50 Greatest Movie Singing Scenes
Top of the pipes
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
The Scene: The Brits decide to stage the biggest show known to man for their epic rendition of 'Stonehenge'.
The Song: Sadly, the sets designed by guitarist Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) are all created too small. Far too small...
Join In When: The need to rock overpowers your soul.
Casablanca (1942)
The Scene: "Play it, Sam," implores Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), requesting a song from the pianist at Rick's CafÈ American.
The Song: Sam tinkles the ivories, playing 'As Time Goes By', prompting tears from Ilsa and anger from Rick (Humphrey Bogart).
Join In When: The sobbing stops.
Top Gun (1986)
The Scene: Maverick (Tom Cruise) wants to impress Charlie (Kelly McGillis) in a bar, so he grabs a mikeÖ
The Song: "You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips," croons Cruise, kicking off a bar-full rendition of 'You've Lost That Loving Feeling'.
Join In When: The rest of the bar does.
Young Frankenstein (1974)
The Scene: Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) hits the stage with his monstrous creation.
The Song: The duo frolic about singing 'Puttin' On The Ritz', which is as hilarious as it is creepy.
Join In When: Whenever the Monster sings his lines – but only if you’re any good at impersonating him.
The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)
The Scene: Susie Diamond (Michelle Pfeiffer) wears a red dress and drapes herself over a piano during a performance with the Fabulous Baker Boys.
The Song: Susie purrs the lyrics of 'Makin' Whoopie'.
Join In When: It's important that you don't - you don't want to ruin the moment, do you?
Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life (1983)
The Scene: A Yorkshire man returns home to his wife and hundreds of collected children, where the entire family sing a song about the fact that they're not allowed to use condoms because they’re Catholic.
The Song: 'Every Sperm Is Sacred', a musical number so funny it'll have you snorting with laughter.
Join In When: The wee ones start singing that titular line. How they got away with this, we've no idea.
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
The Scene: Jo (Doris Day) and Ben (James Stewart) learn that their kidnapped son is at the Prime Minister's embassy in London...
The Song: The PM asks Jo to sing a song, so she sings 'Que Sera Sera' as loudly as she can - it's her son's favourite and if he hears her, he'll come running.
Join In When: The chorus kicks in and Day gives it her full emotional heft. We got chills.
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Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)
The Scene: Eddie (Bob Hoskins) goes to a club where Roger Rabbit's wife, Jessica, works as a singer. It's not long before she makes her grand entrance.
The Song: Jessica sings 'Why Don't You Do Right?' (voiced by Amy Irving) while making every heart in the room bleed.
Join In When: You've managed to pick your jaw up off the floor.
Back To The Future (1985)
The Scene: Marty (Michael J. Fox) is performing at the prom while still attempting to fix up his mom and dad.
The Song: Marty's given the mike to sing an 'oldie'. "Well, it's an oldie where I come from," he says, before playing 'Johnny B. Goode' and scary everybody silly.
Join In When: That infectious chorus comes along. "Go go! Go Johnny go go!"
Some Like It Hot (1939)
The Scene: Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe) is on stage at a fancy event, with Josephine (Tony Curtis) and Daphne (James Stewart) providing musical back-up.
The Song: Kane coos 'I Wanna Be Loved By You' in a way that makes you think she's talking directly to you and just you – nobody else but you. SWOON.
Join In When: Monroe milks the chorus for all it's worth.
Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.
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