A Few Of My Favorite Things is a series that appears most weekends on Driven By Boredom. Each week I talk about three of my favorite things from a specific genre of film, music, or something else all together. Each favorite thing is accompanied by a video and a description of why it is one of my favorite things. Click here for more favorites.

I have never been a big fan of musical theater. I did see Hairspray, but that is just because I am obsessed with John Waters and have a thing for movies about race, rock and roll and Baltimore. However for some reason a few of my favorite movies ever happen to be musicals. Clearly if you know my taste, these are not going to be the classical musicals. I mean I can’t stand West Side Story and only watched Cabaret because I had a one night stand with a girl who looked just like Liza Minelli and I had just watched Arthur 2. There are some sweet classical musicals I dig, but most of them involve the Nicholas Brothers or some kind of tap dancing which I think is amazing. On an unrelated note, although related to that Nicholas Brothers clip, when I was 15 I was obsessed with Cab Calloway, which I think is the most culturally inappropriate music a 15 year old suburban white kid living in the 1990’s could possibly dig on. 1930’s Harlem big band is not exactly Pearl Jam. Anyway, back to musicals. For some reason, despite my generally dismissive attitude towards musicals there are a few of them I watch over and over again. Check out my top 3 favorites after the jump:

1. Cannibal The Musical – 1996
Before there was the South Park Musical, or even South Park, Trey Parker and Matt stone made one of my favorite films of all time and possibly the most rewatchable film I can think of. I have seen Cannibal probably 10-20 times and I plan on watching it again in the next week. It was released by Troma Entertainment, who I was/am obsessed with, and just happens to be Troma’s best movie. It is a true story about a group of people who set out to Colorado Territory in search of gold in the 1800’s. Most of them starved to death, but a man named Alfred Packer survived. It later turned out that he had eaten many of his companions in order to stay alive. The movie is both hilariously gruesome and simply hilarious. The music is amazing and you will have the songs in your head for a week after you watch it. Even the tag line is amazing: “All Singing! All Dancing! All Flesh Eating!”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ1ZOFNBL68[/youtube]

2. Cry Baby – 1990

Speaking of John Waters, my favorite of all of his movies has to be Cry Baby. I used to be real rockabilly and I sort of modeled my whole life on Johnny Depp’s character in the movie. My high school photography teacher actually bought the the movie for me for Christmas one year. The movie has all sorts of amazing things in it, from Iggy Pop naked in a wash tub to Traci Lords looking the hottest of her career to a lovingly fat Ricki Lake. The music is fantastic and the Baltimore accents might be even better. I have probably watched this movie at least a dozen times as well. The best song in the movie might be the squares cover of Mr. Sandman, but I can’t find it online so you get to see one of the coolest moments of Johnny Depp’s career. This is the movie, along with Dead Man, that really made me fall in love with Depp. Enjoy… but squares beware.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So9ukd-VKdk[/youtube]

3. Yankee Doodle Dandy – 1942

In college a film teacher showed me this movie Footlight Parade featuring James Cagney. It became one of my favorite movies of all time and is considered a musical because of the three Busby Berkeley directed song and dance numbers at the end. But despite creating the sport of synchronized swimming the reason I like it has nothing to do with the musical numbers and everything to do with James Cagney who is only featured in one of them. So, instead I am going to talk about Yankee Doodle Dandy which he starred in and is more of a traditional musical. James Cagney is best known for his gangster films but my favorites showcase his quick tongue and sharp wit for humor instead of intimidation. In this pre-Citizen Kane telling of the life of Broadway legend George M. Cohan, Cagney plays nearly every stage of Cohan’s long life. He sings, he dances and he talks. He is so bad ass. This clip I am going to show you is basically a more jingoistic version of Breakin’. Check out his street moves as he bounces off walls and rocks moves that put Michael Jackson to shame… well… almost.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDYRjuzE1vI[/youtube]

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