What's the AFI Project, you ask? For more information, or if you just enjoy my bemused ramblings, read here: http://www.spout.com/blogs/pippin06/archive/2008/3/1/25756.aspx
Singin' in the Rain is on the following AFI lists:
The Original Top 100 (#10)
100 Funniest Films (#16)
100 Years...100 Passions (#16)
100 Greatest Film Songs (#3 - "Singin' in the Rain;" #49 - "Make 'Em Laugh;" #72 - "Good Morning")
25 Greatest Movie Musicals (#1)
The Revised Top 100 (#5)
Singin' in the Rain is also one of my favorite movies. It's funny and cheerful and song-and-dancy, and it didn't get its exalted status as America's best-loved musical film for nothing. The plot: Don Lockwood (the handsome Gene Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) are silent film stars who betray a smoldering passion onscreen, but offscreen, they are like oil and water. While Lina has eyes for Don, Don "caaann't stan'" Lina, who is beautiful but brainless and way too self-involved. Don, instead, likes Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds - she played this part at 17!), whom he met whilst dropping into her convertible from a cable car above in an effort to escape screaming fans. Hollywood is experiencing a change - talking pictures are coming into focus, and the studios begin the scramble to catch up with "The Jazz Singer." The trouble? Lina's voice is even less charming than her personality, and it's up to Don, Kathy, and Don's best friend and pianist extraordinaire Cosmo Brown (the excellent Donald O'Connor) to figure out a way to save the disastrous new Lockwood-Lamont talkie, the "Dueling Cavalier," from total annihilation at the hands of the inept Lina.
I love this movie, and the AFI loves it too, because it has all of the winning ingredients for a musical film and even a non-musical film, if one were to compare: a funny, brilliant, tongue-in-cheek script that is as much satirical today as it was in 1952; excellent and believable performances from all of the film's stars, including a young Rita Moreno; songs that have stood the test of time, including AFI's number one choice, the title song; and knock-out dancing from Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor. No one dances like that anymore; they were athletic and graceful, and it's thrilling to watch them in the opening flashback sequence and during "Make 'Em Laugh" (another quintessential song), "Moses Supposes," and "Good Morning." Plus, the scene where Gene Kelly actually sings in the rain is one of the best filmed sequences in terms of camera work, art direction, and the whole ball of wax in all of American cinema. I hold to that and will never be convinced otherwise! It's breathtaking and iconic, and it makes you want to pick up an umbrella and go get soaked right along with the eternal Gene Kelly.
Plus, I just love seeing Lina get her comeuppance in the end. She's quite annoying, really.
Musicals might not be for everyone, but I love them, and I think this, as well as The Wizard of Oz and the Sound of Music, are the best there is. This is a qualified masterpiece (read: a 10!). The action is fast-paced, the dialogue is quick and witty, the costumes (particularly in the "Broadway Melody" sequence) are jaw-dropping, and the characters are beyond endearing. Plus, it's just a joy to sing along with. I pull this movie out every now and again just because - I obviously own it - and it never gets old for me because it does what it set out to do so effectively: entertain me. Sometimes, I randomly sing "Singin' in the Rain" and "Good Morning" during the course of my day just because they put a "smile on my face." If you haven't seen this film, you should give it a try. You might be surprised, even if you despise musicals. I think it deserves its places on those AFI lists, and this certainly won't be the last time I watch it.