One of my favorite bad movies of the late 70s-early 80s is the godawful "Can't Stop the Music"...a completely inept film starring a lot of B-list actors as well as The Village People. It's terrible on every possible level...to the point where it's actually hilarious to watch. The only worse and more outlandish film of the same period is "The Apple"...though comparing the two is like comparing Ebola with Falling out of a 30 story building...neither is especially good!
This gala-style film was made to promote the movie and show all the important Hollywood types who like going to see the movie. Oddly, many of these stars are producers and directors. Perhaps they had a hard time getting big name stars, though you do get to see Cher, Hugh Hefner, Sammy Davis Jr. And a few others.
The show begins with a red carpet extravaganza...complete with fireworks and lots of hooplah. Then the Ritchie Family, a group of non-related singers created by the same guy who created The Village People, sing a song which is reasonably entertaining. It's accompanied by scantily clad men exercising...much like one of the numbers from "Can't Stop the Music". Then, come all sorts of interviews and self-congratuatlory hubbub telling us just how amazing the film will be when it's released. Yeah, right. They also try to make the members of The Village People sound very straight...which is unintentionally rather funny as they talk about the women they had crushes on while making the film. Cher and Toni Tennille also sing and Steve Guttenberg roller dances. Then Sammy Davis essentially begs the audience to go see the movie!
There's a lot more and the show goes on for an hour. Suffice to say, however, that it really did NOT do much to help sell the movie. "Can't Stop the Music" cost $20,000,000 (a lot back in 1980) and grossed less than $1400! I think this pretty much says it all.
Even if you are NOT a bad movie buff, you might want to see the show just because it's an incredibly interesting look at a rather garish time period...one that my own kids would laugh at and say "was it REALLY like THAT?!?". Yes, kids...it really was!
Overall, I'd give this a 2 (a couple songs weren't bad). But for bad movie fans, it's a 10!
