The storyline wasn't so boring anymore, because quite frankly, I had something else to distract me: compiling a mental list of all the musical breakout moments of these hard working and yet desperately wanting characters. Surely I owed it to them to give them recognition.
***
So let's get the two obvious ones out of the way. I think it's worth pointing out that both Ms. Hepburn and Ms. Roberts, given several of their failed relationships, had more in common with their characters than you'd think. They may not have been peddling their goods on the street like their alter egos, but it's safe to say they possibly and similarly had looked for love in all the wrong places quite a few times.
As much as I'd like to hate Pretty Woman, I can't, because it will forever remind me of a night where my parents, my sister's best friend, and my uncle and I laughed ourselves hoarse, and somewhat at the expense of my poor sister. Specifically, the night before my sister's wedding, when all of us stayed at her best friend's house, my dad decided to calm my sister's nerves by giving her...well, we not quite sure how much Valium, but fair to say enough that she was so very amusingly loopy, for the ten minutes before she completely passed out cold, that it kept the rest of us going for a good few hours. While we watched Pretty Woman on video.
Pretty Woman (Start at minute 3:45)
I am the lone voice of dissent in my family for being distinctly underwhelmed by Audrey Hepburn. I hold steadfastly that her best turn was in her first movie, and every other one was just a variation on the beautiful free spirit gamin yearning to break out from under the yokes of her everyday life* (Sabrina? Check. War and Peace? Check. My Fair Lady? Check. Even The Nun Story? Definitely , check!)
*Huh. I just realized I could make the same observation about Julia Roberts' career. Weird.
Breakfast at Tiffany's
***
Lest you think it is just the good old American whores that voice their inner self via music, let me point to Melina Mercouri. I'll even 'lax my snotty attitude and say that if I was really pushed (and you were the only person within earshot, with no recording device), I'd even concede this is one girl from the streets story that I actually like, no strings attached. (I reserve the right to a strip search after these kinds of admissions, by the way.)
Never on Sunday
***
I am no sexist, and to prove so, allow me to now present to you Richard Gere in his finest hour, as Julian...the call boy with the (eventual) heart of gold. Given Gere's self-admitted reluctance for overt displays or gestures of lust or love in his movies, this either shows what an excellent actor he is, or that he truly understood that primal appreciation of the good things in life. Go ahead and decide, I'm going to be admiring little shakin' and groovin'.
(On a separate note: this movie is an excellent example of perfect use of music in a movie, from it's very first opening notes...)
American Gigolo
***
There are a LOT of other examples that can be brought up; however, it's not about quantity, but the quality. Where quality is a euphemism for what matters most to me. So I have to end with Moulin Rouge, because in the very divided camps of loved it/hated it (and no in between), I'm fairly ensconced in the former.
To tie off with a little twist though, how about a song being sung to the girl in question instead of by her, though? After all, Satine is, in fact, a performer and singer in this movie, so really, it is not that surprising that she breaks into song.
(Okay, honestly? I dislike Nicole Kidman and that goes to show how very much I love this movie that I am willing to see beyond that. And, seriously, do I even need to say why I'd choose a singing Ewan over her? Come on, now.)
Moulin Rouge
