'Singin' in the Rain' is the movie we all need to watch now

Debbie Reynolds and Gene Kelly turn on the charm offensive in 1952’s “Singin’ in the Rain.” (MGM/MovieStillsDB.com)

Ultimate Movie Year finds the best films from weekends past to build an all-star lineup of cinema.

"Singin' in the Rain"
Released March 27, 1952
Directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly
Where to Watch

Let's face it: Even the most optimistic amongst us will admit these are pretty stressful times. As I write this, the coronavirus pandemic is sweeping across the world, forcing people to stay in their homes, while the economy craters at a speed we have not seen in our lifetimes. It's a moment when we all need something to brighten our spirits, to make us laugh at the clouds (so dark) up above.

We need Gene Kelly "Singin' in the Rain."

The iconic Hollywood musical from 1952 never suffers from exacting too much tension from its story. Nearly every conflict within the movie is resolved relatively quickly as its principal characters dance, sing, charm, and breeze through the screen. It's a brilliant piece of film art designed solely to entertain, put a smile on your face, and make you laugh.

This isn't high-minded analysis here; "Singin' in the Rain" literally explains these goals to the audience in song.

To be honest, I have never been a big fan of musicals, onscreen or otherwise, but perhaps the reason why is because of the time I grew up. While musicals were once a centerpiece of business in Hollywood, there was a significant decrease in these kinds of productions during my childhood as studios gravitated toward high concept blockbusters to lure in audiences. I'm reasonably confident I never watched any modern film in the genre from 1978's "Grease" to 2002's "Chicago." That's a massive gap in my education that I'm gradually catching up on by watching the classics and learning the language of musical film. For my money, there isn't any better in the genre than "Singin' in the Rain."

The movie also doubles as a film about the history of Hollywood entertainment. Set in the 1920s, Kelly plays movie star Don Lockwood, a former Vaudeville performer and stuntman who becomes a silent film attraction with actress Lina Lamont. However, the 1927 debut of "The Jazz Singer" gives the public its first experience with talking pictures, and Lockwood is among the many actors (and executives) who now have to find a way to succeed in a world of sound.

What separates "Singin'" from its peers is its sheer devotion and drive by its performers to put on the greatest show you've ever seen. It's baked in the film's DNA with Kelly serving as co-director and choreographer. Gifted with an athletic body, handsome face, and a movie star smile, Kelly was a tireless perfectionist who had a vision for how dance could be captured on film. Along with co-director Stanley Donen and co-stars Debbie Reynolds and Donald O'Connor, Kelly exposed audiences to numbers that express grace, coordination, athleticism, drama, sexuality, comedy, and romance, providing a variety of evidence that dance is a diverse art form demanding your attention.

Three numbers come to mind immediately when reflecting upon "Singin' in the Rain." The first is "Make 'Em Laugh," an insanely energetic solo performance from O'Connor, who plays Lockwood's best friend, Cosmo. During this original song (though heavily influenced by Cole Porter's "Be a Clown"), O'Connor dances, prances, runs, jumps, flips, slips, tumbles, rumbles, smashes, and crashes through everything in sight in a performance that, as legend has it, put him in the hospital. Modern-day Luchadore wrestlers would have a hard time keeping up with O'Connor's frantic but deliriously entertaining number.

Later on in the film, Lockwood proposes another significant production number to his studio boss, R.F. Simpson, that is visualized in the movie as "The Broadway Melody." A sequence that offers its own three-act story, Kelly is reimagined as a young man coming to New York City for the first time, hustling to become a stage performer on his own. During his journey, he encounters a beautiful woman played by Cyd Charisse, who's the gal wrapped around the arm of an unsavory mobster. The Kelly and Charisse characters are attracted to each other, and the world around them dissolves away so it's just the two of them; their connection is explored through dance. The moment when Charisse's white scarf unfolds into the length of a half-city-block, billowing in the air while the air around the actors only suggests a light breeze, I can't help but be amazed and stunned by the sheer beauty of this sequence. One of my favorite feelings when watching a film is wondering, "How did they do that," like the creators just unleashed an unexpected magic trick on the viewer, and this scene evokes that. Mind you, it makes no sense that Lockwood's character would think this significant production number about modern Hollywood stardom belongs in his "Dueling Cavalier" film, which is a period piece, but hey, we're just rolling with all this so do your thing, Don.

Finally, we come to the title number, as Kelly bounds through the city streets during a rain shower, excited to tell the whole world about the new love in his heart. While most of my film upbringing was devoted to naturalism onscreen, watching Kelly sing and dance around for five minutes just captures every great aspect of classic Hollywood. It has a movie star, a studio set, long takes that highlight the talent and skill of the performance, inventive production design, camera cranes, swelling horns, and an iconic song about finding happiness when the world is dragging you down. It is one of my favorite scenes ever. I'll watch whenever I need a smile on my face, as it speaks to the value of hope and optimism in the time that we live in now. 

Three major sequences, all uniquely performed, presented, and serving a different emotional beat in the story. It's an impressive feat on its own without even considering the other numbers in the movie.

While Kelly's previous film, "An American in Paris" from 1951, was more of an immediate success with slightly higher box office totals and seven Academy Awards wins, including Best Picture, "Singin' in the Rain" proved to be the better marathon runner. It is routinely cited as the best musical of all time (including by the American Film Institute), and one of the best films ever by several of the leading authorities like the AFI, Sight and Sound, and Rotten Tomatoes. It continues to win new fans all the time, including me, who initially saw it only a few years ago, and it has since become one of my favorite films ever. 

The best I can say about "Singin' in the Rain" is that it's watchable at any moment, with any group, at any age. It's one of the most purely joyful films in the Ultimate Movie Year, and when the world seems hard, it's your best bet to brighten your mood.

The Weekend: "Singin' in the Rain" is not the only notable Hollywood classic released in the waning days of March. Director Billy Wilder got stars Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon to go on the run from the mob dressed as women in the 1959 comedy classic, "Some Like It Hot." The movie, which also stars Marilyn Monroe, is just about neck-and-neck with our featured movie of the week when it comes to esteem and legacy. Plus, Wilder is one of the prolific and respected filmmakers of all time to not have one of his movies make the Ultimate Movie Year. It's unfortunate as I think his work is well-worth examination. Still, in this particular case, it's very easy to choose the lone musical over another romantic comedy to diversify our lineup. 

One of the best adaptations of an original Sherlock Holmes story, 1939's "The Hound of the Baskervilles," was also released this weekend. Directed by Sidney Lanfield, the film stars Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Holmes and Watson, respectively. 

Moving into the modern era, a 1988 dark comedy that kickstarted an entire subgenre of high school social satires. Directed by Michael Lehmann, "Heathers" stars Winona Ryder as a teenage girl accepted into her high school's most elite female clique. Once influenced by her bad-boy lover (played by Christian Slater), she begins knocking off her popular, mean classmates one-by-one. "Heathers" became a cult favorite that helped clear the path for movies like 1999's "Jawbreaker" and 2004's "Mean Girls."

Another excellent movie debuts in 1992 with the release of "White Men Can't Jump." Woody Harrelson (back when he was trying to break out of his Woody role on TV's "Cheers") plays former college basketball player Billy Hoyle, trading off his whitebread image to hustle street players in California's Venice Beach. One of his marks is Sidney Deane (Wesley Snipes), who later comes back to convince Billy to participate in a better hustle. "White Men" is hilarious and wonderfully human, as writer/director Ron Shelton keeps the comedy grounded while maintaining a keen focus on sports and addictive psychology. "White Men Can't Jump" is fantastic, and came *this close* to making it this week's selection.

"High Fidelity" is another personal favorite of mine. The film adaptation of the Nick Hornby novel was released in 2000 and stars John Cusack as a bitter, heartbroken record store owner who attempts to recognize the faults in his past relationships. Cusack's Rob is a pop-culture obsessive, which, as the premise of the Ultimate Movie Year suggests, is a character type I really relate to, for good and ill. "High Fidelity" also featured Jack Black in a breakout supporting role, which makes sense as he's never been more Jack Blacker than this movie.

Three respected and influential directors also released movies in this time frame. We already highlighted a David Fincher movie with 2010's "The Social Network," but his 2002 thriller "Panic Room" is a tightly-wound Swiss watch of tension. The film stars Jodie Foster and a very young Kristen Stewart. The other filmmakers made their feature film directorial debuts, as Rian Johnson launched his career with the 2005 noir high school drama, "Brick," and James Gunn wrote and directed the horror-comedy from 2006, "Slither."

Let's also spotlight two other movies that perhaps didn't receive the critical love that these other films above have, but they've got their devoted followings nonetheless. Chris Farley and David Spade were two young stars from "Saturday Night Live" getting to headline their own feature film in 1995's "Tommy Boy," but it was Farley who became a comedic force of nature for a few years there before his untimely death in 1997. It speaks to how talented he was as a comedic actor that he remains influential and loved decades after his passing, and "Tommy Boy" is the best example of his work. A movie that was a lot more controversial was 2016's "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice." The Zack Snyder movie brought two of the most popular superheroes ever (three, if you count Wonder Woman's supporting role) into a live-action film for the first time, but Snyder's dark tone rankled many longtime fans of the DC heroes. I don't think the movie is quite the Worst. Movie. Ever., but, uh, I've seen better.

This is also a big weekend for kids movies, as school breaks begin to kick in for the Spring. Back in 1990, the original live-action "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" was released and became a surprise hit. Over a decade later, action film director Robert Rodriguez went from Rated R superstar to all-ages with the 2001 film, "Spy Kids." Later in the decade when Pixar Studios were dominating computer animation films for acclaim and box office, Disney released the sci-fi family film, "Meet the Robinsons," in 2007. In 2010, Dreamworks Animation released the acclaimed hit, "How to Train Your Dragon," which became a franchise on its own right. Flash-forward to 2017, and Dreamworks' "The Boss Baby" became another hit for the studio, and, frankly, is not as bad as it sounds.

Other notable releases for the weekend include "Romancing the Stone" in 1984; Madonna's screen debut in 1985's "Desperately Seeking Susan;" a pre-"Die Hard" Bruce Willis in Blake Edwards' "Blind Date" from 1987; the 2002 dark comedy "Death to Smoochy" starring Robin Williams; Robert Rodriguez return to R rated violence in the comic adaption "Sin City" from 2005; the 2005 spinoff of the Barbershop franchise, "Beauty Shop;" and the Steven Spielberg adaptation of the dystopian pop culture future of "Ready Player One" in 2018. Speaking of dystopian futures ...

Next Week: "The Matrix"

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