I should make some universally “greatest” lists sometime, but generally I like to just make the lists of my favorites, full of Nancy-isms and all that junk. I guess if you want greatest, go to AFI. But film is just a personal thing, you guys! There are so many cultural, stylistic and personal reasons that a person is drawn to a film and they call it “great” when really it just appeals to all of their sensibilities. Trying to extract that and find the certifiably “best” musical number is a lost cause. But it is definitely at least interesting to see different people’s personalities and what draws them to certain musical numbers. Right? Right, you guys???
10) Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face
Funny Face is a silly & cheesy but adorable forties musical, about how a fashion photographer (Fred Astaire) is training a low-key book-keep and philosophy nerd (Audrey Hepburn) to be a model, because they need someone who looks “brainy”. Audrey’s character keeps running off and getting into intellectual mischief (which is frankly the best kind of mischief!) and Astaire chases her down in a smoky, red-lit French bar, where she refuses to be pretty and insists on dancing around in a (stupid) black jumpsuit.
It’s so beatnick-y and douchebag-tastic that if it was anyone else, I’d just be sitting there with my arms crossed saying “Oh, shut the fuck up. LISTEN TO FRED ASTAIRE HE’S YOUR BOSS”. But honestly, Audrey is just so cute and silly, and the musical is so fun and sharp, and the dancing so mesmerizing, it is a hard number to resist. It certainly deserves a spot in the top ten slot if only because it showcases such a fun and unique energy that is distinctively its own, and it’s wonderful to see Audrey in this kind of silly role. It’s both out-of-character for her, yet impossible to imagine anyone else doing it.
9) No Strings In Top Hat
The go-to scene in Top Hat is “Dancing Cheek To Cheek”, but that scene sums up the problems I always have with Fred and Ginger, which is too graceful, too lucid and lovely. Granted, I do love it, but the energy that Fred Astaire can bring when he is not being overly gentlemanly is absurd. I like his schoolboy, playful dances as opposed to his grandiose numbers. I like an athletic tap, which is why I’ll never be a huge fan of Astaire over Gene Kelly. What I love about “No Strings” is that it showcases someone dancing in a way that isn’t necessarily choreographed (although it probably was), but illustrated how much fun tap can be when you are just fucking around. I also love “Isn’t It A Lovely Day To Be Caught In The Rain”, because that is essentially flirting through tap. But the solitariness, the energy, the boyish fuckery and silly obnoxiousness of No Strings…reminds me of my life maybe? This is basically what I am like in my room, minus the style, grace and bachelorhood.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCoXVmNxSIM&feature=related
8) Tra La La from An American In Paris
Frankly, An American In Paris is not a great movie. The story is weak, but the musical numbers are fantastic, so you can sit through a sort-of-not-great film in order to get to them or just youtube them. If you are a Gene Kelly purist, sit through it, if only for the snarky Oscar Levant moments. Oscar Levant plays the grumpy piano player who lives in the same building as Gene Kelly’s character. Levant was a famed piano player, and apparently exactly like he was in this scene – grumpy, silly, misanthropic and serious about his piano playing. He *nails* it, and Gene Kelly’s perfectly fluid tap accompanying it is absolutely fantastic to watch. It’s silly and goofy, like all the best Kelly numbers, but also has such a lovely cadence, and a beautiful lovesickness to it that rivals the eagerness of “Singin’ In The Rain” before it devolves into brotherly silliness. I seriously considered putting “I Like Myself” from It’s Always Fair Weather, the lovely number where Gene Kelly is astonishingly tap-dancing on roller skates. However, I think Tra La La sums up more so what I love in a Kelly number – the goofiness, the athleticism and the lovesickness.
7) Anyone Here For Love from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
This one is a bit of a newbie in my life, so maybe I have just got New Musical Jitters. But the juxtaposition between Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is so literally black-and-white, it’s one of the more endearing dynamics I’ve seen. Gentlemen is famed as a quintessential “Marilyn” movie, which overshadows how much Jane Russell kicks ass as her brainy, tough, sassy brunette sidekick. And while Marilyn croons about how pretty she is and how she wants diamonds while wearing a pink dress, Russell marches into a gym and practically screams “fuck me” at all of the muscular dudes getting stacked around her. The choreography of all of the Adonises surrounding her with regimented exercise routines is sharp and practically perfect, and watching Russell wiggle around their Grecian bodies is so retro-forties sexy. I would have loved to see Fred Astaire’s raised eyebrows at this number.
6) Step In Time from Mary Poppins
A problem I often have with large-scale musical numbers is that the unique personality, the spunk and essence of individuality, to each dancer is lost in “a number”. This number avoids that because each dancer is being, quintessentially, a replica of Dick Van Dyke’s chimney sweep. It’s like watching a million Agent Smiths do a dance routine. This dance is so full of that happy, bad-Cockney essence of his character. Which is awesome, because that way you get the splendor of a giant dance routine – all of the bodies moving in symmetry and contrast – without detracting from the strength of the character. Also, I grew up on this one. So suck it, objectivity.
5. Nicolas Brothers in Stormy Weather
So, it’s hard to write a blurb for this one, because normally I make myself sit and watch it, and then write my reactions, but every time I watch this video I get up and tap dance. Fred Astaire called this the greatest tap number ever filmed, and he’s totally right. It’s energetic, wild, and choreographed in a way that feels natural and fun. The smiles of Fayard and Harold make it all seem casual, which is absurd because they are literally defying gravity left and right. It is impossible to think of anyone else doing what they do, like when they hit the ground in the splits, and then bounce back up without using their hands. That’s a joke. That’s an alien dance routine. That’s not something that human beings can do. Add that magic to the fact that they seem to be having so much fucking fun, and the fact that they make the whole procedure look so goddamn effortless, and yeah, I mean, you pretty much have the greatest tap number of all time.
4) You'll Be A Dentist from Little Shop Of Horrors
God fucking damn, I love Steve Martin. Little Shop Of Horrors is fantastic and fun movie, but the addition of Steve Martin’s character is what really drives this into overdrive. This song is so catchy, so sadistic and so funny, and watching Steve, knowing how brilliant he is, dance all over the place and stick whirling drills into people’s mouths. It’s subversive, hilarious, strange and catchy. It’s the Steve Martin equivalent of Sweet Transvestite and there’s nothing I like better.
3) Portobello Road from Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Another bad-cockney ensemble number that gets my heart strings all a-fluttering. Bedknobs and Broomsticks is an amazing movie from the early Seventies, set in London, regarding the trials and tribulations of becoming an official witch. It has all the fun and energy of Mary Poppins, but with a wonderful spookiness coming from it's subject matter. It's a great Halloween movie for kids, and a great all-of-the-time movie for Nancys (and Nancy-like entities). Portobello Road is hands-down the best number - it starts gritty and somberly, and escalates into one of the most fun, energetic, versatile and colorful dance numbers I've ever seen. And it's subject matter! A single street devoted to small shop, knickknacks, talismans and different dance routines? Which contains a secret spellbook that Angela Lansbury needs to continue her witching training? How much more Nancy can you get?
2) Mein Herr from Cabaret
Oh. This is how much more Nancy you can get. Sally Bowles is my girl. I think she speaks to every loud and bombastic lady, who drinks too much and flirts too much, who is too flippant in her actions and frivolous about the things she attributes worth to, who is silly and callous, but is fun and caring and oddly sincere, who can be self-absorbed and manipulative at times but will cave and expose herself as the needy person she is moments later (not that I'm any of those things, I'm just a fan of bowls). Mein Herr is ominous, very german, and very gritty-sexy. The low-key acrobatics on the chairs are fantastic. The dull and defeated look in the dancers eyes is such a unique and honest expression to find in a dance routine. And most importantly, Liza nails it. This is possibly the Nancyiest musical number on the list, trumped only by 1) for reasons that will soon become obvious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chdpiSX2ino&feature=related
1) Moses Supposes from Singin' In The Rain
There is no better musical number. Honestly, this encapsulates everything I fucking love about musicals, old Hollywood, tap-dancing, Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, speech classes, ahhhhh. Sally Bowles may be more like me than Don and Cosmo, and I'd probably be more likely to get drunk and sing Mein Herr over Moses Supposes (although really, who knows? I'm a crazy lady). But there is nothing, nothing, nothing like a perfect old tap number, silly, happy and amazingly choreographed. This is the greatest, not Nancyiest, but greatest musical number. But...it's also kind of the Nancyiest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKlub5vB9z8
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