100. Hanks for the memoriesThat Thing You Do! (1996)Tom Hanks’s directorial debut about a one-hit wonder band in the post-
Beatles ’60s is so amiably obvious, the group is called the Wonders! Get it? But what the film lacks in subtlety it more than makes up for with dead-accurate period musical detail.
Best musical moment: The band’s “eureka!” moment when “That Thing You Do!” mutates from a turgid ballad into sunny pop. (12:50)
Did you know? The maddeningly catchy, Oscar-nominated title song was written by Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne.
99. Hang the DJPump Up the Volume (1990)Dweeb by day, insurrectionist pirate DJ by night, Mark Hunter (Christian Slater) captivates Arizona high school kids with his blend of nihilistic advice and an eclectic playlist that includes
Beastie Boys and
Leonard Cohen. One of the few occasions that Slater’s twitchy Jack Nicholson shtick actually improved a movie.
Best musical moment: The MC5’s “Kick Out the Jams” prompts teen malcontents to go on the rampage brandishing a gigantic model penis. (00:45)
Did you know? Slater’s all-time favorite song is
Elvis Presley’s “A Little Less Conversation.”
98. BeatlemaniacsI Wanna Hold Your HandIn
Forrest Gump, director Robert Zemeckis recast modern history through the eyes of a retarded hick. But before that, he recast the
Beatles’ 1964 appearance on
The Ed Sullivan Show through the eyes of retarded-seeming Jersey teens. Though improbable and even cloying, the movie still succeeds in personalizing a watershed moment.
Best musical moment: “Love Me Do” seen from the perspective of hysterical audience members. (1:32:00)
Did you know? Earning $1.9 million, this was the lowest-grossing film in Universal’s history.
97. Monkee businessHead (1968)The Monkees' plan to obliterate their image as cuddly, made-for-TV clowns with a self-deprecating, anticonsumerism screed proved to be the band’s death knell. Come for the plotless collection of sketches that can generously be called “experimental filmmaking” — the Prefab Four play dandruff flakes in Victor Mature’s hair in one skit — but stay for the sophisticated musical numbers.
Best musical moment: Mickey leaps to this death — figuratively and commercially — to “Porpoise Song.” (00:01)
Did you know? Jack Nicholson (who, like Sonny Liston, makes a cameo) cowrote the script.
96. American idolBye Bye Birdie (1963)Sweet Apple, Ohio, wouldn’t make anyone’s list of rock & roll hot spots. But when Conrad Birdie — a pelisse-shaking crooner who strongly resembles another ’50s idol — descends on the town for one last show before shipping off to the Army, all heck breaks loose. The adaptation of the Broadway satire stars Swedish bombshell Ann-Margret, the
Lindsay Lohan of 1963.
Best musical moment: Conrad sings about sowing his wild oats in “A Lot of Livin' to Do.”
Did you know? Birdie’s name was allegedly inspired by country star Conway Twitty.
95. New wave New YorkSmithereens (1982)The debut film from Susan “
Desperately Seeking Susan” Seidelman follows New York scenester loser Wren (Susan Berman) as she vacillates between boyfriends. The film is blessed with a superb new wave soundtrack, and offers an extensive tour of the East Village’s apocalyptic moonscape.
Best musical moment: A clanging Feelies track cranks up the audience’s discomfort as Wren discovers just how many bridges she’s burned (1:23:00)
Did you know? In his first movie appearance, Chris Noth —
Sex and the City’s “Mr. Big” — has a tiny role as a transvestite prostitute.
94. Get your own motor runnin’Easy Rider (1969)Light on plot, heavy on symbolism and long on style,
Easy Rider also has a soundtrack as legendary as its stars. In fact, you can almost pinpoint the exact moment the ’70s began: Captain America (Peter Fonda) kick-starting his stars-and-stripes chopper to the strains of Steppenwolf’s “Born to be Wild.”
Best musical moment: Fonda, Dennis Hopper and a hitchhiker cruising to
the Band’s “The Weight.” (20:00)
Did you know? The LSD sequence got its look because someone accidentally exposed a reel of film to sunlight.
93. Killer cameoHigh School Confidential! (1958)Though its hip slang may be cringe-worthy — the movie
is 49 years old — the film holds up because its true “just say no” agenda isn’t revealed until the end. Until then, Russ Tamblyn’s pusher is cinema’s least sympathetic teen protagonist, hitting on his teacher and “blasting a joint” in the principal’s office.
Best musical moment: Jerry Lee Lewis’s title song. (00:01)
Did you know? Tamblyn is the father of
Joan of Arcadia cutie Amber Tamblyn, while costar John Drew Barrymore is the father of — that’s right! — Drew Barrymore.
92. Leave it to beaverEddie and the Cruisers (1983)A “cult classic” (read bomb),
Cruisers is better known for John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band’s hit single “On the Dark Side” than for its actual plot. Which is a good thing.
Best musical moment: “Dark Side” evolves from awkward ballad to the Cruiser’s signature song to cheap Atlantic City revue number. The entire life span of a song played out in minutes. (31:00)
Did you know? The heroin-addicted sax player is played by one of the Beaver Brown Band.
91. Star and barsJailhouse Rock (1957)After killing a guy in a bar with two punches,
Elvis is sent to prison, where he passes time singing rather than, say, being brutally raped. Released, he signs a recording contract, hits it big, screws over his friends, bottoms out and, yes, finds redemption. Edgier than all his subsequent 28 movies.
Best musical moment: Not the title song, but the lawyer supplying hand claps during “Treat Me Nice.”
Did you know? Judy Tyler, who plays
Elvis’s manager/love interest, died in a car crash soon after wrapping the film.
90. Everybody must get stonedCocksucker BluesShot by Beat photographer Robert Frank during the
Rolling Stones’ debauched ’72 U.S. tour, this bootleg-only doc features a masturbating
Mick Jagger, a groupie orgy at 30,000 feet and the title song (“Where can I get my ---- sucked/Where can I get my ass fucked”) — all in the first 15 minutes. Shockingly, the Stones were not pleased, and sued to prevent its release.
Best musical moment: Jagger and opening act Stevie Wonder duet on “Satisfaction.” (54:00)
Did you know? Frank is still permitted to show the film publicly once a year — so long as he is in attendance.
89. Valley vixensFoxes (1980)Despite opening with the ominous words “Starring Scott Baio,”
Foxes is a raw drama of four teen Valley girls (among them, Jodie Foster) looking for cheap thrills in the shadow of the ’70s, where divorce is high and morality low. Most damaged is Annie (ex-Runaway Cherie Currie), a wild child running with Hollywood street trash.
Best musical moment: A solo on the guitar-synth “keytar” hybrid at a show by hair metallers Angel. (35:00)
Did you know? Foster was the first choice to play Princess Leia in
Star Wars, but was under contract to Disney at the time.
88. All dolled upSuperstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1987)The tragedy of anorexic soft-rock princess Karen Carpenter, reenacted by Barbie dolls. Though it sounds like a proto–
Team America romp, it’s a sober commentary on body image. After director Todd Haynes received cease and desist letters from Richard Carpenter and A&M Records, he could no longer show the film.
Best musical moment: A Vietnam and holocaust montage is soundtracked by “We’ve Only Just Begun.” (39:00)
Did you know? Haynes made “Karen” appear even thinner by whittling away at the doll.
87. Priest rules!Heavy Metal Parking Lot (1986)A scant 16 minutes long, John Heyn and Jeff Krulik’s collection of interviews with tailgaters outside a
Judas Priest/Dokken concert in Maryland is as sublime as it is simple. The joy with which these hashers pledge their devotion to rawk evokes nostalgia — if not for the music, then a least for this magical time before irony.
Best musical moment: One mulleted teen rages against "that punk crap." (08:30)
Did you know? Though bootleg tapes circulated for years, the movie wasn’t screened theatrically until 2000.
86. Holy rock & rollersJesus Christ Superstar (1973)Dear Mel Gibson: Loved your Jesus flick, but why so glum? This adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber rock opera also covered Christ’s busy last week, but with more guitar solos and less scourging. Hard-edged and more musically credible than Webber’s usual fare, this is, truly, better than
Cats.
Best musical moment: Shaggy disciples chorus, “What’s the buzz?” looking in need of baths and gainful employment. (11:30)
Did you know? The scene in which Judas is chased by tanks was directed by Jesus himself, actor Ted Neeley.
The 100 Greatest Rock & Roll Movies of All Time100 – 86 | 85 – 71 | 70 – 56 | 55 – 41 | 40 – 26 | 25 – 11 | 10 – 2
THE BEST ROCK AND ROLL MOVIE