Can't Stop the Music (1980)

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General		Extras
Category	Musical	Main Menu Audio & Animation Karaoke Theatrical Trailer Trailer-Xanadu Gallery-Photo Notes-The Village People Story
Rating
Year Of Production	1980
Running Time	118:16
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (66:10)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Nancy Walker
Studio Distributor	Associated Film Dist Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Village People Valerie Perrine Bruce Jenner Steve Guttenberg Paul Sand
Case	?
RPI	$34.95	Music	Jacques Morali

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 EX (448Kb/s) English dts 6.1 ES Discrete (768Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English Song Lyrics	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes, Baskin Robbins
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, closing credits over highlights of film

    I can't believe there are some of us (myself included!) who didn't realise the Village People are G...A...Y. But then, some of us didn't realise George Michael was either (not even poor George, who claims he was confused for a while). Come to think of it, I am sure there are still many old ladies around the world who still lust after the memory of Liberace.

    Watching this again with the benefit of hindsight, the clues in this high camp musical are all over the place. If you are a lover of lithe male bodies wearing uniforms and in various stages of undress, then this film will be a good perve. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy the music, which still sounds good after all these years. Oh yeah, there are a few displays of female flesh for the other half of the audience as well.

    The film is a loose "autobiography" of the Village People and their founder Jacques Morali. Jack Morell (Steve Gutenberg) is a budding composer who desperately needs a break into the music industry so that he can achieve his 15 minutes of fame and fortune.

    Quitting his job as a sales clerk in a music store, he acts as a replacement deejay in a nightclub. He impresses roommate Samantha (Valerie Perrine), an ex-fashion model with some connections to the music industry, so she helps him.

    Although Jack is a good composer, he can't sing, so Samantha asks a few of her friends to help him record a demo tape. Thus we are introduced to the members of the Village People one by one:

• Felipe Rose (Indian)
• Randy Jones (Cowboy)
• David Hodo (Construction Worker)
• Ray Simpson (Police Officer)
• Alex Briley (G.I.)
• Glenn Hughes (Leatherman)

    Samantha approaches her ex-boyfriend, record executive Steve Waits (Paul Sand). In between, there's time for romance with a bumbling clean-cut lawyer called Ron White (played by Olympic gold medallist and sports announcer Bruce Jenner). The finale involves the band making a splash debut as a group at a charity event in the "happiest" of all cities: San Francisco.

Video

    This is a widescreen 2.35:1 transfer, 16x9 enhanced, based on 35mm film shot using anamorphic lenses.

    The main issues with the transfer are probably grain, low contrast, softness and faded colours. Although the end result is watchable, most people will find it too soft by modern standards. There is also a lot of smearing of bright objects onto the dark background. At least I did not notice any signs of edge enhancement!

    There is an "English song lyrics" subtitle track - but it is only activated in karaoke style one-word-at-a-time during the major songs (which incidentally you can play separately from the rest of the film).

    This is a single sided dual layered disc (RSDL). The layer change occurs at 66:10 and results in a noticeable pause mid-scene.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    I'm not sure why, but this title gets stellar treatment in terms of audio tracks: English Dolby Digital 5.1 EX (448Kb/s), English dts 6.1 ES Discrete (768Kb/s), and English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded (224Kb/s). Despite that though, the overall sound is somewhat dated, sounding slightly shrill and boomy and lacking in extreme high and low frequencies.

    This is a very front focused and dialogue centred audio track, except for the music, which seems to be mixed to all speakers (including surround backs).

    The Dolby Digital 5.1 EX track surprisingly is the worst sounding of the trio, coming across as somewhat muffled. The other two tracks are somewhat brighter though still lacking in extreme high frequencies.

    The track of choice is no doubt the dts 6.1 ES Discrete audio track - it seems to "shine" a little brighter than the other two - no doubt helped by the fact that it is recorded at a slightly higher volume level.

    I had to disable THX post processing, and specifically re-equalisation, as otherwise all tracks sound somewhat dull and recessed.

    Being a musical, this film features songs performed and sung by the Village People. These are well executed and certainly brings back memories of the disco era. You can also select the musical numbers individually from the menu.

    The subwoofer is only lightly utilized to support the music.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    There aren't as many extras as I thought there would be.

Menu

    The main menu is 16x9 enhanced and includes background audio and animation.

Karaoke

    Entitled "Sing-A-Long With The Village People," this is simply a simplified scene selection menu that takes you to the major songs in the film. You can choose to enable/disable song lyrics. Unfortunately, once each song finishes, the film continues unless you use the "Menu" key to return.

Theatrical Trailer (2:51)

    This is presented in 1.78:1 (16x9 enhanced) and offers Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded (224Kb/s) audio.

Trailer - Xanadu (2:02)

    This is presented in full frame and with Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) sound.

Gallery - Photo

    A lot of stills of promotional shots, film posters, album covers, and so on.

Notes - The Village People Story

    This is a fairly lengthy essay on the "real" biography of the Village People, and the making of the film. It even includes some hints of "Where Are They Now" in regards to some of the cast and crew.

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• English dts 6.1 ES Matrix audio track
• English Closed Captions

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

• English dts 6.1 ES Discrete audio track
• Karaoke menu and song lyrics subtitle track

    The presence of a discrete dts 6.1 audio track rather than matrix gives a slight theoretical edge to Region 4, but I suspect practically this won't make much of a difference.

    Can't Stop The Music is a high camp musical starring the Village People and is a glossy version of the origins of the group. It's a pity this film marked the start of the downward spiral for the popularity of the band, as well as several other members of the cast & crew.

    The video transfer is mediocre.

    The audio transfer gets a gold star for effort (including both Dolby Digital 5.1 EX and dts 6.1 ES Discrete audio tracks) but still sounds mediocre.

    Extras are limited.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall