You know what? yes it is. Barely. There are two and a half moments in the movie that make it a musical.
First, let me talk about Crossroads, the one with The Karate Kid in it, not the one with Britney Spears. The plot is kind of the Devil Went Down To Georgia, it culminates in a guitar battle with the devil (or his minion) to get out of a deal once signed. There are several musical performances in the movie, but all make sense in context because it’s a movie about musicians. There aren’t any spontaneous street fulls of people suddenly performing an impromptu rehearsed song and dance numbers. The musical scenes in Crossroads are all perfectly plausible, like busking in a parking lot or performing on stage at a bar. Even the supernatural scene at the end is musicians performing for an audience in a venue. I love the moment where this rowdy crowd warmed up on blues and rock and roll clap politely when he busts out some classical.
Most of the runtime of the Blues Brothers has normal movie non-diegetic music; the Blues Brothers themselves don’t hear She Caught The Katy or the Peter Gunn Theme. Three major and one minor performance are perfectly realistic: There’s a short shot of John Lee Hooker performing Boom Boom busking in the street, then there’s the performance at the Redneck Bottle Throwing Bar where they play some of Gimme Some Lovin, Theme From Rawhide and Stand By Your Man, the Blues Review concert at the big hall where they play Minnie The Moocher, Everybody Needs Somebody To Love and Sweet Home Chicago, and the epilogue in prison where they play Jailhouse Rock. So far, this isn’t a capital M Musical. It’s a lowercase m music movie same as Crossroads.
What makes it a Musical is Aretha Franklin belting out Think and Ray Charles’s Shake A Tail Feather, during which reality slams to a halt and everyone everywhere become backup dancers, including out in the street where they have no chance of hearing the music. And the second one might even make sense if they didn’t cut outside to dancers in the street. I’ll buy these blues musicians knowing the song and playing along with instruments they pulled off the shelves at this music store.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 5 days ago
You know what? yes it is. Barely. There are two and a half moments in the movie that make it a musical.
First, let me talk about Crossroads, the one with The Karate Kid in it, not the one with Britney Spears. The plot is kind of the Devil Went Down To Georgia, it culminates in a guitar battle with the devil (or his minion) to get out of a deal once signed. There are several musical performances in the movie, but all make sense in context because it’s a movie about musicians. There aren’t any spontaneous street fulls of people suddenly performing an impromptu rehearsed song and dance numbers. The musical scenes in Crossroads are all perfectly plausible, like busking in a parking lot or performing on stage at a bar. Even the supernatural scene at the end is musicians performing for an audience in a venue. I love the moment where this rowdy crowd warmed up on blues and rock and roll clap politely when he busts out some classical.
Most of the runtime of the Blues Brothers has normal movie non-diegetic music; the Blues Brothers themselves don’t hear She Caught The Katy or the Peter Gunn Theme. Three major and one minor performance are perfectly realistic: There’s a short shot of John Lee Hooker performing Boom Boom busking in the street, then there’s the performance at the Redneck Bottle Throwing Bar where they play some of Gimme Some Lovin, Theme From Rawhide and Stand By Your Man, the Blues Review concert at the big hall where they play Minnie The Moocher, Everybody Needs Somebody To Love and Sweet Home Chicago, and the epilogue in prison where they play Jailhouse Rock. So far, this isn’t a capital M Musical. It’s a lowercase m music movie same as Crossroads.
What makes it a Musical is Aretha Franklin belting out Think and Ray Charles’s Shake A Tail Feather, during which reality slams to a halt and everyone everywhere become backup dancers, including out in the street where they have no chance of hearing the music. And the second one might even make sense if they didn’t cut outside to dancers in the street. I’ll buy these blues musicians knowing the song and playing along with instruments they pulled off the shelves at this music store.