CAN'T STOP THE MUSIC

US, 1980, 117 minutes, Colour.
The Village People, Steve Guttenberg, Valerie Perrine, Bruce Jenner, Tammy Grimes, June Havoc, Paul Sand, Barbara Rush.
Directed by Nancy Walker.

Can't Stop The Music is pre-packaging and selling at its most commercially successful. Producer Allan Carr said in 1978 he loved '40s musicals. With comedienne Nancy Walker directing, he has lifted (with verbal acknowledgement) those Judy Garland- Mickey Rooney stories of music, the show and stardom. This time it is a genial Steve Guttenberg (aided by a lively Valerie Perrine and staid ex-Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner plus, for the oldies, Tammy Grimes, June Havoc and Barbara Rush doing comic turns) who writes disco songs , forms a group and ... that's it. The Village People are flamboyant in feathers, leather etc., the songs have disco verve (sometimes with elaborate split-screen techniques) and audiences are flocking.

1. An entertaining musical? The music, disco rhythms, the showbiz story? The pre-packaging of 1980? Disco music, the Village People as a group, the film itself, the L.P.? Audience response to advertising and promotion?

2. A movie of 1980? Later responses? The use of wide screen, colour, split-screen effects for the credits, for the Y.M.C.A. number?

3. The choreography and its vitality? Atmosphere of New York, San Francisco?

4. The popularity of disco music, the songs, choreography? The echoes of the tradition of American musicals?

5. Village People as a group? The individual members and their personalities, style? As a group? The impact of their singing, showmanship? Flamboyance? The individual characters and their dress, symbols of types of the 170s and '80s? The appeal - age group, men, women?

6. The background of the old Judy Garland- Mickey Rooney musicals? The transition to the '70s and '80s? The composer and his music, giving up his job, carefree attitude towards life, the disc-jockey, the help of friends, the formation of a group, auditions, difficulties, advertising? The show and success? The perennial appeal of this material? Jacques as hero? Seeing him at his initial work, his exuberance during the credits and being pictured in New York, his enjoyment of his own songs and composing them? His work as a disc jockey, a composer at home? His friends? The need for a group? His friendship with Samantha? Sharing the flat, her urging him on to success? Her contacts and professional help? Jacques and his mother and her arrival? The preparation for auditions, getting the record? The audition at home, the failure in the studio? His going on to the plane with his mother to pressurise the manager? His joy at the end?

8. The portrayal of Samantha - as a model, her mocking of her photo at the beginning, her sharing with Jacques? Her relationship with him? Her attraction towards the lawyer, sexual liaison, criticism of his narrow-mindedness? Her clashes with Sidney? The pressure of Sidney's visit? The decision to make the milk ad? Her presence during the songs, in the milk ad itself? Her not going on the plane with her former boyfriend? Her clashes with him, persuading him to listen to the group? The happy ending for her? The glamorous all-American girl! The presentation of the legal firm - the law and its relationship to records, groups? Strictness, being uptight? The lawyer and his infatuation with Samantha, his stiffness during the visit, his return? His participation in the auditions in the office? His getting the sack? His jealousy of Samantha? His presence at the end and the happy ending? His mother and her interest in the group, her arranging the concert? The elderly lawyer and his severe attitudes especially after the auditions in the office? His taking on the group at the end? The satire on the legal profession?

10. The humour in the character of Sidney? Tammy Grimes and her voice, dresses - the Wicked Witch of the West! Her pressure on Samantha, her control, her participation in the exuberance? Her role at the end? Lulu and her working for Sidney? Her being sex-mad? The innuendo, training the group? Her work for the group? Sidney and the promotion of the milk commercial? The humour of her sequence in the phone booth and her caught fingernail? Comic touches?

11. Mrs Morelli and her exuberance, her visit, pride in her son? Joining in the singing? Her pressure tactics with her son on the plane?

12. The character of Lulu and the comic touches? The emphasis on sex jokes? Her work? Friendship with Samantha?

13. The party sequence and the auditions at Jacques' how? The auditions in the office? The audition in the recording studio?

14. The contribution of the songs and their choreography and visual techniques: the initial New York song, 'Magic Nights', the song in red, the milk commercial, 'Y.M.C.A.', the title song and its long finale?

15. An enjoyable popular concoction of 1970s-80s? Reflecting the attitudes of the times?