Great/Inspirational Music Movies

Al Stevens said:

Lush Life

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My all-time favourite music film. It has some silliness but a lot of authenticity as well. I've seen it many times. The sound track by Lennie Niehaus swings its ever-lovin' butt off. Some other favourites of mine that haven't been mentioned:

Hilary and Jackie - about the relationship between Jacqueline du Pre and her sister. Can't vouch for the accuracy but an interesting insight nevertheless.

Song of Summer - a wonderful film about Delius' last days and his assistance who helped him compose as he was dying.

Paris Blues - Paul Newman and Sydney Poitier about two American jazzer ex-pats in Paris, their relationship to the music as well as to the American racial problems. Sound track by Duke Ellington with a cameo by Louis Armstrong.

Young Man With a Horn - Kirk Douglas as a trumpet player looking for that elusive note he can never find. Silly dialogue but nice sound track by Harry James and Doris Day.

Tic Code - wonderful little movie about a boy piano player who has a bad tic and obsessions (Tourette's Syndrome), his empathetic mentor a jazz sax player (Gregory Hines) who also has the syndrome, and a wonderful portrayal by Polly Draper as the boy's vulnerable mother. Includes a cameo by Carol Kane as his crazed piano teacher.

Mo Better Blues - Denzel Washington as a trumpet player struggling to find his place not only musically, but as a man. Spike Lee directed it.

Al Stevens said:

I couldn't stand Mr. Holland's Opus. Richard Dreyfus can't conduct and his character's opus was terrible.

And Jean Louisa Kelly, adorable as she is, sings the bridge to "Someone To Watch Over Me" wrong by halving the meter.

Altogether a musically lame movie.

(Yet Dreyfus was really credible as a pianist in "The Competition.")

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Mr Holland's Opus is one of the most inspirational and emotional films I have ever seen. All the actors are brilliant, including Dreyfuss. The Opus itself is heard throughout the movie as non-diegetic music and in the finale, we only hear half of it, diegetically. The late Michael Kamen's score is truly amazing and I think the entire Opus could have been played verbatim at the end - they could have intercut the audience's and musicians' reactions with stills and footage from earlier on Holland's life and even shown stills from his musician days prior to becoming a teacher.

The producers were originally just going to use Kamen's CoOncerto for Saxophone as the Opus, until they said they wanted the exclusive rights to it. They then said, 'oh, you can just write a symphony in a couple weeks'!!!!. Kamen went onto lengthen his Opus written for the film into a longer work. The director, star and composer co-founded the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, providing musical instruments for schoolchildren. Kamen was working on a musical stage version of Holland's Opus when he died. I met Michael Kamen in 1996, when giving a talk and demonstrating on his trusty Kurzweil sunth, some of the main motifs and themes.

The film inspired me to start teaching music.

A couple that haven't been mentioned yet:
Shine - about an Aussie concert pianist battling a mental disorder
32 Short Films about Glenn Gould

Some Classic Musicals:
West Side Story
A Star is Born - Judy Garland singing some jazz
42nd St - from the early 30's
An American in Paris - Gene Kelly
Singin' in the Rain - Gene Kelly
Swing Time - Fred Astair & Ginger Rogers