me, then quickly changed the subject:

Related: Give me your top five movies that are primarily *about* music.

Nice one, Bryan.

Bryan, Phillip AND our own Doug Ross all offered their lists before I returned, as follows. Doug’s:

Bryan’s:

and Phillip’s:

No, I don’t know know to separate those. Anyway, I had nothing to add. But I thought Doug’s was the most creative, and immediately endorsed his last three picks, adding two from the other lists:


I think we were all too contemporary. I suspect we did injustice to the music of earlier generations. For instance, were we all wrong to have left out “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” which featured Jimmy Cagney dancing down stairs?

And wouldn’t our grandparents have scorned us for leaving out “The Jazz Singer?

I dunno. What do y’all think?

mugshot-james-cagney-dancing-robert-odierna-criminal-movie-reviews

James Cagney, dancing down stairs!

15 thoughts on “Doug and I were 60 percent in agreement!

  1. Brad Warthen Post author

    The amazing thing about Doug’s three contributions: They were all about fake bands, but were all awesome!

    Of course, Almost Famous cheated by really being about the REAL music of 1973, limiting the fake Stillwater to one fake song.

    And with Spinal Tap you were invited to laugh at classics like “Big Bottom” (still thinking “Stonehenge” was awesome WHILE laughing at it).

    But “That Thing You Do” made up a band, played ONLY made up music (a whole album’s worth), and still worked. I don’t know how they pulled it off, but they did…

  2. Brad Warthen Post author

    You see what I did? I replaced the “Almost Famous” image with one from “That Thing You Do.” I’m willing to try almost anything to get some comments.

    If you liked the other one, here it is…

    C0oksxHVEAAIKB8

  3. randle

    I’ll bite, as “Yankee Doodle Dandy” is one of my all-time favorite movies. Yes, it belongs on any “best-of” movies about music. Our original song-and-dance man portrayed pretty perfectly by another iconic song-and-dance man. Happy, happy, joy, joy, from start to finish. BTW, Cagney added the tap-dance-down-the-stairs bit during filming. Another reason to love him.
    I would add “A Hard Day’s Night” to any best-of list about music. A real live band making music that will endure.
    Speaking of enduring, Broadway.com streamed a 90th Birthday tribute to Stephen Sondheim Sunday before last, and it was delightful and moving. Lots of Broadway performers singing his wonderful songs from their basements, kitchens, whatever. His music and lyrics just shine. It’s called “Take Me To The World,” and it’s also on YouTube. Happy, happy, joy, joy, with his pitch-perfect ambivalence. But I effuse.
    https://youtu.be/g_QR91Oil2Y.
    Don’t know if this will work, as I have never tried to do a link from YouTube before.

  4. Bill

    A Hard Day’s Night
    West Side Story
    Woodstock
    Stop Making Sense
    Coal Miner’s Daughter

    1. Brad Warthen Post author

      I was wondering when Bill would check in on this.

      I like your first one and your last one. But I don’t think I’ll change my five…

  5. Norm Ivey

    My list goes up to 6…

    High Fidelity
    Spinal Tap
    Blues Brothers
    Buddy Holly Story
    Get On Up
    School of Rock

    Some others that are well worth watching if you haven’t seen them before…
    Inside Llewyn Davis
    Blaze
    Crazy Heart
    Searching for Sugar Man
    Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best

  6. bud

    Saturday Night Fever
    Yesterday
    Bohemian Rhapsody
    Mama Mia 2
    Singin’ in the Rain

  7. Scout

    How can nobody have The Commitments on their list?

    It’s kind of hard to choose just 5. I am going to steal from other people’s lists:

    A Hard Day’s Night
    Yesterday
    That Thing You Do
    Almost Famous
    I walk the line

    And add
    Once

    1. Brad Warthen Post author

      You are so right about the Commitments! One of my favorites.

      The amazing thing about that one was, the movie was better than that book. It was impossible, even with Roddy Doyle’s talents, to bring out the full magic of the music via the written word. And the film was amazing…

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