The First Nudie Musical (1976)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Pornographic filmmaker Stephen Nathan (as Harry Schechter) is seeing red instead of pink. You didn't come to see his "Stewardesses in Cages" and "Teenage Sex Mutants". Consequently, Mr. Nathan's low-budget sex films aren't making money, and the movie studio he manages for his father is about to go down. Telling his investors, "genitalia is boring" at the box office, Nathan is inspired by steadfast secretary Cindy Williams (as Rosie) to change direction, and proposes "The First Nudie Musical". One investor (Hy Pyke) insists wet-behind-the-ears nephew Bruce Kimmel (as John Smithee) be hired as director; and Nathan is given two weeks to create... "Come… Come, Now".This astounding, and frequently hilarious, film patterns its pornographic plot after Mel Brooks' similar stab at a Nazi musical in "The Producers" (1968); additionally, "The First Nudie Musical" captures the spirit and energy of old Hollywood musicals both directed by Busby Berkeley, and starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. That fresh, irreverent energy is why this film works so well. Full-frontal nudity (female and male) and bad language abound - an "edited-for-television" version would have been short 'n silent in the seventies - but, the vulgarity never seems dirty. Lesser comedies use nudity and language offensively and humorlessly - for examples, see present day comedies.Paramount Pictures had a "midnight movie" classic on its hands, but had to give the film a cold shower after both Cindy Williams and the studio's "Laverne & Shirley" TV series became immediate hits. To Paramount's credit, they employed fellow "Nudie" travelers Bruce Kimmel (writer, composer, co-director, star) and Stephen Nathan ("Jesus" from Broadway's "Godspell") as guest stars on their program(s). And, it's easy to see why, as the threesome are obviously natural (and underrated) comics. Of the supporting cast-mates, Diana Canova (as Juanita) obviously stands out, due to a combination of heritage, "Perversion", and "Soap" - but, they are all cult classic characters.********* The First Nudie Musical (3/76) Mark Haggard, Bruce Kimmel ~ Stephen Nathan, Cindy Williams, Bruce Kimmel, Diana Canova

Yes, folks, in the 70s world of the double feature, this was the show at my local cinema. Of course I went. Somehow I thought the letter kid had forgotten to add the T after BUS thus making it a rude duo. Both films were very funny. Both films were completely ignored in first release. Both films are now cult faves. Other comments will tell you the details, but MUSICAL is a low budget indie that uses this constraint well to create a plausible storyline and suitably tacky musical production numbers. In the 70s there were a lot of farce sex / musicals like ALICE IN WONDERLAND and THE CASE OF THE SMILING STIFFS. Some compilation skit sex comedies about D grade film studios too: LOOSE SHOES and THAT'S ADEQUATE. This film, NUDIE MUSICAL sort of rolled all the ideas together. The idea of a comedy sex musical was not really new and was also re imagined here in Australia in the mid 90s: we saw a very similar locally made farce/musical/comedy created in 1997 called MONEYSHOT which unbeknownst to the producer with whom I later became friends, alerted him to MUSICAL which saw him flabbergasted at the similarities. It was originally called THE VENUS FACTORY... see IMDb for details. This parallel production of OZ and USA happens a lot: see PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT vs TO WONG FOO, TWO HANDS vs KNOCKAROUND GUYS, and recently WILLFULL vs Almodovar's VOLVER

This movie should define the genre, with nudity and predictable plot but done in a way that the nudity is not the major theme, only spice. It would be worth watching without nudity, though it would not be as entertaining. If you like movies with stereotypical characters and lots of nudity, this is the one. You will not be disappointed with the acting, music. or technical quality except for the smoke filled first ten minutes where the effects are overdone.This is a really good movie, except it should have ended when the character "John" visits "Wanda's". Everything after this appears to be an attempt to end without purpose. When the sale is made, quit talking. It is really good until this point, which is about 1:15 into the film.Highly recommended. Just skip the last 15 minutes.

I first saw The First Nudie Musical when it first came out and thought it was very funny and extremely outragous. Now I have to say it still holds up. It's a wonderful little film. It's about a porn producer who in order to save his little studio decides to make the worlds first porno musical. The songs are outragous especially the one called "Dancing Dildos", which has to be seen to be believed. This was all the brainchild of one man, Bruce Kimmel, who now is a record producer. He's the one responsible to putting some of the best old albums on CD. For this film he got all his friends involved, including a cameo from one of his stars, Cindy Williams good friends. I won't spoil this cameo though it does come early in the film. Get the new DVD which I just watched. The print has never looked too good plus the DVD has two wonderful commentary tracks, a 54 minute documentary which is outragous in itself, and two deleted scenes. This film is a treat for not only those who love cult films, to the lovers of old time musicals, because this film really does send up the old Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland let's put on a show films. Do yourself a favor and add this to your DVD collection.