Up in Smoke (1978)
The film: Two stoners unwittingly smuggle a van made entirely of marijuana from Mexico to LA.
Why It ought to be a musical: The greatest stoner comedy of all time could be the best stoner musical since 'Reefer Madness: The Musical'.
The road trip scenario provides a challenge for staging, but there's plenty to mine here, including ready-made songs.
Of all the films on this list, this was the most popular choice in the totalfilm.com office, which perhaps says a bit too much about our writers...
Music & lyrics by... Flying way before The Conchords ever did – Cheech and Chong, man.
Hit songs: 'Earache In My Eye', 'Mostly Maui Wowie', 'Does Howdy Doody Got Wooden Balls, Man', 'We Can Be Punks, Man', 'Mellow Out, Man', 'Some Asshole Pissed On My Leg' and 'I Think He's The Antichrist'.
Producer’s notes: Pipe marijuana smoke into the auditorium - synchronised with the appearance of chocolate/crisp-selling usherettes. Ker-ching!
Next: Predator
Comments
jollieoldtime
May 20th 2009, 20:30
They totally made Evil Dead a musical off-Broadway. They basically spent the entire time throwing blood on the audience. It was awesome.
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mic2803
May 20th 2009, 22:49
definately 300 the musical starring john barrowman as Leonidas. giant elephants with the same technique as the west-end lion king. music and lyrics by muse perhaps?
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ebrown2112
May 22nd 2009, 9:35
Kevin Smith's ok, but New Jersey's finest? You're forgetting John Sayles.
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Kelisha888
May 22nd 2009, 12:11
Well, at least you mentioned Sondheim - who at least knows how to write a musical. I can't help but thinking Andrew Lloyd Weber should write the music to Blade Runner.
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jws1272
May 22nd 2009, 20:01
There's a production of Evil Dead:The Musical playing here in Cleveland, Ohio, USA right now. I've got tix for May 29! Not in the Splatter Zone (yes, they do spray blood at the audience), but tix nonetheless. Can't wait to see it. I've seen some footage from the Toronto production, & they DO reference the Boomstick speech from AOD.
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Phoenixtorn
May 22nd 2009, 22:28
I saw the Evil Dead musical twice when it was here in Toronto (and saw the cast perform some of the songs at a convention). It was great and so much fun! An army of Darkness Sequel would be pretty spectacular. lol
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dgoodswen
May 23rd 2009, 1:40
It has become an unrelenting priority to get tix to the Evil Dead musical... in the splatter zone!
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MovieDearest
May 23rd 2009, 7:07
I'm pretty sure I just read recently that "Heathers" is being turned into a musical ... so one down, 10 more to go! And don't forget the odd rumor that "Fight Club" may be turned into a musical, as well as "Wet Hot American Summer".
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shovel
May 23rd 2009, 23:12
Heathers! the Musical. awesome. but it can't happen without "cornnuts," either a rock ballad or dancy number for heather's last words. ooh. perhaps the old jingle "bust a nut" can be used.
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magic8387
May 24th 2009, 23:37
"The Jerk". It's already got a couple of musical pieces in it, and room for so many more. Open with his black family singing on the porch, the big dance number where he finds his rythym, along with "I'm somebody now!", "He hates these cans", "I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit", A musical pitch of the Opti-grab, "I AM A n****r!" and of course "All I need is..." It'd be perfect.
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gwobblewopkins
Dec 10th 2009, 5:22
Get to the Chopper's already a song... Anyone else heard of Austrian Death Machine? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdZYvPZhT1c
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vicdoe
Dec 30th 2010, 12:16
I don't know about you, but I don't think that movies with a certain success should be turned to musicals. Usually, when things like that happend the success rate is very low. look at books written after movies. usually, those books, are awfull! imagine how would it be if No Ordinary Family would be a musical. it's true that this is a TV show, but it is a great success and someone could try something with it... either a musical or a book. i really think that musicals should be thought as musicals from the begining and books as books. never mix up.
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