Movie Song of the Week: "Matador"

The official video for the Spanish-language song that would later be used on the soundtrack for the 1997 movie Grosse Pointe Blank. This song should have made the Argentine group that recorded it -- Los Fabulosos Cadillacs -- much more famous than they were. Alas, it was not to be.

Movie Song of the Week: "Mother Knows Best (Reprise)"

This week I post the inevitable sequel to this tune in honor of -- er -- mothers who are nothing like the Donna Murphy character in this musical number. Next year I'll try to find something more fitting.

Movie Song of the Week: "Shall We Dance?"

I'm kinda surprised I haven't posted this yet. It's such a classic musical number that I was sure I already posted it a long time ago. But apparently I didn't.

Nowadays, it seems even more apt than usual. Poor Fred Astaire pursuing a masked Ginger Rogers -- on a stage where every woman wears a mask -- and being socially distanced, to boot. Oh my!

And of course, the lyrics have a nice Dylan Thomas-ish subtext, which is a neat trick considering the fact the song was written at least a decade or so before Thomas wrote "Do not go gentle into that good night".

Movie Song of the Week: "Cuban Pete"

I've never been quite sure what to make of this song except to note that (1.) Jim Carrey seems to be having fun and (2.) if the song was good enough for Desi Arnaz...

Then again, I'm not Cuban so maybe I'm better off taking the Fifth.

Movie Song of the Week: "Drum Crazy"

Just in time for Easter weekend, I post this rarely mentioned song from the Fred Astaire movie Easter Parade. I hope you all like it.

Movie Song of the Week: "Be a Clown"

Hey, this tune sounds familiar...

I wonder if Donald O'Connor ever heard this song.

Movie Song of the Week: "Make 'Em Laugh"

It's been that kind of a week so why not this type of song? The one song in Singin' in the Rain that everyone seems to like but never seems to remember -- perhaps because they're too busy laughing.

Movie Song of the Week: "Walking in Space"

I must admit that I have always had mixed feelings about the various songs inspired by drug culture -- perhaps because I know too many real-life examples of the downside of the lifestyle inspired by said culture that can't be explained away as DEA propaganda.

And yet there's no denying the poetry in such songs like this one -- even if it reminds me of the old saying involving moths and flames.

It doesn't hurt that this particular song from the 1979 movie Hair featured a nice solo by actress Betty Buckley -- an actress usually best known for having played the gym teacher in the 1976 thriller Carrie. Ms. Buckley did such a nice job on her solo that I did not realize until recently that the young Vietnamese girl who mouthed her words on screen wasn't the real singer of the song. The things one learns as one gets older...

Movie Song of the Week: "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love"

Apparently Alexa wants us to hear this song.

Movie Song of the Week: "If This Be Slav'ry"

The past really was a different country. Just imagine the reception a musical number like this would receive nowadays.

Movie Song of the Week: "He's a Rebel"

My favorite musical moment from the otherwise mediocre 2018 thriller Bad Times at the El Royale. To be fair, there are other great musical moments too -- almost all of them involving actress Cynthia Erivo -- but this scene is my favorite.

Movie Song of the Week: "Eddie's Teddy"

It's yet another musical number from everyone's favorite call and response movie. Personally I find it a bit scary to contemplate how many audience responses I remember in regard to this movie. Perhaps because I heard the same responses repeated almost every time I saw this movie. (And you don't even want to know how many times that was.)

As usual, my favorite character in the movie -- Columbia -- has the best line but the rest of the number is pretty nifty too. And by the way, her name is Columbia, not Colombia.But most of you knew that already, right?

Movie Song of the Week: "Floop's Song (Cruel World)"

Alan Cumming waxes philosophical in this clip from the 2001 movie Spy Kids. Boy, would Freud have a field day with this number!

Movie Song of the Week: "King Herod's Song"

Wait! King Herod had a song?

Movie Song of the Week: "Cell Block Tango"

The six merry murderesses of the Cook County jail present a musical tribute to Patricia Pearson's book When She Was Bad -- not to confused, of course, with the Death Row Mambo.

Movie Song of the Week: "Relax"

It seems almost impossible to find an official version of the "Relax" number from the 1984 Brian DePalma movie "Body Double" on the Internet, which is probably just as well since even the comparatively "tame" music video is more than a bit NSFW.

Anyway, the first time I saw Body Double, the audience reaction was such that I was never quite sure if they were laughing with the movie or at it. No doubt you might have the same reaction to the shamelessly over-the-top video as well.

Movie Song of the Week: "Main Theme from The Warriors"

Barry De Vorzon's famous theme from the 1979 cult film that made director Walter Hill famous.

Movie Song of the Week: "#1 Crush"

Springtime is right around the corner so why not play a love song or two? Or failing that, I could play this song from the soundtrack of the 1996 movie version of Romeo + Juliet instead -- even though it makes even some of the darker songs of my beloved West Side Story seem relatively upbeat by comparison.

Movie Song of the Week: "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)"

Just in time for Lent -- which starts next week -- it's the late David Bowie singing the title song from the 1982 version of Cat People. As is the case with High Tension, I must admit that I keep going back and forth on this film but I must admit that I still find the title song pretty memorable. I'm not sure if this is the official music video for this song, but it's close enough for government work. I hope you all enjoy it.

Movie Song of the Week: "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)"

Run, Quicksilver, run!