Musical (Song and Dance) Movie Moments and Scenes

Greatest Musical (Song and Dance) Movie Moments and Scenes

The following listing (in multiple parts) was an attempt to compile a collection of many of the greatest song and dance moments in film history. Though the list appears to be dominated by musicals, other genres were examined and included.

Those that are exceptional examples of the development of song/dance are marked with this symbol:

AFI's 25 Greatest Movie Musicals of All Time are marked with an icon and their ranking number (#)

Another point of reference for this kind of material may be found in the AFI's selections of 100 Years...100 Songs and in this site's genre writeup of "Musical Films".

Greatest Musical - Song and Dance Movie Moments and Scenes (alphabetical) - Part 12 Part 1 \| Part 2 \| Part 3 \| Part 4 \| Part 5 \| Part 6 \| Part 7 \| Part 8 \| Part 9 \| Part 10 \| Part 11 \| Part 12 \| Part 13 \| Part 14 \| Part 15 \| Part 16 \| Part 17 \| Part 18 \| Part 19 \| Part 20 \| Part 21 \| Part 22 \| Part 23 \| Part 24 \| Part 25
Movie Title	Brief Scene Description	Example
Grease (1978) # 20	In this immensely popular musical, many of the catchy numbers ("Grease is the word!") set in a 50s high school (with overaged students) were sung by John Travolta and sweet-voiced Australian singer Olivia-Newton John as rebellious Danny Zuko and good girl Sandy Olsson, including his wistful Hopelessly Devoted to You; also, Travolta's wild, profanity-laced ode to the muscle car of his dreams -- Greased Lightning ("Well this car is systematic, hydromatic, ultramatic - Why, it could be Greased Lightnin'!"); also, their infectiously-sing-along-to paralleled duet Summer Nights in which the couple presented their own versions of their summer romance to friends ("Summer lovin' had me a blast - summer lovin', happened so fast, I met a girl crazy for me - I met a boy, cute as can be, Summer days driftin' away, to uh-oh those summer nights, Tell me more, tell me more, did you get very far? Tell me more, tell me more, like, does he have a car?"); and the showstopping finale You're the One That I Want in a funhouse, with Olivia Newton-John in tight, black leather pants that literally had to be sewn onto her, followed by the cast singing We Go Together, ending with the two flying away (!) in Greased Lightning.
Great Balls of Fire! (1989)	This musical biopic was highlighted by Dennis Quaid's virtuoso impersonation of controversial rocker Jerry Lee Lewis (Quaid did his own piano playing but lip-synched the lyrics), and the memorable singing of the title song Great Balls of Fire on a blazing piano.
The Great Ziegfeld (1936)	This Best Picture-winning, lavish MGM episodic biopic of the showman Flo Ziegfeld (portrayed by William Powell) included elaborate, mechanical camera-work production numbers (matching Busby Berkeley's productions), including the famous crane shot of a slowly-spinning, corkscrewing tower of stairs holding singers and other artists; also, it featured the fictional and real-life portrayals of past Ziegfeld Follies greats, including Fanny Brice, Will Rogers, and Eddie Cantor; gargantuan numbers and songs included the expensive Academy Award-winning dance number just before the Intermission -- A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody (pictured) - filmed in one continuous shot and featuring 180 performers - including Ziegfeld showgirl Audrey Dane (Virginia Bruce) perched atop the revolving platform; another of the film's spectacular production numbers was the closing segment You Never Looked So Beautiful.
Guys and Dolls (1955) #23	This Samuel Goldwyn production (by director Joseph L. Mankiewicz) developed from a story by Damon Runyon was released by MGM in the mid-50s - adapted from the long-running 1950 musical play, with the well-known song-dance number Luck Be a Lady (pictured) by slick big-city gambler Sky Masterson (a slightly miscast Marlon Brando in his musical debut - who sang with his own voice), and the marvelous Michael Kidd-choreography; the film's plot told of Masterson who made a $1,000 bet that he could successfully romance/seduce Salvation Army 'doll' Sarah Brown (Jean Simmons); other well-known songs included Guys and Dolls, wacky chorus girl Adelaide's (Vivian Blaine) Lament sung in her dressing room, and Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat.
Gypsy (1962)	This screen version of the 1959 Broadway musical play (starring Ethel Merman) by Warners -- with a Jule Styne-Stephen Sondheim score -- was suggested by the lives of ecdysiast-actress Gypsy Rose Lee (Natalie Wood), her sister June Hovick (Suzanne Cupito/Morgan Brittany as younger 'Baby' June, and Ann Jillian as older 'Dainty' June), and their bullying and domineering mother known as Mama Rose (Rosalind Russell, singing voice of Lisa Kirk); the most memorable number was belted out by the Mama Rose character to Louise -- Everything's Coming Up Roses (pictured) ("You'll be swell, you'll be great, Gonna have the whole world on a plate"); another was the wild You Gotta Have A Gimmick performed by a trio of Minsky's burlesque house strippers (Roxanne Arlen, Betty Bruce and Faith Dane) to Louise Hovick aka Gypsy Rose Lee (Wood) on how to be an innovative stripper; and Gypsy's debut stripping performance of Let Me Entertain You (pictured) with a deeply sensual subtext while wearing long white gloves and an elegant blue evening gown and using Mama's vaudeville trademarks (asking the audience: "Hello everybody, my name is Gypsy! What's YOURS?") and teasingly offering: "We'll have a real good time".
Hair (1979)	Czech director Milos Forman's and UA's invigorating and audacious film version of the 1968 rock musical play, with dancer Twyla Tharp's choreography, included many memorable song-and-dance tunes (and boldly stark nudity) among the Central Park hippies, such as the opening number Aquarius (Age of Aquarius) ("harmony and understanding"), the title song Hair (performed in prison), the "horse ballet" of Central Park's mounted police, and the closing scene at the gravesite (with white crosses) with the moving song Let the Sunshine In.
Hallelujah! (1929)	An early MGM talkie directed by Academy Award-nominated King Vidor was daring because it was the first sound feature film from a major studio with an all-black cast; filmed mostly on location in Memphis, Tennessee, this slightly overwrought and flawed film (Vidor's only musical) was produced as a silent film and then supplemented with a dubbed-in soundtrack during post-production in Hollywood; the memorable film - a story of murder, corruption and redemption in the Deep South, was filled with jazz numbers, spirituals, traditional folk songs, work songs and lullabies (including Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, Going Home, Swanee River, and Irving Berlin's new songs At the End of the Road and The Swanee Shuffle), although criticized as having stereotypical racist overtones, a slow pace, and some embarrassing dialogue.
Happy Feet (2006)	The many song-and-dance numbers in this CGI-animated tale, including the opening courting duet songs between two Emperor Penguins in Antarctica: Elvis Presley-like Memphis (voice of Hugh Jackman) to Heartbreak Hotel and breathy Marilyn Monroe-like Norma Jean (voice of Nicole Kidman) to Prince's Kiss (pictured); the birth of their penguin chick Mambo (nicknamed "Mumble") (voice of Elijah Wood) - a young fuzzball without the gift of song but who has a unique talent as a tap dancer (noted dancer Savion Glover motion-captured to supply the dancing movements) -- and the scene of Mumble practicing alone to Patti LaBelle's I Wish because his dancing is considered forbidden and abnormal by the elders; the scene in which Mumble ruins his true love Gloria's (voice of Brittany Murphy) rendition of Queen's Somebody to Love by trying to screech the lyrics; the brilliant Spanish-lingo version of Frank Sinatra's My Way by rambunctious Latino penguin Ramon (voice of Robin Williams) -- and Mumble's successful courting of Gloria by tap dancing to Gloria's singing of a fully orchestrated rendition of Boogie Wonderland; the heart-wrenching scene when an exiled Mumble, now caught and placed in a big-city aquarium, performs a soft-shoe routine for a little girl (a biped "alien") on the other side of the glass - draws a crowd's attention and is set free - with the human scientist aliens following him back to his habitat where they witness the penguins' mass dancing - resulting in their being saved from starvation and hunting by a United Nations decree
A Hard Day's Night (1964)	The many famous Beatles songs (performed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr) were interwoven into this semi-documentary comedy story of 36 years in the life of the rock group by director Richard Lester, including the opening title song as the Fab Four were chased through a train station by screaming hordes of fans; also the finale with the group singing at the London television show; the film also included the memorable moment when the group romped through an open grassy field like children to the tune of Can't Buy Me Love - filmed with creative camera angles.
Hard to Get (1938)	This Warners Brothers' romantic comedy included Dick Powell's (as unemployed and struggling Bill Davis who romanced spoiled heiress Olivia de Havilland as Margaret Richards) famous rendition of the Oscar-winning hit song You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby during a night-time rowboat ride -- with music and lyrics by Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer.
The Harvey Girls (1946)	This entertaining MGM musical's title referred to the straight-laced waitresses of the pioneering restaurant chain founded by Fred Harvey, who were brought Westward to fill the eating establishments and bring domesticity to the townsmen; the film, directed by George Sidney and produced by Arthur Freed, included a score by Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer, and starred Judy Garland as a mail-order bride who became a Harvey Girl instead; one of Garland's biggest hits was this film's best number - the elaborate, show-stopping Oscar-winning song On the Atchison, Topeka and the Sante Fe (pictured); the film also opened with Garland on the back of a west-bound train singing In the Valley When the Evening Sun Goes Down.