First off, let’s do this…

My Personal Ranking

1. Casablanca
2. It Happened One Night
3. All Quiet on the Western Front
4. Gentleman’s Agreement
5. On The Waterfront
6. All About Eve
7. The Bridge on the River Kwai
8. The Apartment
9. In The Heat of the Night
10. Lawrence of Arabia
11. Midnight Cowboy
12. Cimarron
13. Gone With the Wind
14. Going My Way
15. Rebecca
16. Wings
17. Mutiny on the Bounty
18. West Side Story
19. The Sound of Music
20. Hamlet
21. My Fair Lady
22. Marty
23. You Can’t Take It With You
24. The Grand Hotel
25. An American in Paris
26. Gigi
27. The Best Years of Our Lives
28. The Life of Emile Zola
29. Around The World in 80 Days
30. Oliver!
31. A Man For All Seasons
32. Tom Jones
33. Ben-Hur
34. The Greatest Show on Earth
35. Mrs. Miniver
36. How Green Was My Valley
37. All the King’s Men
38. From Here To Eternity
39. The Lost Weekend
40. The Great Ziegfeld
41. The Broadway Melody
42. Cavalcade

Parting Thoughts

And now, since we covered so many big-name musicals this decade, what are, to me, our top numbers? These five slapped the most…

1. “America,” West Side Story
2. “Tonight, Tonight,” West Side Story, it’s our only big all-skate
3. “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” Mary Poppins, fight me
4. “Consider Yourself,” Oliver!
5. “I Could’ve Danced All Night,” My Fair Lady, barely nudging out “Don’t Rain On My Parade.”

Whereas these five are so much creepier in context.

1. “Consider Yourself,” Oliver! (RUN IT’S A TRAP)
2. “Food Glorious Food,” Oliver! (Compliance through starvation. Of children. Thanks, history, I hate it)
3. “Sixteen Going on Seventeen,” The Sound of Music (RUN GIRL HE’S A NAZI)
4. “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face,” My Fair Lady (Henry Higgins is an asshole and Eliza deserved better)
5. “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” Funny Girl (Maybe someone should have?)

Also just a note that accidents led to two classic moments in Oscar winners… Dustin Hoffman’s iconic “I’m walking here!” from Midnight Cowboy was entirely unplanned, and while singing “I Have Confidence” in The Sound of Music, Julie Andrews tripped, and the director left it in because Maria briefly stumbling while bucking herself up with a song about being confident was gold.

Next time… Old Hollywood is dead. New Hollywood has begun… and a new form of hit is coming.