Can't Stop the Music

1980 "The movie musical event of the 80's!"
4.2| 2h4m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 20 June 1980 Released
Producted By: EMI Films
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

A loose biography of seminal disco hit-makers The Village People and their composer Jacques Morali.

Genre

Comedy, Music

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Director

Nancy Walker

Production Companies

EMI Films

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Can't Stop the Music Audience Reviews

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.
MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting
Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
Java_Joe Without a word of a doubt, this has to be the gayest movie I've ever seen. I don't mean that in a bad way but there is just so much gay in this movie that it's practically overflowing with rainbows. The movie is a fictionalized explanation of how the Village People came to be. Their prime audience, at least at the start, were gay men and the outfits they wore were supposedly gay fantasy material. But in this movie the whole thing about the band being gay was really toned down to the point where it was never even mentioned. Every time you see one, he's with a woman. It might be his sister or a friend but it's never a lover and they're never alone especially with another man. Maybe this was the movie's way of being subtle. But then they throw in the tryouts for their final member and I swear they're trying to say something. Remember, this is a tryout for a singing position so explain the reasons for tumblers, muscle men who sing to their muscles and I swear a flaming gay stereotype twirling flaming batons which set off the sprinklers. Focus movie! Either they're gay or they're not. What are you trying to say with this?Of course there's Bruce Jenner in his first, and thankfully last, starring role. The man wasn't a good actor. And he's parading around at some point in shorts and a t-shirt with a bare midriff. Do you think they knew something about him even back then?Then there's the scene in the YMCA where they sing YMCA. And again, it's full of buff young men doing sports, changing clothes, swimming and eventually they all tumble down into a giant Y on the final strain of the song. This is giving out mixed signals. It's uneven. It serves as not only a vehicle for the Village People to play some songs but to see if former decathalete and Wheaties spokesperson Bruce Jenner could carry a movie. It failed in both regards.By the time the movie had come out, disco was no longer a thing and that more than anything else, killed it. It's even been said that this movie killed movie musicals for decades afterwards but I don't think that's fair. There were others that came afterwards that were worse. The movie itself is rather unremarkable. It's a bunch of bits tied together by Village People songs and performances. It's not a movie I'd recommend to anybody unless you're into bad movies or movies with heavy gay subtext in them.
thesar-2 Trust me: this movie is whack, but I couldn't help but grinning and dancing a bit by the film's end.The musical "formation" of The Village People was a crazy mesh of many different characters (and I mean oddball crazy people) and absolutely offensive stereotypes. But, gosh darn it, I liked them anyways.I am somewhat unfamiliar with The Village People with the exception of said stereotypes and at least three songs I grew up with and, yeah, danced to…even in public. But, I knew of them and actually got to see them preform at a State Fair when they opened for a favorite band of mine growing up: The Monkees. They performed well, from what budget they were allotted on a State Fair stage and only opening for another band.But, I digress. What captured me during this crazy movie was the positivity. Well, the jokes, too. Some of the jokes actually did work and the characters including "Miss Tesch-mac-her!" and Commercial Agent Channing were a ton of fun to watch. Despite all the looney and completely unrealistic occurrences and coincidences, everyone remained so positive like they really wanted to perform and be here. (It's been reported that might not have been the case, but they could've fooled me.) Additionally, some of the music and segments did get me moving. Admittedly, I watched this for a bad-movie podcast called How Did This Get Made?, since they covered it recently. And I did think it was a complete mess at first – even stopping it about half-way through and giving up on it until the next day. But, the more I think about it, I unabashedly enjoyed it. Helps there was full-frontal male nudity in it even with a PG rating. Um, I digress, again. The movie is supposed to be a loose description of how the band, The Village People and its creative "genius" (Mom's words) got started. It's pure fantasy and simply can't be taken seriously.It's just for fun and if you liked The Village People and the many more actors in here, it's worth the trip.***Final thoughts: I really only had two disappointments. One: they didn't sing my favorite Village People song: Macho Man. Come to think of it, In The Navy was also not performed and though I like that song, too, Macho Man can stick in my head all day. And two: Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner. He was simply not fun to watch. His character was all-over the place and a total buzz-kill. Yes, he was meant to be at first, but then he grew to be one of the gang and suddenly he was back to being a dick, so to speak.
Kingkitsch Today, October 28 2014, is Bruce Jenner's 65th birthday. One wonders what he'd say to his 31 year old self if he could travel back in time? "Please turn down "Can't Stop the Music!" Stay on the Wheaties box!" Alas, we shall never know, but one thing's for certain, Bruce did appear in this shiny disco ball and we're all better for it, 34 years later.CSTM remains the final nail in the coffin of what we call disco. Released too late to fully cash in on the ebbing national dance craze, this astoundingly bad movie hit every wrong note and cemented itself in memory as a wreck the size of the Titanic. So, what's really it's appeal all these years later? THE VILLAGE PEOPLE. Three little words that finally showed all the good folks in the heartland what was going on in NYC's Christopher Street area. Ostensibly a biopic of how the People got together, the plethora of wooden acting and gay denial is so thick you could cut it with a knife. What was once refused is now revered, camp has triumphed, and the People became a national treasure. No one in their right mind who finally sees this unintentionally hilarious mess can believe that the "G" word is never spoken. Despite being a near-documentary about life in the gay district, everyone is presented as heterosexual. Perhaps someone living under a rock in North Dakota believed this, but no one else did. Today, the clues and innuendos are all out there ( pun intended) and we can enjoy the gloriously horrendous acting by everyone on screen. Of course, "YMCA" went on to become as well known as the national anthem, played at every wedding reception since the song first appeared. Of note here are:The auditions for the "new singing group". Featuring Leatherman Glen Hughes belting out "Danny Boy" in full leather drag while standing on a corporate boardroom table. He gets the job, while the real star of the audition, Mr.Flaming Baton twirler is sent packing. Hughes, who has since passed away, has the movie's best line. When he arrives for the audition in his leathers, Valerine Perrine asks what he does for a living. He tells her he's a ticket taker on a toll highway. When she replies "Do all ticket takers dress that way?", he snaps "Only the HOT ONES!" Construction worker David Hodo is given a weird solo song called "I Love You To Death". He gyrates around a number of women who throw red glitter on him. Seeing as how AIDS would present itself in the gay community not too distantly after this movie was released, this song takes on a whole new meaning that no one could have foreseen.Bruce Jenner in a crop top taking the gang to a place for "young men". Steven Guttenberg rollerskating through New York and not getting mugged.Director Nancy Walker, "Rhoda's mother" and Bounty paper towel hawker never directed another movie. Sad, seeing the genius she brought to CSTM.The all-white versions of the People's street drag while they do the Milkshake.Fun Fact: Despite the events depicted in CSTM, music man Jacques Morali resorted to advertising in the want ads of the Village Voice to find singers for a new group. After stating was was needed by applicants, the ad ended "must have mustache". That pretty much described every man wandering Christopher Street at the time.Just try to not to sing along while watching! Oh, by the way, the "Cop" Victor Willis was the only straight man in the lineup. He was briefly married to Phylicia Allen (who became Phylicia Rashad "The Cosby Show") and left the People because he allegedly didn't like the image of the group. You can't stop the music. Really.
jamesmccormack This movie was bad in 1980. It is worst now! Talk about not aging well. There is a good reason it flopped so badly during initial release: bad story, bad acting, bad cast. But on a positive note, it does have a few catchy tunes such as YMCA, Magic Night and Can't Stop the Music. Too bad disco was over by the time it reached the screen.Producer Alan Carr actually thought he had another monster hit like Grease. Nothing could be further from the truth. One is almost embarrassed to watch this mess. It actually makes Xanadu look like high they thinking"? Bruce Jenner moves like cardboard and seems uneasy during this entire exercise. Valarie Perrine added another film to her list of flops. Steve Guttenberg is horrible beyond words. The movie is suppose to be the story of how the group The Village People got together. But that was deemed a little too gay so we have this love story going between Valarie and Bruce. The Village People get very little screen time which is a blessing. It is humorous to see the ultra gay Village People with their "girl friends" in several of the scenes.Stay away. Don't say I didn't warn you!