Village People - Can't Stop the Music
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Actor: Alex Briley, David Hodo, Felipe Rose, Glenn Hughes, Randy Jones (II)DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 124 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-04-16
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
DVD Reviews of Village People - Can't Stop the Music
DVD Review: "Can't Stand the Movie"
Summary: 2 Stars
If Ed Wood were alive today and viewed this DVD, he would have loved it. He would have found it brilliant. The concept alone would have sent him reeling. He seemed to have that kind of creative mind. I'm sure he would have run right out and started his own musical version of "Plan 9 from Outer Space."
What detracts from the movie is that much of the film is dubbed. Apparently, poor sound quality or noise on the set during filming prompted the need to have the actors re-record their dialog. Dialog dubbed in a recording booth never sounds as spontaneous as on the set. Dubbing is done during post-production -i.e., after the principle photography is completed and the participants have seen a rough version of the film. This may account for the lackluster dubbing performances. When the greater part of a movie is dubbed, and the dubbed performances are bad, the entire movie seems out of whack. "Can't Stop the Music" is one film that is out of whack.
After the success of "Saturday Night Fever" and "Grease," producer Allan Carr must have thought he could not fail. He was wrong. This movie, unlike "SNF" and "Grease," bombed badly in the United States. But three things prevented "SNF" and "Grease" from bombing: a good script, terrific acting and wonderful choreography. "Can't Stop the Music" lacks all three of these.
[Carr again tried to produce another hit with "Grease 2." This movie had great acting and terrific choreography (Pat Birch, the choreographer for the first "Grease" created the dance sequences for "Grease 2" as well). "Grease 2" lacked one important ingredient: A good script.]
Because David Hodo ("Construction Worker") was the more commercially appealing member of the Village People, he was given a solo (written in as a daydream sequence). The number should have been cut from the film. The grinding dance moves where the audience is treated to close-ups of the front of Hodo's tight jeans seem nothing more than gratuitous.
Valerie Perrine (known mostly for her role as Lex Luther's girlfriend in the "Superman" films) plays the female lead in the film. The role was supposed to go to Olivia Newton-John, but Lovely Livvy apparently asked for too much money. When she turned down producer Allan Carr (who had tagged her to play Sandy in "Grease"), he reportedly said, "She can act, but she ain't no Barbra Striesand." (Instead, ONJ went on to star in a vehicle that promoted her own music. The film, "Xanadu," bombed; but its soundtrack went triple platinum). Amazingly, Perrine agreed to allow herself to be filmed in a state of partial nudity (in the sauna during the "YMCA" sequence), something Newton-John certainly would not have considered.
Bruce Jenner turned in a rather good comical performance, despite the material he was asked to perform. Given that the film includes a scene in a gym with many men clad in skimpy gym shorts, I'm sure Jenner was asked to do the film because of his famous "crossing the yellow line in the Olympics" photograph plastered on Wheaties cereal boxes. The photo shows Jenner in tiny red shorts that leave little to the imagination (hence his popularity). If it was his body that got him the role, then so be it. That kind of thing still goes on today.
Steve Guttenberg never before (nor has he since) turned in such a bad performance as an actor. He is so over the top in his delivery that his jugular vein looks like it may burst every time he delivers a line. I suspect that his performance on film is not entirely his own fault. Many times, actors' performances are dependent upon the director's ability to elicit good performances. Director Nancy Walker had more than her share of difficulties in this area, the foremost being that the majority of the cast were not professional actors.
Nancy Walker (perhaps better known as "Rosie" in Bounty's papertowels The Quicker-Picker-Upper ads and as "Ida Morganstern," Rhoda's mom) had enormous success as a director with the film "Rabbit Test" starring Billy Crystal. This may have been the reason she was handed the reins for this project. Unlike "Rabbit Test," where she essentially had control over all aspects of the film-making process, she had to contend with drug use on the set and the enthusiastic egos of her producers (Carr and Stigwood). "Can't Stop the Music" is plagued with "too many hands spoil the creative soup," resulting in a film that, stylistically, is all over the place.
Carr tried to recreate the nostalgic magic of "Grease" by giving roles to veteran actors, who seem oddly out of place in the setting of "Can't Stop the Music." Where the audience could easily connect the likes of Eve Arden, Joan Blondell and Sid Caesar to the 50s setting in "Grease," the audience is hard pressed to figure out two things about the veteran actors in "Music": One, who are they?; and Two, what is their connection to the disco era?
Over time, some movies that fail when they are first released find their niche of commercial popularity. 1939's "Wizard of Oz," for example, bombed when it was released in theaters. "Rocky Hill Picture Show" (also a musical) didn't find mass appeal until long after it failed at the box office. It appears that some executive at Paramount Pictures believes that "Can't Stop the Music" will someday find its niche and may even recoup some of the enormous financial losses the film incurred. The very fact that this DVD has not been deleted from the Paramount catalog seems to support the argument that Paramount is determined to make their money back.
I purchased this DVD for one reason only: As awful as the movie is, it's fun to watch. It has a terrific soundtrack that brings me back to my teenage years, a time when disco music was proudly known as "disco music." The music in this film evokes memories of more innocent and naive days. Those days are days I long for and this movie allows me to go there, if only in my imagination. Musical Fantasies are prone to do that to people.
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