The Boy Friend (1971), 6

G | 2h 17min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 16 December 1971
When the leading lady of a low-budget musical revue sprains her ankle, the assistant stage manager is forced to understudy and perform in her place, becoming a star and finding love in the process.
Director: Ken Russell
Stars: Twiggy, Christopher Gable, Max Adrian, ..., Tommy Tune.
Christopher Gable ... musical choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066858/

~18 songs in the Soundtracks; originals by Sandy Wilson, a couple by Brown & Freed: You Are My Lucky Star and All I Do is Dream of You.

The accents, especially the Cockneys, are very thick. It took me less than 30 seconds to turn on the subtitles.

KR clearly likes old musicals, since he does overhead geometric shots ala Busby Berkeley at least 3 times in the film. Once he has 2 circles of girls doing different patterns side-by-side, but I think he had only the one set and optically joined the 2 sequences.

I'm surprised to find this was originally a stage play from the 50s, because so much of the point of the film appears to be going into someone's imagination to view the production number in some enhanced way. This happens a LOT, and it's not always clear who's mind is being tapped each time.

Among the Connections on IMDb is listed this, which I don't remember at all:

The Band Wagon (1953) "Triplets" number paid homage to

I'd like to like this better. I don't think it's a spoof of old films. I think any references backward are homages. But one of the reasons we get so many fantasy sequences is that the stage musical we're seeing is done badly, with a tinny upright piano providing the music. But then the fantasy isn't performed any better, it's just more lavish or imaginative visually, or better instrumentally.

Maybe I'll like it better next time. Wow, IMDb rating of 7.8 with 2.5k+ votes.

distr. MGM, dir. Russell; 6

Zachariah (1971), 5

GP | 1h 33min | Comedy, Drama, Musical | 24 January 1971
Two gunfighters separate and experience surreal visions on their journey through the west.
Director: George Englund
Stars: John Rubinstein, Patricia Quinn, Don Johnson.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068011/
Watched online; very blurry.

10 songs in the Soundtracks, performed by 7 artists. I have no idea how many of them were onscreen vs. just in the score.

Not sure what the synopsis writer thought were the surreal visions. This film had rock bands playing electric guitars while standing next to amplifiers. It was a deliberate blend of old west and new music, and the filmmakers chose to show the source of the music. Big shrug from me on that one. 

I heard several lines during the film that made me believe the filmmakers had their tongues firmly planted in their cheeks. Ex: JR says he learned to draw at home in his spare time, quoting many ads from modern times about cartooning, but he was referring to removing a gun from its holster. I found that one mildly amusing. Otherwise, more shrugs.

Friends JR & DJ are quick draw experts, and eventually have to face each other to determine who is best. But they finally realize it doesn't matter. The End.

I can't imagine who was willing to spend money on this, both to create/market it, and to sit through it. Other than seeing how pretty DJ was at age 22 (his facial bones are not yet finished squaring out), this falls short of bizarre, but doesn't offer anything entertaining or informative.

I'd really like to have a dollar for every use of the title name in the dialog, with a bonus dollar for each time it was the complete sentence. Ka-ching.

ABC Pictures (maybe like the network), dir. Englund; 5

Fiddler on the Roof (1971), 8+

G | 3h 1min | Drama, Family, Musical | 3 November 1971
In pre revolutionary Russia, a Jewish peasant contends with marrying off three of his daughters while growing anti-Semitic sentiment threatens his village.
Director: Norman Jewison
Stars: Topol, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey, ..., Paul Michael Glaser.
Tommy Abbott ... choreographer: adapted for the screen by
Sammy Bayes ... assistant choreographer
Jerome Robbins ... choreographer: New York stage production / director: New York stage production

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067093/

15 songs in the Soundtracks.

Rated 6 on 2014-12-20, a little over 6 months after I retired. I was studying the Holocaust 9'14-1'15 at least. I think my reaction was feeling misled: the musical is known for its songs, and the songs fall away, revealing an ugliness that is worth facing, but is not where the songs seemed to point.

It's very interesting to watch this in context of other films of its time. Immediately preceding this are paeans to the new drug culture, and revolution for the sake of rejecting old values, without a manifesto outlining the new. Movies are made vulgar just because they can be. Freedoms are abused, and people commit crimes in the name of their revolution or just for the thrill of it.

In this film, PMG plays a student who joins/leads the Russian Revolution, and is jailed. In this film, all 3 of the marriage-aged daughters reject tradition in the choice of their husbands, each more radically than the last. So, although the song Tradition is staged as exposition for how things work in the village, tradition is soon shattered. Then the Russian government empties various towns of Jews to smash all semblance of community and tradition.

The original B'way production ran '64-'72 (3,242 performances). (Topol did Tevye in London and Tel Aviv; was not in it in America until a revival in '90-1. Tevye here was Zero Mostel.) I think '64 was a little early for the 60's revolution (recall 1st draft card burned 10'65), so it doesn't appear the play was mounted as any sort of reaction to current conditions, but a lot happened during that run. (On the other hand, Adolf Eichmann was hanged in '62.)

Songs performed (36 chapters with menu):

• ch1. Tradition, Performed by Topol and Chorus in the pre-credits sequence  
• ch4. Matchmaker, Performed by Rosalind Harris, Neva Small, Michele Marsh, and Chorus 
• ch5. If I Were a Rich Man, Performed by Topol 
• ch8. Sabbath Prayer, Performed by Topol, Norma Crane, and Chorus 
• ch10. To Life, Performed by Topol, Paul Mann, and Chorus 
• ch13. Tradition (reprise), Performed by Topol 
• ch14. Miracle of Miracles, Performed by Leonard Frey 
• ch16. Tevye's Dream (The Tailor, Motel Komzoil), Performed by Topol, Norma Crane, Ruth Madoc, Patience Collier, and Chorus 
• ch18. Sunrise, Sunset, Performed by Topol, Norma Crane, Paul Michael Glaser, Michele Marsh, and Chorus 
• ch19. Wedding Celebration and Bottle Dance 
• (ch23. Entr'acte; this is the 2/3rds mark)
• ch24. Tradition (reprise), Performed by an offscreen chorus 
• ch26. Do You Love Me?, Performed by Topol and Norma Crane 
• ch28. Far From the Home I Love, Performed by Michele Marsh 
• ch30?. Little Bird, Little Chavela, Performed by Topol 
• ch31. Chava Ballet, Danced by Neva Small, Norma Crane, Rosalind Harris, Michele Marsh, Leonard Frey, Paul Michael Glaser, Ray Lovelock and Tutte Lemkow 
• ch33. Anatevka, Performed by Topol, Norma Crane, Molly Picon, Shimen Ruskin, Paul Mann, and Barry Dennen 

It's funny that I think the second half didn't have as many songs. Perhaps they're just not such big show-stoppers as the 4 big hits before the intermission (which is well past the halfway mark.)

A lot happens in this film, and it's not just chaos for the sake of activity; it's meaningful. Even though the intermission was welcome, I wasn't chafing at the 3h length at all.

I'm bumping this up. I'm more receptive to a musical covering very serious stuff, and this is significant serious stuff, well done.

distr. UA, dir. Jewison; 8+

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), 6-

A poor but hopeful boy seeks one of the five coveted golden tickets that will send him on a tour of Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory.
G | 1h 40min | Family, Fantasy, Musical | 30 June 1971 | Color, ws
Director: Mel Stuart
Stars: Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson, Peter Ostrum.
Howard Jeffrey ... musical numbers staged by

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067992/

Watched online, good print.

7 songs in the Soundtracks, all Lyrics and Music by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley. Favorites: The Candy Man, Pure Imagination.

Although I like the music, I don't like the spirit of the story.

4 elder relatives live in bed all day, living off a single mother. Her son Charlie earns extra money for the family as a paper boy. She sweats through her days in an industrial laundry. When Charlie wins one of the golden tickets, grandpa can walk just fine (after a few stumbles), and no one says a thing.

Candy maker Wonka stimulates greed (by hiding 5 golden tickets in candy bars, and offering a big prize to ticket holders), takes them on a tour of his "factory" with lots of frights and temptations that end in disaster (death?), and bribes the winners to turn over his biggest invention to his competitor (really his own employee). Charlie's grandpa encourages Charlie to sample one of the forbidden inventions, but finds a way to prevent disaster. Wonka reneges on the lifetime supply of chocolate because of this transgression, but when Charlie gives back the sample of the big invention, all is forgiven. 

Wonka is just too diabolical to me. He eliminated (killed by their own actions) 4 bratty children (and maybe their parents too), but really should be brought up on murder charges.

I watched this for the first time a couple of years ago, rating it 6 on 2016-08-05.  I'm tempted to give it a 5, but the songs are too good.

distr. Paramount, dir. Stuart; 6- 

The Aristocats (1970), 6+

With the help of a smooth talking tomcat, a family of Parisian felines set to inherit a fortune from their owner try to make it back home after a jealous butler kidnaps them and leaves them in the country.
G | 1h 18min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy | 24 December 1970 | Color, ws
Director: Wolfgang Reitherman
Stars: Phil Harris, Eva Gabor, Sterling Holloway, Scatman Crothers.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065421/
Watched online (option 1), good print.

6 songs in the Soundtracks.

I liked it. I don't want to own a copy, but it was entertaining, both in terms of story and musically.

PH has a fun singing voice, especially good for a tom cat.

EG is good at sounding upper crust. SH was good as a mouse. SC was a good substitute for Louis Armstrong (I kept wondering if it was LA).

I thought EG was not a great mother: when her kittens are in danger, she lets the tom cat rescue them. Perhaps she's just too pampered, or maybe this is 60's propaganda to encourage women to be more passive. She expresses concern, and is otherwise a good mother.

We have a good human (the owner of the cats), and a bad human (her butler).

The cats get along with the mouse in the house, but he knows other kinds of cats exist. Yet he's so loyal, when they're in danger a second time, he's willing to fetch the alley-cat friends of PH to help out. They're pretty reasonable, and listen to his stammered plea.

So we get conflict, and lots of warmth, with a happy ending for all but the baddie.

Disney, dir. Reitherman; 6+

Bombay Talkie (1970), 5

Lucia Lane, an English writer by way of the US, arrives in Bombay to watch the filming of one of her novels. She's nearing middle age, she's had several husbands, she's lonely and ... 
GP | 1h 52min | Drama, Musical, Romance | 18 November 1970 | Color, ws
Director: James Ivory
Stars: Shashi Kapoor, Jennifer Kendal, Zia Mohyeddin.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065484/
Watched online, mediocre print.

Nothing on the Soundtracks page. Very few songs performed, and none like a Bollywood film now. I would never have tagged this with Music, much less Musical.

This is the first M-I film I've rated, and might be the last. I've never been attracted to their romantic subject matter. This is an early work, and not well rated on IMDb (5.8 with 380+ votes).

I don't know what the synopsis writer considers middle age, but the white lady is there, not "nearing" it.

We go through a lot of angst, a lot of seduction (I think she slept with more than one guy, I'm not sure), a lot of betrayal (this movie-star guy on the poster is married), and a murder at the end. The only surprise is that the murder was between the 2 guys; none of the women was directly involved.

I didn't particularly care to see the Indian settings we're shown.

With the exception of the 1 British actress, and a handful of Anglo names in the crew, this was an all-India production, but apparently (per IMDb) with US funding. (Merchant was born in India, Ivory in US.)

Don't waste any more time on this.

Merchant Ivory, dir. Ivory; 5

Shinbone Alley (1970), 5

A newspaper man is reincarnated as a cockroach and makes friends with a free-spirited female alley cat.
G | 1h 25min | Animation, Comedy, Fantasy | 7 April 1971 | Color, ?s
Directors: John Wilson (as John David Wilson), David Detiege
Stars: Carol Channing, Eddie Bracken, Alan Reed, John Carradine.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067749/
Watched online, ok print, looked fs.

15 songs in the Soundtracks. Nothing catchy.

Ode to the life of a promiscuous alley cat. Nothing fun.

Alan Reed is the voice of Fred Flintstone. Nothing different.

The only intersection of this director/animator Wilson with my ratings is the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, where he is credited for animation. Nothing great.

Skip this. Nothing lost.

distr. Allied Artists; dir. Wilson & Detiege; 5

Darling Lili (1970), 6

Set during World War I, this movie is a cute spin on the Mata Hari legend.
G | 2h 16min | Comedy, Drama, Musical | 24 June 1970 | Color, ws
Director: Blake Edwards
Stars: Julie Andrews, Rock Hudson, Jeremy Kemp.
Hermes Pan ... choreographer and staging

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065611/

5 musical numbers; Whistling Away the Dark opened and closed the film, so maybe that's 6. 3 more songs were sung in part during an early scene.

It's nice to have more JA in my collection, but this is not a fun or good movie. Not enough singing, for sure.

It's not at all clear why JA is spying for the Germans. Her last name is Smith, and her German contact JK refers to her as Schmidt. Did she refer to him as uncle? Is he related to her?

We never see RH give JA any military secrets, nor do we see JA pass any along to JK. We only see them discussing Crepe Suzette, supposedly the name of a secret operation. Yet the French army intelligence come to question JA about RH, because they suspect he's passed some military secrets to the Germans. So that means she did get some intelligence from him. (One of the police also was the cop in Charade ('63).

For us, this amounts to a comedy about a spy JA who falls in love with her source RH, who loves her boss JK, and gets jealous about Suzette, blows her cover, and somehow ends up in the clear. (I tried watching the last few scenes twice to find out how she is not in prison, but didn't get it.)

The "deleted scenes" are confusing, since most of the footage is in the film.

distr. Paramount, dir. Edwards; 6

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970), 7+

A troubled young woman who visits a psychotherapist to help her quit smoking undergoes hypnosis and finds herself reliving a tragic Victorian romance from a past life.
G | 2h 9min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy | 17 June 1970 | Color, ws
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Stars: Barbra Streisand, Yves Montand, Bob Newhart, Larry Blyden, Simon Oakland, Jack Nicholson.
Howard Jeffrey ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066181/
Watched online, good print.

8 songs in the Soundtracks, no performers. 2 big hits from this: the title song and Come Back to Me; YM gets to sing both.

My rating may be inflated by having watched 2 horrid films immediately before this. Rated 6 on 2016-12-23, I certainly don't remember this as though it was just over 2 years ago.

This has a lot of charm, with BS as a weak-willed 22 yo who wants to quit smoking for her fiance's potential job. In the first session, the doctor YM accidentally regresses her to a past life. I don't remember what she thinks is going on by the 3rd+ session, but he continues to explore without her knowledge. Supposedly if she knew, she would skew the results.

The songs manage to be about the story.

This was a B'way show '65-6.

The dvd is at least $15 right now, OOP.

Paramount, dir. Minnelli; 7+

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970), 4

Three girls come to Hollywood to make it big, but find only sex, drugs and sleaze.
NC-17 (Originally X) | 1h 49min | Comedy, Drama, Music | 17 June 1970 | Color, ws
Director: Russ Meyer
Stars: Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Marcia McBroom.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065466/
Watched online, ok print.

10 songs in the Soundtrack. The title I recognized didn't not stand out to me when supposedly played.

Well, I can now say I've seen a Russ Meyer film. I wish not.

This doesn't turn into horror flick until the last 10 minutes or so, but the body count is 5, including the murderer (conveniently shot by his own gun in an overly long struggle with a heavyweight boxer.) It does begin with a scene from the murder spree, but that does not make clear it will end in murder.

Lots of nudity, although mostly fleeting, and scantily-clad large-breasted women. Yet this is dull, not sensational.

The name of the film comes from the Fox contract with Jacqueline Suzanne, whose sequel screenplay apparently didn't like, so they commissioned Roger Ebert (his only film writing credit under his own name; he has 2 others under pseudonyms, also with R.Meyer), and filmed this mess. But it begins with a title card stating this is not a sequel to the original. This is not a "doll" oriented film, "dolls" being capsules of drugs, although drugs are smoked and dissolved into drinks.

I'd say 3 faces were familiar, mostly from TV in that era.

Avoid.

Fox, dir. Meyer; 4

Pufnstuf (1970), 4

Young Jimmy is being pursued by the evil Wilhemina W. Witchiepoo. More specifically, Witchiepoo is after Jimmy's small friend, a small solid gold diamond encrusted talking flute 
G | 1h 38min | Adventure, Comedy, Family | May 1970 | Color, ws
Director: Hollingsworth Morse
Stars: Jack Wild, Billie Hayes, Martha Raye, Cass Elliot, Billy Barty.
Paul Godkin ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066256/

Watched online, good print.

8 songs in the Soundtracks.

Sheer torture. Kid stuff at high shriek.

Lots of celebrity voice impersonations: Ed Wynn, John Wayne, WC Fields, Edward G. Robinson, Margaret Hamilton.

Mama Cass, one of the witches, and all the witches were evil, sang about being different, but different isn't bad, especially when you find friends. Right message, wrong side. If you want to hear/see Cass sing, search for some videos of her. Don't come here.

The witches were people with heavy makeup, but most of the other characters were performers in character costumes, covering head and body. And the creatures are unreal; at one point I heard a horse whinny, and couldn't find the horse onscreen, until I realized the blue polka dot thing was it. Breaking convention: the mayor is a dragon, who's a good guy. No mention of breathing fire.

If I hadn't done all the prep work for this post before starting the video, I would have just shut it off after a couple of minutes. Horrid.

distr. Universal, dir. Morse; 4

Hello, Dolly! (1969), 8

Matchmaker Dolly Levi travels to Yonkers to find a partner for "half-a-millionaire" Horace Vandergelder, convincing his niece, his niece's intended, and his two clerks to travel to New York City along the way.
G | 2h 26min | Adventure, Comedy, Musical | 16 December 1969 | Color, ws
Director: Gene Kelly
Stars: Barbra Streisand, Walter Matthau, Michael Crawford, ..., Louis Armstrong.
Gower Champion ... stage play directed and choreographed by
Shelah Hackett ... assistant choreographer
Michael Kidd ... choreographer (uncredited) / dances and musical numbers staged by

~13 songs in the Soundtracks.

Rated 8 on 2006-01-02. It's entirely possible I haven't watched it since then. However, a portion of Put on Your Sunday Clothes is featured heavily in Wall-e (2008), which I rated in 2012.

Lots of huge dance numbers; very pleasing. The assistant clerk is an impressive dancer, as are many in the ensemble. During the Waiters' Gallop, I was impressed by the athleticism of the middle-aged-looking waiters (lots of bald spots). The Parade number was so enormous, I cannot imagine how it might have been done onstage.

Songs performed (28 chapters with menu):

• ch1. Just Leave Everything To Me, Performed by Barbra Streisand and Chorus 
• ch4. It Takes a Woman, Performed by Walter Matthau, Michael Crawford, Danny Lockin and the Men 
• ch5. It Takes a Woman (Reprise), Performed by Barbra Streisand 
• ch7. Out There, Performed by MC, DL
• ch8. Put on Your Sunday Clothes, Performed by Michael Crawford, Danny Lockin, Barbra Streisand, Tommy Tune, Joyce Ames and the Company 
• ch10. Ribbons Down My Back, Performed by Marianne McAndrew (dubbed by Melissa Stafford) 
• ch12. Dancing, Performed by Barbra Streisand, Michael Crawford, Danny Lockin, Marianne McAndrew (dubbed by Melissa Stafford), E.J. Peaker, Tommy Tune, Joyce Ames, and the Company 
• ch13. Before the Parade Passes By, Performed by Barbra Streisand and the Company 
• ch16. Elegance, Performed by Michael Crawford, Marianne McAndrew (dubbed by Melissa Stafford), Danny Lockin and E.J. Peaker 
• ch17. Love Is Only Love, Performed by Barbra Streisand 
• ch18. The Waiters' Gallop 
• ch21. Hello, Dolly!, Performed by Barbra Streisand, Louis Armstrong, and the Waiters 
• ch23. It Only Takes a Moment, Performed by Michael Crawford and Marianne McAndrew (dubbed by Melissa Stafford), with J. Pat O'Malley and the Company 
• ch24. So Long, Dearie, Performed by Barbra Streisand with Walter Matthau 
• ch25. Hello, Dolly!, Reprised by Walter Matthau and Barbra Streisand 
• ch26. Finale (Medley), Performed by the Company 
• 1. "Put on Your Sunday Clothes" 
• 2. "Dancing" 
• 3. "It Only Takes a Moment" 
• 4. "It Takes a Woman" 
• 5. "Hello, Dolly!" 

I'm not sure why Dolly would choose to wed Horace, except to spread around his money. She has to be terribly confident that 1) he's really got money to spend, and 2) she can pry it out of his hands. But we don't see the post-nuptial story. I got very tired of their bickering throughout.

Fox & more, dir, Kelly; 8

Change of Habit (1969), 7

An incognito nun tries to help a doctor clean up an inner city ghetto, with the pair growing closer as time goes on.
G | 1h 33min | Crime, Drama, Music | 10 November 1969 | Color, ws
Director: William A. Graham (as William Graham)
Stars: Elvis Presley, Mary Tyler Moore, Barbara McNair, Jane Elliot, Edward Asner, Regis Toomey.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065537/
Watched online, ok print.

4 songs in the Soundtracks.

Final film for EP.  Too bad it didn't make him want to do more like it.

I didn't want to trivialize this by putting it where I usually list the choreographer:
Dr. Robert W. Zaslow ... supervisor: rage reduction scene.
The definition of autism used in this case seems different than we think of it now. There autism was caused by an external event. But the symptoms sounded about the same. Rage "reduction", actually bringing the rage to the surface, and making the girl continue to be angry until she's tired of it, would only work if her withdrawal from social interaction was indeed caused by an event, and not brain chemistry/structure.

The rating is really due to MTM and the script. It's actually 3 nuns who together go to EP's clinic to help, but don't reveal that they're nuns due to an experiment to see if they can help more without revealing their positions. Each of them gets involved in a particular situation/case, and the other 2 get involved a bit beyond their roles as medical personnel. 

RT plays the parish priest who's locked the church doors to fend off thieves. He's also dead set against any new methods, and especially dislikes these plain-clothed un-nuns.

Fascinating to see EA show up. He doesn't interact with MTM onscreen; I wonder if this film influenced his casting in her TV show the next year. 

NBC, Universal, dir. Graham; 7

Paint Your Wagon (1969), 6

Two unlikely prospector partners share the same wife in a California gold rush mining town.
M (PG-13) | 2h 44min | Comedy, Drama, Musical | 15 October 1969 | Color, ws
Director: Joshua Logan
Stars: Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, Jean Seberg, Harve Presnell, Ray Walston.

Jack Baker ... choreographer: "Gold Fever" and "Best Things"

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064782/

Watched on AmazonPrime.

13 songs in the Soundtracks. Favorite: They Call The Wind Maria. (You'd think me-rye-a would have a different spelling.)

I like this ok, but just ok.

It's too long, as usual nowadays.

CE has a sweet voice; he should have sung in more musicals at that age, because he's extremely handsome, and has matured past his incredibly young looks a decade earlier.

I really never understand what Harve Presnell is doing in this story, except lend his voice to 2 songs that require more than the stars can deliver.

LM does sing, but has a limited range, and doesn't sound great. Then again, he's staying in character, so maybe he has more than we hear here.

JS is dubbed, but her vocal alter is compatible.

The marriage to 2 men is interesting, but not explored fully. It seems only to go sour when outsiders have to stay with the trio, and so they cover up the triangular marriage. (It's not actually bigamy, because they never make the second husband legal.)

The "gold fever" for easy pickings, dust that falls between the floor boards of commercial establishments, undoes the whole town. Although we see the underground tunnels with large wooden beams shoring them up, these men are not engineers, and they aren't digging in a mountain, so it seems to be just dirt, not stone they are shoring. Of course, with the vast network they created, and the speed of creation of the latest spoke of the net, they made a weakness that causes disaster. I suppose as a sight gag it's funny to see the town collapse and everyone scramble during the event, but it didn't move me in any way. Then again, I've seen this before and knew it was coming, so I didn't really watch that this time.

Lovely music, but just not an appealing film for me.

distr. Paramount, dir. Logan; 6

Alice's Restaurant (1969), 6-

A cinematic adaption of Arlo Guthrie's classic song story.
R | 1h 51min | Comedy, Drama, Music | 20 August 1969 | Color, ws
Director: Arthur Penn
Stars: Arlo Guthrie, Patricia Quinn, James Broderick, Pete Seeger.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064002/
Watched online, ok print.

5 songs performed in the Soundtrack.

7th of 14 film director credits for Penn, immediate prior release is Bonnie and Clyde ('67).

According to the story told here (& in the song), dumping a VW bus full of trash down a ravine that already had trash, getting arrested and pleading guilty, was the event causing the Army no to accept AG for induction. Did the song start a rash of petty crimes among potential draftees?

The hippie lifestyle certainly is not made to look attractive here. We get a drug addict who's fighting his addiction, but succumbs and OD's to death. AG gets harassed for having long hair in the Montana town where he's in college, and his music professor hates folk music.

Free love looks messy, with jealousy and regret just like the squares get.

The most interesting thing to me was contemplating the Draft. I'm fortunate that I was female, so I didn't have to think about whether I would serve if drafted. That's a really tough question.

Also interesting: would the hippie movement and the drug culture have caught on so strongly if we were not in Vietnam? It seems like we had this big ugly thing that impacted many individuals and families, and caused young people to strongly reject the values of the generation "in charge".

I don't like looking at this time again. I wonder when, or if, that reaction will subside.

distr. UA, dir. Penn; 6-

Sweet Charity (1969), 8

Taxi dancer Charity continues to have Faith in the human race despite apparently endless disappointments at its hands, and Hope that she will finally meet the nice young man to romance her ... 
G | 2h 29min | Comedy, Drama, Music | 14 February 1969 | Color, ws
Director: Bob Fosse
Stars: Shirley MacLaine, John McMartin, Ricardo Montalban, Sammy Davis Jr., Chita Rivera, Paula Kelly, Ben Vereen.

Bob Fosse ... choreographer / from the New York stage production staging and choreography by

Ed Gasper ... dance assistant

Paul Glover ... dance assistant

Sonja Haney ... dance assistant

John Sharpe ... dance assistant

Gwen Verdon ... choreographer (uncredited)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065054/

1st of 5 film director credits for BF.

JM originated his role on B'way ('65).

11 songs performed (16 chapters with menu):

• ch3. My Personal Property, Performed by Shirley MacLaine 
• ch4. Big Spender, Performed by Female Ensemble 
• ch5. Rich Man's Frug, Performed by Orchestra and Chorus 
• ch6. If My Friends Could See Me Now, Performed by Shirley MacLaine 
• ch7. There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This, Performed by Shirley MacLaine, Chita Rivera and Paula Kelly 
• ch8. It's a Nice Face, Performed by Shirley MacLaine 
• ch11. The Rhythm of Life, Performed by Sammy Davis Jr. and Chorus 
• ch12. Sweet Charity, Performed by John McMartin 
• ch13. I'm a Brass Band, Performed by Shirley MacLaine and Male Ensemble 
• ch14. I Love to Cry at Weddings, Performed by Stubby Kaye and Chorus 
• ch15. Where Am I Going?, Performed by Shirley MacLaine 

I've loved this since I first saw it on TV (IMDb lists it on NBC in '73).

Today my attention was not good, and I didn't watch as closely, nor enjoy it as much. I found it sad, and didn't see the Hope as much as I should.

I did watch The Rich Man's Frug with devotion; I think that's the number that really made me a Fosse fan. I don't think I would have been aware of his onscreen appearances in film, not even Kiss Me Kate ('53). The primary dancer in RMF is Suzanne Charny, and Ben Vereen makes his first film appearance as a featured dancer there. He's also in the Rhythm of Life number; I didn't look for her.

Both vintage featurettes on this 2003 dvd were NOT in IMDb, so I added them before watching the film, so that might have made me a little cranky. I've had trouble getting one added for Camelot.

The alternate ending on the dvd is interesting. I'm glad they didn't use it as the released ending, since JM finds SM again at the bridge, and re-proposes. While that sounds sweet, they're not really a good couple, but then they're each so flawed that it's hard to imagine a good mate for either. Hence my ennui.

I'll stick with my prior 8 rating. I was hoping it would be an 8+.

Universal, dir. Fosse; 8

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), 5+

A down-on-his-luck inventor turns a broken-down Grand Prix car into a fancy vehicle for his children, and then they go off on a magical fantasy adventure to save their grandfather in a far-off land.
G | 2h 24min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy | 18 December 1968 | Color, ws
Director: Ken Hughes
Stars: Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes, Lionel Jeffries.
Marc Breaux ... stager: musical numbers

Dee Dee Wood ... stager: musical numbers

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062803/

11 songs performed in the Soundtracks.

Rated 5 on 2015-01-21, and I must concur today.

These are the same choreographers as for Mary Poppins ('64), and the dancing is good-ish, with best number Me Ol' Bamboo, but the Step in Time number in MP was much, much better.

This didn't hold my attention, so I didn't follow the majority of the plot, but discovered it was just a story DV was telling during an outing.

Not only is the film too long, but each and every musical number is too long, especially the excruciating title song.

The colors are vivid and pretty.

I'll tack on a + for the dancing and the color. But if I ever watch this again, it would be to fast forward to the dancing.

distr. UA, dir. Hughes; 5+

Skidoo (1968), 5- {nm}

Infamous psychedelic all-star comedy about ex-gangster Tony Banks, who's called out of retirement by mob kingpin God to carry out a hit on fellow mobster "Blue Chips" Packard.
R | 1h 38min | Comedy | 19 December 1968 | Color, ws
Director: Otto Preminger
Stars: Jackie Gleason, Carol Channing, Frankie Avalon.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063612/
Watched online, blurry.

I probably queued this because of Carol Channing singing a song, and what looked like multiple songs in the Soundtracks. Really only 3 songs by Nilsson here, and 2 are performed by him off camera.

We got a little bit of nudity (painted breasts, a woman's rear cleavage) and a lot lot lot of drugs, mostly LSD fed to an entire prison, including the warden on the regularly-scheduled day he ate with the prisoners. We also see Arnold Stang with a bullet in his head through a cracked windshield.

Don't let the fact of Groucho Marx playing the mob kingpin attract you. There's nothing here worth the time it takes to watch this. It's written either by someone who likes drugs, or just wants to appeal to people who like drugs, or people who want to appear hip. According to IMDb trivia for the film: "Groucho Marx's LSD trip is the subject of the article "My Acid Trip with Groucho" by Paul Krassner, Yippie founder and editor/publisher of famed satirical magazine The Realist." But if it's a satirical magazine, does the article describe reality?

Another IMDb trivia item: "At the midpoint of the movie (0:49:15,16), The Professor is saying the words "ride with the waves" as he advises Tony, who has just accidentally taken LSD, about how to have "a good trip". The movie itself was a result of Preminger's real-life period of experimentation -- and presumably good trips -- with LSD."

Since I'm not big on relinquishing control to substances of unknown (or even known) origin, this does not appeal to me. Nor does it illuminate anything useful about people who do.

distr. Paramount, dir. Preminger; 5-

Head (1968), 5-

The Monkees are tossed about in a psychedelic, surrealist, plotless, circular bit of fun fluff.

G | 1h 26min | Comedy, Fantasy, Musical | 20 November 1968 | Color, fs

Director: Bob Rafelson

Stars: Peter Tork, Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith.

Toni Basil ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063049/

Watched online, very blurry.

9 songs in the Soundtracks. No way they were all performed completely, unless some were just instrumental.

Came very close to really annoying me.

I was hoping for something frivolous, like their TV series, but this had a lot of war footage/images (and a skit or two with the boys pretending to be in battle), and multiple references to suicide, mostly that turned out to be hoaxed.

They did spend a little bit of time standing up and performing a song, but even then it appeared to be "serious" and "relevant".

I didn't get anything from it, and didn't enjoy any part of it.

distr. Columbia, dir. Rafelson; 5-

Live a Little, Love a Little (1968), 6-

Photographer Greg Nolan moonlights in two full-time jobs to pay the rent, but has trouble finding time to do them both without his bosses finding out.
M | 1h 30min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 23 October 1968 | Color, ws
Director: Norman Taurog
Stars: Elvis Presley, Michele Carey, Don Porter, Rudy Vallee, Dick Sargent.

Jack Baker ... choreographer: 'A Little Less Conversation'

Jack Regas ... choreographer: 'Dream Sequence'

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063231/

Watched online: part 1, part 2; ok print.

Rating M was later changed to GP then PG. There's no nudity that I caught, but the definite implication that EP slept with MC at long last, near the end of the film. Also, DS mentions that she didn't let him actually do the deed, but using very indirect language. For violence: I remember at least 3 times that fists flew.

4 songs in the Soundtracks, and it felt very sparse. The 2 with choreographers are the more memorable, especially the dream sequence. Being a dream, they went a little psychedelic.

MC is very pretty and watchable. She plays a kook who needs watching, if you're in the same universe with her; she's very unpredictable. EP resists her for the longest time, then she gets hurt in his house and he lets her stay, she calms down a bit, and he falls for her.

Before that, his juggling of 2 jobs in the same building makes for a little higher energy than not.

DS as the other boyfriend to MC is a different kind of kook, tolerating and encouraging MC, and interfering with her attempts to land EP. But he's no competition, unless she were to decide she wanted someone less aggressive. But given her level of aggression, that seems unlikely.

I hope we return to more singing in the final 3 films. Looking at the Soundtracks, I don't think I'm getting my wish. And I think I'll skip the non-musical where he only sings the title song, likely over the credit, and it's a western.

MGM, dir. Taurog; 6-

Finian's Rainbow (1968), 7+

An Irish immigrant and his daughter move into a town in the American South with a magical piece of gold that will change people's lives, including a struggling farmer and African American citizens threatened by a bigoted politician.
G | 2h 21min | Family, Fantasy, Musical | 9 October 1968 | Color, ws
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Stars: Fred Astaire, Petula Clark, Tommy Steele, Don Francks, Keenan Wynn, Al Freeman Jr., Dolph Sweet.

Hermes Pan ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062974/

12 songs in the Soundtracks, some oft repeated. Favorites: Old Devil Moon, Look To The Rainbow / How Are Things In Glocca Morra? 

Great to have Petula Clark singing/acting on film. This is her 24th of 26 film acting credits. She says in a featurette this is her first American film; she does another next year. She has a beautiful voice and face.

This is the only soundtrack credit for Don Francks, which is a shame, since he sings well for film. Not a big B'way style, but an intimate film style.

Last dance film for FA; he does 5 more films through '81. His prior dance film was Silk Stockings ('57).

I love the anti-racism aspect of the film, particularly the simple fact that Al Freeman plays a botanist working on his Master's degree. The more obvious plot thread is that Keenan Wynn gets turned into a black man by a wish on the pot of gold. Unfortunately, he doesn't really learn from it, he gets a spell cast on him to make him accept the situation.

The disc includes a c.track with dir. Coppola. The menu calls it "Watching the film with Francis Coppola", which is more apt than calling it a c.track. He's just free-associating while watching, and repeats himself a lot. I remember that somewhere FA's feet get cut off (but I didn't see it today), and he explains that it was the duping, blowing the image up to 70mm, that caused that to happen. But his repetition involves wanting to have cut the script to make the film shorter. Also, apparently he fired Hermes Pan halfway through, and staged (big movement) quite a bit himself. He mentioned another choreographer for any actual dance steps, but was rather uncertain about the name, so I didn't jump on it.

The thing he laments most frequently is that in this, his first non-academic film, he though his job was staging and camera placement, but that he should have been concentrating on how to make the story move along and make the characters/story more vivid. Apparently film school wasn't too good yet, because he did graduate with a degree in film, but they didn't teach him that. He also had nothing to do with the editing of the film; when filming was done he moved on to his next project.

Warner, dir. Coppola; 7+

Oliver! (1968), 6---

After being sold to a mortician, young orphan Oliver Twist runs away and meets a group of boys trained to be pickpockets by an elderly mentor.
G | 2h 33min | Drama, Family, Musical | 27 September 1968 | Color, ws
Director: Carol Reed
Stars: Mark Lester, Ron Moody, Shani Wallis, Oliver Reed.
Onna White ... musical sequences stager
George Baron ... assistant choreographer
Larry Oaks ... assistant choreographer
Tom Panko ... associate choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063385/

16 songs in the Soundtracks.

I've never been attracted to this film. I remember having a book of Oliver Twist when I was a child, because I remember the illustration of "please sir, I want more", but if I read it, I don't remember the story. I wish I still didn't.

Of course a woman has to give her life to save the boy. Fortunately, her tormenter/murderer also dies.

How this got a G rating, I cannot imagine. Just for her beating death this should be up at least 1 notch higher. And it ends with a lyric about crime paying. The Production Code is very dead.

A bunch of cheery songs about workhouses and pickpockets is a very strange concept.

Quite an amazing coincidence that Oliver is supposedly related to the man he's accused of stealing from, and then the man makes the strange decision to take him in when he learns Oliver is wrongly accused. And don't you love a society that turns a blind eye to a child being sold or taken in by a stranger.

I bought a copy of this after I started this quest because it was one of the few music/als to win an Oscar for Best Picture. (The competition: Funny Girl, Rachel Rachel, Romeo and Juliet, The Lion in Winter; this is the year K.Hepburn and B.Streisand tied for Best Actress.) Without my discipline about this quest, I would have stopped watching at least at the intermission, if not sooner.

Of course, the look of the film is dreary; that's the life it's depicting. Even the well-off man does not live in a colorful environment.

I'll give it a 6- for now, so that I will watch it again before condemning it to the never-watch pile. I'll add some extra minuses for emphasis. The dancing was ok, but not enough to make me add this to "worthwhile dancing" list if I didn't hate the film.

distr. Columbia, dir. Reed; 6---

Funny Girl (1968), 8

The life of Fanny Brice, famed comedienne and entertainer of the early 1900s. We see her rise to fame as a Ziegfeld girl, subsequent career, and her personal life, particularly her relationship with Nick Arnstein.
G | 2h 31min | Biography, Comedy, Drama | 19 September 1968
Director: William Wyler
Stars: Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif, Kay Medford, Anne Francis, Walter Pidgeon.

Herbert Ross ... director: musical numbers

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062994/

13 songs performed in the Soundtracks.

Previously rated 8, I don't see a reason to change it. I've seen this so often, it's difficult to get more enthused.

My favorite moment is Don't Rain On My Parade song presentation, complete with speeding tugboat.

https://www.flickr.com/photos
/11424874@N03/10643848465

Nicky Arnstein (OS) is a very handsome (in real life, looks more like Richard Haydn), charming, unsavory character. I wonder if it's possible to be a professional gambler who's psychologically healthy; seems unlikely. Not that being married to a major star is easy for anyone. But since he decides to commit a crime to earn money, I don't interpret this as a cautionary tale on the showbiz career of his wife. 

Streisand (b. '42) is terrific here, luminous. This is her 1st of 19 film acting credits. She originated the role on B'way.

I'm glad I remembered that Tommy Rall is the male lead in the Swan Lake number, and that I've now seen a full Swan Lake performance with Nureyev. TR does some beautiful leaps, and has the crossbow for hunting the swans. And then when BS turns things comedic, he gives some very good reactions. She's such an attention magnet that it's hard to watch others, but because I knew it was him, I made the effort.

Columbia & more, dir. Wyler; 8

Star! (1968), 8-

A musical biography of Gertrude Lawrence, who led a hustling and bustling life on the stage.
G | 2h 56min | Biography, Comedy, Drama | 22 October 1968 | Color, ws
Director: Robert Wise
Stars: Julie Andrews, Richard Crenna, Michael Craig, Daniel Massey, Robert Reed.

Michael Kidd ... dances and musical numbers staged by

Shelah Hackett ... dance assistant

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063642/

18 songs in the Soundtracks performed. 

It's too long, hence the minus on my rating.

JA is much prettier and has a better voice than Gertrude Lawrence.

Songs performed (44 chapters with menu):

• ch2. Star!, Sung by Julie Andrews 
• ch4. Piccadilly, Performed by Julie Andrews, Bruce Forsyth and Beryl Reid 
• ch6. Oh, It's a Lovely War, Performed by Julie Andrews, Ann Hubbell, Ellen Plasschaert, Dinah Anne Rogers, Barbara Sandland, and Jeanette Landis 
• ch8. In My Garden of Joy, Performed by Julie Andrews, Ann Hubbell, Dinah Anne Rogers, Barbara Sandland, and Jeanette Landis 
• ch10. Forbidden Fruit, Performed by Daniel Massey 
• ch12. 'N' Everything, Performed by Garrett Lewis 
• ch14. Burlington Bertie from Bow, Performed by Julie Andrews. [also in Mother Wore Tights ('47), performed each by Dan Dailey and Betty Grable]
• ch17. Parisian Pierrot, Performed by Julie Andrews 
• ch20. Limehouse Blues, Danced by Julie Andrews and ensemble. [Another big production of this song is in Ziegfeld Follies ('45), performed by Fred Astaire and Lucille Bremer.]
• ch22. Someone to Watch Over Me, Performed by Julie Andrews. [love the song; not crazy about the staging.]
• ch24. Dear Little Boy (Dear Little Girl), Performed by Daniel Massey and Julie Andrews 
• ch?. After the Ball, Performed by Daniel Massey 
• ch28. Someday I'll Find You, Performed by Julie Andrews 
• ch32. The Physician, Performed by Julie Andrews, with sheep 
• ch34. Do, Do, Do, Performed by Julie Andrews 
• ch36. Has Anybody Seen Our Ship (from the play "Tonight at 8"), Performed by Julie Andrews and Daniel Massey  
• ch40. My Ship (from the play "Lady in the Dark"), Performed by Julie Andrews, accompanied by an uncredited pianist 
• ch41. The Saga of Jenny (from the play "Lady in the Dark"), Performed by Julie Andrews, accompanied by an uncredited pianist 
• ch42. The Saga of Jenny (from the play "Lady in the Dark"), Performed by Julie Andrews and dance/acrobat ensemble

https://papermoonloveslucy.tumblr.com/post
/166844987778/lucy-the-american-mother

The IMDb credits list Gower Champion as a dance partner in the Limehouse Blues number. I'm 99.9% certain that's false, and whoever submitted that misidentified Don Crichton, shown here (click to enlarge). He looks a lot like GC.

I listened to most of the c.track, but dozed off for some of it.

The book Lady in the Dark: Biography of a Musical by bruce d. mcclung led to my original purchase of this and the '44 film of Lady in the Dark, and the '54 TV production, plus several cast albums, including one with the original Lady, GL. 

I wonder why this film stopped without mentioning The King and I, where GL originated Anna on B'way; she died '52 during the run. She married Aldrich in '40.

Fox, dir. Wise; 8-

Yellow Submarine (1968), 6-

The Beatles agree to accompany Captain Fred in his Yellow Submarine and go to Pepperland to free it from the music hating Blue Meanies.
G | 1h 25min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy | 17 July 1968 | Color, ws
Director: George Dunning
Stars: Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, John Lennon.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063823/
Watched on AmazonPrime.

17 songs in the Soundtracks.

I didn't watch 2 prior Beatles films because they were UK funded only. This is a joint venture across the pond.

I'm not a Beatles fan, but many of their songs are imprinted on my brain. I was easily able to mouth along with Eleanor Rigby and some others, but maybe half the songs seemed unfamiliar.

I was impressed to see the spoken voices were not the Fabs themselves. They get vocal credit in the film for the songs, but the dialog was by actors. The impressive part: it never occured to me that it wasn't them. I recognized each voice when they spoke without looking at the image to see who it was; ok, maybe not George.

I find no value in this film. I don't like the style of art/animation, don't care for the lads' music, found precious little story to be followed. I may have missed some of the film because my player wouldn't pause, so I backed out and when I resumed it was far from where I was. And good old AP doesn't have fast forward while viewing or with previews. (This is on my blu player; maybe it's better on Fire TV.) But I wasn't finding the film coherent up to then, and that was at least 75% in.

I won't give this a 5 yet. I'll allow for the possibility of later appreciation.

distr. UA, dir. Dunning; 6-

Wild in the Streets (1968), 7-

A young man gains significant political influence as the leader of a counterculture rock band with his rallying cry of voting rights for teenagers.
R | 1h 37min | Comedy, Drama, Music | 29 May 1968 | Color, ws
Director: Barry Shear
Stars: Christopher Jones, Shelley Winters, Diane Varsi, Hal Holbrook, Ed Begley.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063808/
Watched online; blurrrrrry.

10 songs in the Soundtracks.

I'm giving this a "recommended" rating because it's fascinating, not good. It is a true sign of the times. It's really not funny, especially not through 2018 eyes that remember 1968 as a scary year.

This film reflects that fear. It propels this 24 yo rock star, a Jim Morrison (The Doors) type, to President of the US. 52% of the US population is under 25, and they win the right to vote for 15 yo's by scary protest gatherings initiated by this A Face in the Crowd ('57) rocker. They elect a 24 yo senator, who gets congress (with LSD in the water coolers) to lower the age for the Presidency, and (how did we get another election so soon?) this rocker wins the top post in the land on a platform that experience is a bad thing.

Then he makes the new retirement age 35 (or was it 30), and sets up retirement camps to segregate all the "old" people, who are then fed drugs and "allowed" to roam within the camp while wearing caftan uniforms. We hear reports of resistors being hidden in the attic of young citizens, but so long as they're in hiding they can't do much harm. However, we do see young storm troopers rounding up elders, including the President's mother, who was emotionally abusive in his youth.

No explanation is offered for how so many "elder" people are supported by the remaining citizens. Especially since the President severs trade agreements, and sends food overseas for free. He also abolishes the Secret Service, so he can roam free himself.

The film shows young people not believing they'll live past 30, so all this "makes sense" to them. I remember the saying "don't trust anyone over 30."

This has a twist ending not quite worthy of a Twilight Zone, but appropriate to my doubts about the logic of these regulations.

Small roles: Millie Perkins, Richard Pryor.

Cameos: Army Archerd, Melvin Belli, Dick Clark, Pamela Mason, Bill Mumy, Bobby Sherman, Barry Williams, Walter Winchell.

AIP is the same company, but this is not the same creative team, that brought us all those Beach movies with Frankie and Annette.

AIP, dir. Shear; 7-

Speedway (1968), 5

Poor bookkeeping saddles stock car driver Steve Grayson with a huge bill for back taxes which hampers his ability to continue racing competitively.
1h 34min | Comedy, Musical | 15 April 1968 | Color, ws
Director: Norman Taurog
Stars: Elvis Presley, Nancy Sinatra, Bill Bixby.
Alex Romero ... choreographer (uncredited)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063634/

Watched online; 

7 songs in the Soundtracks.

The only thing making this worse than the usual EP film is the racing, seemingly endless stock car racing. It's noisy, and I don't like it.

I also don't like NS, an agent for the IRS who gets involved with EP even though she's there to collect his income and give him a modest weekly allowance.

BB is a lecherous irresponsible gambler whose sole function is to (mis)manage EP's $$. It's his bad tax returns that get EP in trouble. When everyone pitches in to fix EP's car on a tight deadline, BB sits and watches. Not the kind of guy you should have as a "friend."

William Schallert is there with 5 little girls so that EP can play off some kids. WS seems homeless with them, and EP thinks he has $$ to help them, but he has BB handle the $$, so he gambles it away instead.

Really unpleasant stuff, with a requisite brawl or two thrown in, but all sugar-coated to seem fun. It's just tedious. And very (race-car) noisy.

MGM, dir. Taurog; 5

The World of Hans Christian Andersen (1968), 5

During his boyhood, young Hans Christian Andersen is exposed to the musical fairy-tale dream world by Uncle Oley.
1h 10min | Animation, Family, Fantasy | 19 March 1968 | Color, ws
Directors: Al Kilgore, Chuck McCann
Stars: Chuck McCann, Hetty Galen, Ruth Bailew.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067179/
Watched online, faded print, fs.

Empty Soundtracks, but songs are sung.

Notice the eyes in the poster; this is anime. The '68 premiere was in Japan, and no release in US until '71.

Derivative of The Daydreamer ('66), and I gave that a 5.

Here we get a bit of The Red Shoes and The Little Matchgirl. Otherwise it's about the child HCA and his flying (ala Mary Poppins, but with 2 umbrellas) "uncle" Oley, trying to grant HCA's wish to see the opera coming to his smallish home town.

I found this very slow and difficult for me to sustain interest. I seldom looked at the screen because the image was faded an apparently cropped, and the style of animation is far from my golden age of Looney Tunes preferences.

Hal Roach Studios & more, distr. UA, dir. Kilgore & McCann; 5

Stay Away, Joe (1968), 4

A mixed race American Indian rodeo champ returns to the reservation to help his people out.
1h 42min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 8 March 1968 | Color, ws
Director: Peter Tewksbury
Stars: Elvis Presley, Burgess Meredith, Joan Blondell, Katy Jurado, Thomas Gomez.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063643/
Watched online: part 1, part 2; mediocre print.

5 songs in the Soundtracks. One has the melody of Greensleeves, and I heard another familiar tune with unfamiliar lyrics elsewhere.

My usual rating for EP films is 6. I had a really hard time getting through this one, almost stopping it multiple times.

This has too few songs, and too much brawling. Almost non-stop brawling. And the portrayal of these Native Americans is unbelievably offensive. The house is made of rotted wood and cardboard, with a large hole in the main room's floor. The final brawl of the film actually caused the collapse of the house.

EP is the title character, and that's his name, not a sentence. Contrary to that name, everyone we see welcomes him, usually with violence. But since pounding on each other is fun, it really is a "welcome."

JB welcomes him with a shotgun or a handgun after she sees him kissing her daughter, because she assumes the worst, and wants him to marry the 19 yo.

Causes of other fights: EP kissing (or more) the gf's of "friends" (hence the nickname), or accusing others of doing the same.

The "plot" consists of EP bringing a small herd (20 cows) home to his father BM and stepmother KJ. But at the welcome home party, someone butchers the lone bull for supper. So EP borrows a bull from a friend. But this isn't a mating bull, he's a rodeo bull, who bucks like crazy when ridden (with that extra strap to make them buck). Before EP learns of the bull's specialty, KJ has sold off most of the herd to pay for cosmetic upgrades to the house to impress EP's sister's potential mother-in-law. While she's visiting, JB arrives to take potshots at EP until he stands before the preacher to marry. The potential m-i-l goes catatonic while the shots are fired, instead of sensibly ducking and covering.

When EP learns of the bull's specialty he sets up a contest, offering to let anyone to ride. Since the bull only sleeps without strap and rider, lots of guys bet they can ride and lose. So EP earns enough cash to buy back the sold cattle and then some, so that when the congressman who gave him the cattle arrive to inspect the situation, everything is "fine."

This is really awful, and I hope never to see it again, not even clips.

MGM, dir. Tewksbury; 4

Valley of the Dolls (1967), 7

Film version of Jacqueline Susann's best-selling novel chronicling the rise and fall of three young women in show business.
2h 3min | Drama, Music, Romance | 15 December 1967 | Color, ws
Director: Mark Robson
Stars: Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke, Paul Burke, Sharon Tate, Martin Milner, Lee Grant, Susan Hayward.
Robert Sidney ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062430/

Watched online, ok print.

5 songs in the Soundtracks. PD and SH play B'way singing stars.

Previously rated 7, and I'm sticking with it.

This is pretty shocking stuff for a musical. The mood is cynical and negative: another warning shot about both coasts of show biz. But the big shocker is the tiny bit of nudity: ST plays in a film within the film, softcore stuff from what we see, but we get a bit of toplessness. Slyly, but it's there.

I've always admired ST for her performance here. It's all the more poignant given that she'd be dead less than 2 years later, murdered by the Manson followers while she was pregnant.

The next best performance is BP's as the young woman trying to decide who she is, the subject of the Dionne Warwick song played over the credits and throughout. She's very effective as well.

PD is very much over the top, but that's probably appropriate to her role. SH likewise.

Other than PB, the men are just extras. MM is only there for less than half the film, and is pushed around plenty by PD. PB is bf to BP, and by his actions unintentionally forces her to decide who she is. It's sort of refreshing to see men perform secondary roles like this; it harkens back to the 30's.

It's an interesting, if somewhat familiar, story well told.

distr. Fox, dir. Robson; 7

Doctor Dolittle (1967), 5

After the animal communicating veterinarian goes too far for his clientèle, he and his friends escape their hometown to sea in search of the Great Pink Sea Snail.
2h 32min | Adventure, Comedy, Family | 19 December 1967 |  Color, ws
Director: Richard Fleischer
Stars: Rex Harrison, Samantha Eggar, Anthony Newley, Richard Attenborough, Geoffrey Holder.
Herbert Ross ... dances and musical numbers staged by

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061584/

Watched online, very blurry.

14 songs in the Soundtracks.

Must have been intended for children; I see no value here. Even the idea of talking with animals is not very interesting, at least not here.

What else to say to prevent me from watching this again? Maybe read the trivia for the film to see how awful the making was. Think of all the animals trained and left behind in CA, and the replacement animals in England that had to be trained. All the long days/nights on set trying to get the animals to do their bits on cue, and RH deliberately sabotaging efforts. At one point RH reaches for the parrot to have it climb on his hand, and the parrot tries to bite him first; not reaching for food, really trying to open-beak grab his hand. Even if no one was deliberately cruel to the animals, making the film was inherently so.

I've never had the urge to watch the film, and my instincts were right on this one. Even The Simpsons had an episode warning us not to watch this. (The children groan when it's shown at an assembly at school.)

Fox & more, dir. Fleischer; 5

The Producers (1967), 8

Producers Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom [plan to] make money by producing a sure-fire flop.
1h 28min | Comedy | 22 November 1967 | Color, ws
Director: Mel Brooks
Stars: Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Estelle Winwood, Ken Mars, Dick Shawn, Christopher Hewett, Estelle Winwood.
Alan Johnson ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063462/

At least 6 songs performed in the Soundtracks; this should be a musical. Since it's about a musical, I'll nominate it for Music.

Gene Wilder is luminous here. His neurotic behavior is ecstatic yet sublime, such beautiful eyes.

ZM is so believable as the creepy, desperate producer. CH, TV's Mr. Belvedere, is fey-ry good (with his "partner") as the director of the play who can't stand doing musicals, but just has to add numbers to the show. DS as the hippie actor cast as Hitler is FUNny. As is nearly everything here.

I wanted to watch this in preparation for the full-out musical version to come. SO glad I did.

distr. AVCO Embassy Pictures, dir. Brooks; 8

The Happiest Millionaire (1967), 5

A happy and unbelievably lucky young Irish immigrant, John Lawless, lands a job as the butler of an unconventional millionaire, Biddle. His daughter, Cordelia Drexel Biddle, tires of the ... 
2h 21min | Comedy, Family, Musical | 26 October 1967 | Color, ws
Director: Norman Tokar
Stars: Fred MacMurray, Tommy Steele, Greer Garson, Gladys Cooper, Geraldine Page, Hermione Baddeley, John Davidson, Lesley Ann Warren.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061749/
Watched online, blurry print; runtime 2h 53min.

~16 songs in the Soundtracks.

Much, much, much too long. (Note that the print I saw was 1/2 hr longer than the runtime on IMDb title page, but the tech specs show 5 different versions.) The Amazon Video version is 2h 45m, the dvd is 2h 13m.

2nd film of 50 and counting for LW (b. '46). 1st of 5 films credits for JD (b. '41). Only 2 more films of 86 for FM (b. '08). Final film of 25 for GG (b. '04). Penultimate film of 42 for GC (b. '88).

This might be a good film for parents entering empty nest syndrome. I can't see that children would care about this, except perhaps for the alligators.

Lots of songs, but nothing great. Lots of singing, nothing great. Lots of dancing, nothing great. Unless I missed something because it was much, much, much too long. I know I said that already. Everything in the film was beaten to death, it seems appropriate to echo the technique here.

I need to prevent me from watching this again, so I've got to rate it 5. I started with 6. There's nothing wrong with it beyond its length, and the fact that I don't care about the characters after all that time invested.

If I had to choose sides, I'd go with the not-so-happy millionaire (FM & co.), because JD's mother GP is horrid: stuffy nouveau riche New Yorker looking down her nose at the older monied Philadelphia FM family headed by GC. And mom GP doesn't realize son JD wants to do something other than the family business.

FM has raised his children to be independent thinkers, so daughter LW doesn't like JD's mother at all. And GP has convinced JD to give up his dream of building automobiles. (The most outdated idea in this WW1-era film is that Detroit is the golden city on the hill.) So LW calls off the wedding, and TS has to babysit JD in his drunken consideration of what to do next. Spoiler alert: they elope. Then we go home with FM and GG to the empty home. But FM gets accepted into the Marines, where he's been trying to get America ready for the war. (Yeah, there's a lot of stuff that went on in the almost 3 hours, it just isn't worth the time.)

I need to read that book about the studio mentality that created this Road Show culture, because it's so obviously wrong. Why did they think they should charge more $ for a longer picture? Because to motivate people to leave home it has to be an event. Yeah, but an event you don't regret attending!

Disney, dir. Tokar; 5

Clambake (1967), 7-

The heir to an oil fortune trades places with a water-ski instructor at a Florida hotel to see if girls will like him for himself, rather than his father's money.
1h 39min | Comedy, Musical | 4 December 1967 | Color, ws
Director: Arthur H. Nadel
Stars: Elvis Presley, Shelley Fabares, Will Hutchins, Bill Bixby, Gary Merrill, James Gregory.

Lance LeGault ... assistant to choreographer

Alex Romero ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061489/

Watched online, distorted print (cropped then stretched).

8 songs in the Soundtracks.

In the song where WH sings alternately with EP (about Money), the dubber is much too good to come out of WH's mouth. 

EP seems to be interacting with at least 1 child in each film for a while now. Wish I'd been tracking it. Here it's only 1 number, with a bunch of kids, and the song is verrrrry close to High Hopes, certainly in cadence. He's very sweet with kids.

This is now my 3rd favorite EP film. He looks the same as usual, but somehow the girls aren't drawn like flies. He's attracted to SF, but she's after BB for his $. Don't know why she's ignoring WH, who's pretending to be the oil heir that is really EP.

EP's values here are that he wants a woman who loves him, not his $, and he wants to earn a VP position in the family company, not just get it handed to him. He's got a degree in engineering, an interest in speedboats, develops a new resin to strengthen boat hulls, passes as a water ski instructor, and sings spontaneously, sometimes at social events.

Really nice scene and subsequent number: EP adjusts how SF is made up prior to a date with BB,  sings You Don't Know Me to himself after she leaves. It's the first use of Eddy Arnold's song in film, but EA has several Soundtrack credits on TV shows dating back to '60, so I think EA himself made it a hit.

GM as the underdog boat's owner is very effective, expressing his paternal feelings toward EP, whose father JG is also in the film. JG also expresses pride in EP, much to his surprise.

distr. UA, dir. Nadel; 7-