Top Ranked Musicals and Music Films

Top ranked musicals and music films, or those about musicians, from our internet survey. We added dramas (The Red Shoes), comedies (Almost Famous) concert films (Stop Making Sense), and documentaries (Woodstock) to the traditional musical films, basically anything listed that was music related. The top 46 made the overall top 1000 films, but only 3 made the top 100, and one of those (Amadeus) is a bio-historical epic drama, not a traditional musical.
© 2009, William L. Sinclair

1. Wizard of Oz, The [Fleming, Victor, 1939, US] #18
2. Singin' in the Rain [Donen, Stanley/Gene Kelly, 1952, US] #26 [photo top]
3. Amadeus [Forman, Milos, 1984, US] #63
4. Red Shoes, The [Powell, Michael/Emeric Pressburger, 1948, UK] #156
5. Nashville [Altman, Robert, 1975, US] #193
6. West Side Story [Wise, Robert/Jerome Robbins, 1961, US] #253
7. Blue Angel, The [von Sternberg, Josef, 1930, Germany] #273
8. Cabaret [Fosse, Bob, 1972, US] #281
9. Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The [Demy, Jacques, 1964, France-Germany] #289
10. Top Hat [Sandrich, Mark, 1935, US] #290

11. Meet Me in St. Louis [Minnelli, Vincente, 1944, US] #293
12. Band Wagon, The [Minnelli, Vincente, 1953, US] #312
13. Le Million [Clair, René, 1931, France] #318
14. Hard Day's Night, A [Lester, Richard, 1964, UK] #332
15. Star is Born, A [Cukor, George, 1954, US] #333
16. Night at the Opera, A [Wood, Sam, 1935, US] #342
17. American Graffiti [Lucas, George, 1973, US] #356
18. Fantasia [Sharpsteen, Ben, 1940, US] #365
19. Sound of Music, The [Wise, Robert, 1965, US] #369
20. 42nd Street [Bacon, Lloyd, 1933, US] #378

21. An American in Paris [Minnelli, Vincente, 1951, US] #437
22. My Fair Lady [Cukor, George, 1964, US] #439
23. Swing Time [Stevens, George, 1936, US] #448
24. This is Spinal Tap [Reiner, Rob, 1984, US] #471
25. All That Jazz [Fosse, Bob, 1979, US] #483
26. Don't Look Back [Pennebaker, D.A., 1967, US] #545
27. Pyaasa [Dutt, Guru, 1957, India] #561
28. Colour of Pomegranate, The [Parajanov, Sergei, 1968, USSR] #578
29. Young Girls of Rochefort, The [Demy, Jacques, 1967, France] #614
30. Triplets of Belleville, The [Chomet, Sylvain, 2003, France-Belg-Can-UK] #624

31. French Cancan [Renoir, Jean, 1954, France] #625
32. Topsy-Turvy [Leigh, Mike, 1999, UK] #662
33. On the Town [Donen, Stanley/Gene Kelly, 1949, US] #663
34. Almost Famous [Crowe, Cameron, 2000, US] #676
35. Stop Making Sense [Demme, Jonathan, 1984, US] #734
36. Hallelujah! [Vidor, King, 1929, US] #776
37. Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach, The [Straub, Jean-Marie, 1968, W. Germany-Italy] #844
38. Kaagaz Ke Phool [Dutt, Guru, 1959, India] #847
39. Threepenny Opera, The [Pabst, G.W., 1931, Germany] #880
40. Pakeezah [Amrohi, Kamal, 1972, India] #887

41. Une Femme est Une Femme[Godard, Jean-Luc, 1961, France] #948
42. Saturday Night Fever [Badham, John, 1977, US] #957
43. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers [Donen, Stanley, 1954, US] #973
44. Festival Express [Smeaton & Cvitanovich, 2003, UK-Neth] #987
45. Gigi [Minnelli, Vincente, 1958, US] #991
46. Gimme Shelter [Maysles, Albert/David Maysles/Charlotte Zwerin, 1970, US] #1002
47. Quadrophenia [Roddam, Franc, 1979, UK] #1004
48. Neil Young: Heart of Gold[Demme, Jonathan, 2006, US] #1013
49. Hedwig and the Angry Inch [Mitchell, John Cameron, 2001, US] #1023
50. Yankee Doodle Dandy [Curtiz, Michael, 1942, US] #1036

51. Tales of Hoffmann, The [Powell, Michael/Emeric Pressburger, 1951, UK] #1058
52. 24 Hour Party People [Winterbottom, Michael, 2002, US] #1063
53. Calle 54 [Trueba, Fernando, 2000, Spain-Fr-Italy] #1087
54. Black Orpheus [Camus, Marcel, 1959, Brazil-France-Italy] #1127
55. Beauty and the Beast [Trousdale, Gary, 1991, US] #1142
56. Gold Diggers of 1933 [LeRoy, Mervyn, 1933, US] #1145
57. Moulin Rouge! [Luhrmann, Baz, 2001, Australia-US] #1187
58. Full Monty [Cattaneo, Peter, 1997, UK] #1202
59. Woodstock [Wadleigh, Michael, 1970, US] #1233

[Note: I removed Yi Yi, some characters take music lessons, but the film is not a musical; music is one subject within a dramatic family story]

To These I Would Add
The Music Man [Da Costa, Morton, 1962] - where the heck is this classic, if they can list Saturday Night Fever and Moulin Rouge?

Chicago [Marshall, Rob, 2002] - one of the few musicals to win best picture, should have made some polls; my favorite Fosse musical on film

The Police: The Synchronicity Concert [Godley and Creme, 1982] - my favorite live concert on film, but #734 Stop Making Sense is better filmed and that audience dances far better!

The Last Waltz [Scorsese, Martin, 1978] - the 'farewell' concert of The Band, considered a classic of live concerts, don't know how it didn't make any polls

The TAMI Show - classic 60's rock and soul concert, with songs from the Stones, Beach Boys, James Brown, Chuck Berry, others; one of the best of its era if you can find it (TAMI = Teenage Awards for Music International)

Good list overall. My own fave is Singin in the Rain; also like My Fair Lady a lot (but more if Julie Andrews had reprised her stage role), the dancing parts of West Side Story, the Astaire classics listed (maybe add Gay Divorcee, for giving us Day and Night and The Continental) and would elevate the concert films Stop Making Sense and Woodstock, and the animated Beauty and the Beast. NO - I would NOT add Rocky Horror Picture Show!

In order to avoid possible brain damage, make sure you avoid Tommy, Ken Russell's musical of the Who's music - yikes! That film is proof that LSD is dangerous in the wrong hands..