Can't Stop the Music (1980)

Directed by Nancy Walker

Nancy Walker’s loopy comedy, ostensibly charting the rise of The Village People to singing fame, is best when it joins in the group’s circus-like lampoon of social categories of masculinity--as in the memorable “YMCA” number.  The remaining plot treats alternative lifestyles so delicately, it effectively displays the tenuous alliance between the outsider culture that gave rise to disco, and a mainstream culture that went slumming.

Associated Film Distribution. Producer: Allan Carr, Jacques Morali, Henri Belolo. Screenwriter: Bronte Woodward, Allan Carr. Cinematographer: Bill Butler. Editor: John F. Burnett. Cast: Valerie Perrine, Steve Guttenberg, The Village People, Bruce Jenner, June Havoc.

35mm, color, 118 min.