Can't Stop the Music

Can't Stop the Music (1980)

The movie musical event of the 80's!

A loose biography of seminal disco hit-makers The Village People and their composer Jacques Morali.

Date of release
1980-06-20
TMDB
4.9 / 10 (73)
Runtime
2h 4m
Genres
Comedy, Music
Director
Nancy Walker

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: San Francisco, New York City, and Los Angeles
  • Awards: 2 · Nominations: 7. Including: Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture; Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay

Can't Stop the Music is a 1980 American musical comedy film directed by Nancy Walker in her only directed featured film. Written by Allan Carr and Bronté Woodard, the film is a pseudo-biography of the 1970s disco group the Village People loosely based on the actual story of how the group formed. The film also stars Valerie Perrine, Caitlyn Jenner in her film debut, Steve Guttenberg, Paul Sand, Tammy Grimes, June Havoc, Barbara Rush, Altovise Davis, Marilyn Sokol, and The Ritchie Family in their only film.

Production

Originally titled Discoland... Where the Music Never Ends, Can't Stop the Music was a fictionalized account of the formation of the Village People. Allan Carr announced the film in June 1979, describing it as "Singing in the Rain for the disco crowd" and stating that the film would star the Village People, Valerie Perrine, Tammy Grimes, Chita Rivera, Barbara Rush, Pat Ast and Caitlyn Jenner.

The film's director, Nancy Walker, a theater, film, and television star since the 1940s, had been nominated for two Tony Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and eight Emmy Awards. Walker had guest starred as Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper)'s mother Ida Morgenstern in several episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and continued that role in its spin-off Rhoda.

The film's supporting cast includes Tammy Grimes, Russell Nype, June Havoc, Altovise Davis, Jack Weston and Leigh Taylor-Young. Chita Rivera and Pat Ast were initially cast but dropped out of the film's production.

Can't Stop the Music was Caitlyn Jenner's film debut (as Bruce Jenner), after becoming famous for three world record-setting performances in the Decathlon, and a Gold medal win at the 1976 Olympic Games. Jenner's record stood from 1975 until shortly before this film's 1980 release. Jenner did not appear in another film until Adam Sandler's Jack and Jill (2011), which, like Can't Stop the Music, won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture.

The Village People auditionees depicted in the film included Blackie Lawless (a member of the glam-punk group New York Dolls and heavy metal group W.A.S.P.) and James Marcel (who would later find greater success with the name James Wilder).

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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